S5 Ep8: #59 Curious About Making The World Work with Amy Edmondson (Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School)

Jan 24, 2024

Amy Edmondson, Novartis Professor at Harvard Business School and a leading management thinker, dives into the impactful relationship between curiosity and psychological safety in the workplace. She highlights the importance of 'smart pilots' in project management to foster learning from intelligent failures. Her engaging anecdotes reveal how leaders can create environments that support vulnerability and innovation. Edmondson also discusses adapting leadership styles in an increasingly complex and digital world, encouraging continuous learning and adaptive thinking.

Ask episode

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

Intro

00:00 • 5min

Curiosity-Driven Leadership

04:46 • 8min

Understanding Types of Failure: Basic, Complex, and Intelligent

12:45 • 5min

Rethinking Project Pilots for Effective Learning

17:59 • 3min

Curiosity and Psychological Safety in Teamwork

21:23 • 21min

In this podcast episode, Amy Edmondson, the top-ranked Thinkers50 management thinker and Novartis Professor at Harvard Business School, takes us on a journey through the dynamic intersection of curiosity, leadership and the digital era.

Renowned for her seven books and over 60 scholarly papers, Edmondson discusses the crucial link between curiosity and psychological safety in the workplace. She shares practical tips for leaders to foster positive failure, drawing on insights from her latest acclaimed book, "The Right Kind of Wrong," recently honored as the #1 Business Book by the Financial Times. Edmondson's engaging anecdotes, including the concept of "smart pilots," and her emphasis on building effective communities, explores leadership, curiosity, and the transformative power of embracing the right kind of failure.

You can purchase Right Kind of Wrong
You can purchase the 3 book collection of the Right Kind of Wrong, Leader as Healer & Staring Down the Wolf

Get your copy of The Curious Advantage on Amazon
The Curious Advantage Audiobook is also available on Audible
Follow The Curious Advantage on LinkedIn and Instagram

About the Curious Advantage Podcast Series
The Curious Advantage Podcast series, hosted by the authors of The Curious Advantage book – Paul Ashcroft (co-founder & partner, Ludic Group), Simon Brown (CLO, Novartis), and Garrick Jones (co-founder & partner, Ludic Group) – explores how curiosity is a driving force for success in both individual lives and organizations, particularly in our evolving digital landscape. This podcast distills insights from neuroscience, anthropology, history, art and behaviorism to make the concept of curiosity accessible and applicable to everyone.

About The Curious Advantage Book
The Curious Advantage is an exploration of the idea of Curiosity and its increasing importance for thriving in the digital age. Taking the widest possible exploration of things Curious – historical, contemporary, neuro-scientific, anthropological, behavioural, semantic and business-focused.

At the heart of the book is our model of Curiosity, called ’Sailing the 7C’s of Curiosity’. This model provides individuals with a practical framework for how to be successfully Curious and use Curiosity as a power skill to unlock their own potential. To find out more visit: curiousadvantage.com

The Curious Advantage Podcast is executive produced by Jessica Wickham and Aliki Paolinelis. Audio editing is expertly by Danny Cross. Video editing by Jessica Wickham.