In my last post, I shared something an executive at Goldman Sachs told us that has stuck with me ever since. When asked what he looked for most in leaders of companies he found desirable to acquire, or leaders he hired, he didn’t say drive. He didn’t say experience or a fancy résumé. He said curiosity was the number one characteristic he looks for in a leader.

 

I’ve been chewing on that ever since. Because the more I look at the people who keep growing, in business, in relationships, in life, the more I see the same thread. They stay curious. They ask one more question when everyone else has stopped. So let’s talk about what curiosity actually is, why it’s quietly become one of the most valuable traits in leadership, and the specific habits that build it.

Curiosity is a practice, not a personality trait

We tend to think of curiosity as something you’re either born with or not, like being tall or left-handed. I don’t buy that. Curiosity is less of a personality trait and more of a practice. Most people don’t become more curious by “trying harder.” They become more curious by changing how they move through the world.

 

Here’s the simplest way I can describe it: curiosity is choosing “tell me more” over “I already know.” It’s the small decision, made over and over, to stay open instead of closing the book. And that’s exactly why it matters so much in leadership. A leader who has stopped being curious has stopped learning — and a leader who has stopped learning becomes the ceiling for everyone around them. Their team can only grow as far as the leader’s last good idea.

This is all true for anyone, regardless of their position, career, or even as they move through life and relationships. 

 

The good news is that if curiosity is a practice, you can practice it. Here are the habits that I believe make the biggest difference.

Replace certainty with better questions

Curious people aren’t necessarily smarter. They just pause before deciding they already know. Instead of “that would never work,” they ask, “Why does that work for them? What am I missing? What assumptions am I making?”

 

One powerful shift is learning to ask exploratory questions instead of judgment questions. Judgement asks, “Is this good or bad?” Curiosity asks, “What can I learn from this?” That one swap changes everything, because the moment you decide something is bad, you stop looking at it. The moment you decide a person is bad, you stop trying to build a closer relationship. The moment you ask what you can learn, you decide to keep the door open.

Follow small sparks

Curiosity usually starts tiny. A random statistic. A sentence in a podcast. A person doing something differently. A business model you don’t understand. A plant you can’t identify. Most of us let those moments pass because we’re busy.

 

Don’t. Follow the spark for five minutes. Look it up, save the article, watch a short video, ask someone about it. People who seem endlessly curious often just act on tiny moments, repeatedly. It’s not magic, it’s a habit of not letting the “huh, I wonder” slip away.

Talk to people outside your normal circle

Curiosity grows fast when you regularly interact with people who think differently than you do. It dies in an echo chamber. So get out of yours. When you meet someone new, ask: “How did you get into this? What do most people misunderstand about your industry? What’s changing that people aren’t paying attention to?” I see so many people meet someone new and they go no further than introducing themselves. 

 

This is especially valuable for leaders and entrepreneurs, because patterns from one industry often become innovations in another. The idea that transforms your business may already be standard practice in someone else’s.

Consume information differently

Most of us only take in content we already agree with or already understand. That’s comfortable, and it’s also a dead end. Instead, read outside your industry. Listen to people with different perspectives. Explore history, psychology, design, architecture, economics, biology, storytelling.

 

Innovation almost always comes from connecting unrelated ideas. Dots that float around in your mind until another random dot suddenly connects. For someone building community and business the way I am at The Village Workspace, curiosity becomes a real strategic advantage. It helps me spot cultural and business shifts earlier than the people who only read the same five sources everyone else does.

Keep a “curiosity list”

This one works surprisingly well. Keep a running note titled “Things I want to understand and learn more about,” and add anything that catches your attention. Why do certain spaces feel energizing? Why do some podcasts become addictive? Why do people choose coworking over working from home? Why do some brands create fierce loyalty?

 

You don’t have to research any of it right away. It’s a dot that starts floating. The point isn’t the list — it’s that keeping it trains your brain to notice. And noticing is where curiosity begins.

Let yourself be bad at things

A major curiosity killer is the need to appear knowledgeable. The more we accomplish, the more pressure we feel to have the answer, and I include myself in that. But curious people are willing to say, “I don’t know. Teach me. Explain that simply.” That openness creates rapid learning, and it gives everyone around you permission to be honest too. I hate when someone in a meeting throws out an acronym or technical term that no one understands and yet everyone nods their head as if they know. I’ve never pretended to know. I don’t mind interrupting and asking, “What does XYZ mean?” There’s nothing weak about it. It’s how we keep growing long after others have plateaued.

Create “input time”

Many adults stop being curious because every single minute becomes output: work, solving, responding, producing. Do. Do. Do. There’s no room left to wonder. This has been so hard for me. I have had to put buffer time in my calendar for this.

Schedule time where the only goal is exploration. Wander through a bookstore. Listen to a lecture or random podcast in a new genre. Tour a new neighborhood. Go to a random event like a lecture on world class contemporary artists from around the globe. Experiment with something creative like a pottery class or poetry writing. Curiosity needs space, and you have to protect that space on purpose, because nothing on your calendar will ever ask for it.

Chase Connections

Here’s the most interesting thing I’ve noticed: the most curious people aren’t actually chasing information. They’re chasing connections. They’ve trained themselves to believe there’s always another layer beneath what’s obvious — and they keep digging for it.

 

That executive was right. In a world where what you know goes stale faster every year, the ability to keep learning beats any single thing you know right now. And the best part is you don’t have to be born with it. You build it one question, one small spark, one “I don’t know” at a time.

 

So here’s my challenge to you this week: in your next conversation, ask one more question than you normally would. Be curious about the person and the topic. See what you find. I’d bet it’s more than you expected.

 

I’d love to hear from you. What are you curious about today?