#60 - Dr. Diane Hamilton - Cracking the Curiosity Code: The Key to Unlocking Human Potential

This podcast interview focuses on the power of curiosity in innovation and my guest is Dr. Diane Hamilton, author of Cracking the Curiosity Code

She has a contagious passion for improving interpersonal communication.

In addition to being a nationally syndicated radio host, award-winning speaker, author, and educator, Dr. Hamilton is a thought leader in the fields of leadership, sales, marketing, management, engagement, personality, curiosity, and motivation.

To help improve relationships in the workplace — and performance as a result — Dr. Hamilton draws on her decades of work experience in software, computers, corporate training, pharmaceuticals, real estate, mortgage lending, social media, education, and publishing.

She’s a sought-after expert in emotional intelligence, and her research has been published widely in peer-reviewed journals. She is the creator of the Curiosity Code Index® and the author of four books sold worldwide: Cracking the Curiosity Code, The Online Student’s User Manual, How to Reinvent Your Career, and It’s Not You, It’s Your Personality. Her book regarding personalities was required reading at an Arizona-based university, where she was also nominated for an honorary doctorate in addition to her traditionally obtained Ph.D. in Business Management.

The release of her latest book, ‘Cracking the Curiosity Code’, triggered me to invite Diane to my podcast. We explore why curiosity is such a key trait to develop in relation to innovation and dealing with top business issues. We do a deep dive on the four factors that impact curiosity, and what to do to start growing the curiosity level inside your organization.

Here are some of her quotes:

“I first started writing the book because I was very interested in what kept people from being curious.

I really found four factors impacted curiosity, which were Fear, Assumption, Technology and Environment.

My hope was to help individuals and organizations to develop what I think is such a key trait.

It's the spark that leads to motivation and to drive and for you to get anywhere with communication, critical thinking, leadership, creativity, teamwork, engagement, you name all the top issues that leadership struggles with.

Once you're able to get all those factors in line, and then once you're innovative, you're productiv,e and you know everybody's engaged, it kind of solves all the problems and so that's what I thought was so fascinating.

What I was trying to do was just kind of figure out what's the spark behind it all that's that we could fix and, and that's what I kept coming back to was improving curiosity.”

During this interview, you will learn three things:

1. That what made you successful in the past, isn’t likely going to help you survive in the future – And growing your curiosity index is the key to your success
2. Why you have to watch out to avoid aimless curiosity in your organization, and what to do about it
3. That, a critical way to grow a culture of curiosity starts when top management shows they way – they need to walk the talk.

Get related ideas from a few blogs

1. Why your product roadmap fails to deliver remarkable value
2. How to stay relevant in your category?
3. Are you in the comfort zone, or where the magic happens?