Scott Shigeoka: Activating your curiosity will change the world around you
Mar 27, 2024
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Internationally recognized curiosity expert Scott Shigeoka discusses how curiosity can boost morale, increase collaboration, ease conflict, and help connect better with others. He encourages being an 'admitter' and highlights the transformative power of curiosity in relationships and personal growth.
Activating curiosity improves connection with others and boosts morale.
Leaders should exhibit curiosity to build stronger relationships and gain insights.
Encouraging love as a verb at work fosters trust and camaraderie.
Leaders with intellectual humility create a collaborative and respectful environment.
Deep dives
The Direction of Curiosity Matters
In conversations where disparities in social power exist, it is crucial for individuals with more social power to listen and understand others, while those with less social power should share their perspectives for effective communication. This approach fosters deeper connection and understanding, facilitating fruitful relationships and collaboration within organizations.
Creating a Curiosity Voyage in the Workplace
Leaders are advised to embark on a curiosity voyage within their organizations, much like how one explores different parts of the world. By engaging in respectful and open conversations, asking questions, and listening to diverse perspectives, leaders can gain profound insights, build stronger relationships with their teams, and create a culture that honors each individual's unique experiences.
Normalizing Love and Relational Intelligence
Encouraging love as a verb within workplace interactions, encompassing friendship, support, and genuine interest in colleagues, fosters trust and camaraderie. Relational intelligence is key in navigating organizational dynamics, providing a framework for understanding and valuing diverse perspectives and building strong relational foundations.
Promoting Intellectual Humility for Effective Leadership
Leaders who exhibit intellectual humility – acknowledging the limits of their knowledge and valuing input from others – are perceived as more competent and trustworthy by their teams. By avoiding an authoritarian approach and embracing curiosity, leaders create an environment conducive to collaboration, innovation, and mutual respect.
The Power of Discomfort and Growth
Discomfort can lead to growth as it signals potential for change and improvement. Recognizing different types of discomfort, such as feeling out of your comfort zone, can help individuals and leaders discern growth opportunities.
Exploring the Volcano Metaphor for Organizational Change
The metaphor of a volcano highlights the importance of understanding the underlying systems, mindsets, and infrastructure in organizations. By delving deeper into mindsets like curiosity and trust, leaders can create lasting change beyond superficial policy alterations.
Developing Deep Curiosity Using the DIVE Model
The DIVE model - Detach, Intend, Value, Embrace - offers a framework for cultivating deep curiosity in personal and professional contexts. By detaching from assumptions, setting intentions for curiosity, valuing dignity, and embracing challenges, individuals can enhance their curiosity and navigate complex interactions more effectively.
Do we lose access to curiosity as we age? Or is it like a muscle that's always there, but just needs to be activated and strengthened?
Scott Keoni Shigeoka is an internationally recognized curiosity expert, speaker and author and he's known for translating research into strategies that promote positive wellbeing and connected relationships around the globe including at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center and through his popular courses at the University of Texas in Austin.
In this vibrant and very human conversation with Damon Klotz, Scott helps us remember that we have the capacity to explore and explains just how to use exploration to connect better with others. He tells us how curiosity can boost morale, increase collaboration, and how it can ease conflict and tension in the workplace and everywhere else.
Scott also encourages us all to start being an 'admitter', explaining how understanding the limits of your knowledge will always help people believe that you’re not completely out of touch.
Show notes:
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