Companies Value Curiosity but Stifle It Anyway​

Harvard Business Review:

As children, anything sparks our curiosity. The box intrigues as much as the gift, and the scenery outside a car window can enchant for hours. We seek to know, and we engage in the essential activity for finding out. We question.

And yet, as we grow older, curiosity tends to be wrung out of us. Parents, schools, and workplaces impose rules and discourage risk. Rather than provoking with inquiry, they insist on correct answers. A child asks 300 questions a day. By middle school, the number is down to practically none. By adulthood, our disposition toward questioning can range from the timid to the hostile.

A recent study I did with the German-based Merck KGaA, to commemorate its 125 years in the United States, underscores the problem. Surveying workers in 16 industries, we found that while 65% said that curiosity was essential to discover new ideas, virtually the same percentage felt unable to ask questions on the job. The contradictions continued: while 84% reported that their employers encouraged curiosity, 60% said they had also encountered barriers to it at work.

Read the whole story: Harvard Business Review