Curiosity is where creativity starts

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

— Albert Einstein

Let me start with a wonderful story about the curiosity and creativity of a 13-year-oldKenyan Richard Turere. He lived in the south part of the Nairobi National Park. His dad has many cows for the lifestyle and there were no fences in the south of Nairobi National Park where Turere lives. This means that animals like cows, Zebra migrate freely. So, predators like lion follow them and then the lion kill them. One day he woke up early in the morning and he found his dad’s bull dead and he felt bad for it as it was the only bull his dad had. Now, he comes from the community called Masai where they believe that they came from heaven with all animals and that’s why they value them a lot. Morans used to protect their community but they were upset with these problems. So, they killed lions, and hence the number of lions in the national park was declining. Talking about his community, the boy age from 6–13 years has a responsibility to protect their cows or animal at night. Now he has the duty for night, and he wanted to solve the problem as he has to watch out the cows at night. The first idea which he came up with was to use fire but then he figured out that it’s helping the lion to find the cowshed. The second idea which he got was to use a scarecrow where he tried to trick the lions by making them think that he is standing near the cows. But the lions were very clever they figure out that it doesn’t move. This idea too didn’t work. One day he was moving with the torch and then the lion didn’t come. He figured out that the lion is afraid of moving lights. So, he invented lion lights(solar power solution) to protect the cows from Lion. Todays, he aims to use this technology all over Kenya. Ted Talk — Richard Turere

Curiosity to solve the problem brought him to this creativity. This is why curiosity is directly proportional to creativity.

So, what’s Curiosity?

Curiosity is a powerful thirst for knowledge or know; expressing an interest in an object, event, or experience that contributes to an inquiry being made. Curiousness has helped me to live the life I desired, more than intellect or patience, or connections. For me, curiosity infuses a sense of hope into everything. Very simply Curiosity is the secret to my growth, as well as the secret to my happiness. And yet, with all the importance to my life and my career that curiosity has provided, I don’t see organization/folks talking about it as I look about, blogging about it, etc. promoting it, and using it about as broadly as they can.

Now, let’s understand the science behind it.

What’s going on in our minds as we think deeply? Why is there an unbearable desire for our curious minds to be quenched? Let’s dig at the biology that’s behind curiosity.

Curiosity, from the day we are born, is a basic human impulse that is ignited. Many kids have reached the process of raising questions by the age of about three years, such as:’ Why the rainbow has so many colours? ‘Or the classic one ‘ How the children are made?’ ’. Curiosity, even though it provokes uncomfortable discussions, is a central aspect of our cognitive processing!

Curiosity is not childhood reserved. It’s a strong quality that keeps you focused and sharp at work. And becoming a curious individual at the right organization can land you a role over somebody who may appear more eligible on paper.

With each additional year in the life cycle of a person, we have all seen how the amount of curiosity begins to decline. When we grow up and our minds are affected and coloured by society at large, the degree of even being curious eventually subsides. What we ignore, though, is that it is this imaginative mind that drives creativity and gives rise to innovations.

Now, why curiosity is important for an organization?

Every organization is moving into data science and analytics capabilities which can differentiate their organization from others. But the questions lie will the shifting itself help the company to grow and increase its trust with the stakeholders. Let me talk in terms of data analytics, why organizations or teams should build a curious environment in the workplace.

For example, we tend to hire a huge number of a data scientist into the team and once hired no one is curious enough to find something from the data and just leave up to the algorithm to find out the storyline.

All of us need to think about how to create a curiosity environment which has to be the first preliminary step that should be taken by the organization.

Then I began to wonder what’s the response from an employee for company culture in curiosity. I then figured out the Harris poll which surveyed a state of curiosity where it shows that employees think curiosity should be given more priority because they are not encouraged to do so. According to this poll:

· Only 30% says that their manager encourages them on being curious

· 66% pointed out the barrier to asking more question

Survey Link

So, we know professionals do support a curiosity environment.

CEO Elon Musk’s would not have been as we consider him today. Had his excitement about electric cars which he and his team thought about that people don’t need to compromise by making vehicles better, faster, and more fun to drive. Today, Tesla not just builds all-electric cars, but also goods for renewable energy storage devices that are scalable.

It is fair to say that excitement is the secret to the next breakthrough innovation being uncovered.

Finally, we need an atmosphere that will foster a continuous learning and innovation process. This means that for aspects like learning by doing, being relaxed with uncertainty, juggling long-and short-term returns, the whole organization must have shared principles. As they will not survive in isolation, these ideals need to be communicated through the whole organization. Company leaders should bear in mind that culture is not created instantly; until it hits maximum maturity, it will always be cycles or even years.

Part 2: How to cultivate “Curiosity”

Part 3: How organization can cultivate the curiosity culture — Coming Soon