Curiosity Over Technology

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Written By Jeff Winter

Think about it—tech can give you tools, but curiosity drives the why behind the how. It’s curiosity that pushes your team to ask the tough questions, challenge the status quo, and find innovative solutions to problems that technology alone can’t solve.

A curious culture is your secret weapon

  • It Fuels Innovation: Curious minds don’t settle. They dig deeper, explore new possibilities, and connect dots that others might miss. Innovation isn’t just about having the latest tools—it’s about applying them in ways no one else has thought of.

  • It Drives Collaboration: Curiosity naturally leads to asking questions, which fosters collaboration. When everyone’s exploring together, you create a culture where ideas flow freely, and collective genius takes the lead.

  • It Aligns with Purpose: Curiosity aligns your team with the company’s purpose. When people are genuinely curious, they’re more engaged and motivated to find meaning in their work, leading to better outcomes and a stronger sense of ownership.

The Curiosity Code Index (CCI), created by Diane Hamilton, shows that a curious workplace consistently outshines one that just stacks up the latest gadgets. It identifies four big curiosity killers:

  • Fear

  • Assumptions

  • Technology

  • Environment

Even if you've got the best tech, if curiosity isn't encouraged, innovation and engagement take a hit. Bottom line? Curiosity drives performance more than just having shiny new tools.

The power of curiosity over technology

Technology is often seen as a silver bullet for productivity and innovation. However, the CCI highlights that technology can also inhibit curiosity if it overwhelms employees with too much information or solves problems too easily without requiring deeper engagement. When employees rely heavily on technology without nurturing their curiosity, they might become passive recipients of information rather than active seekers of knowledge. This passivity can lead to stagnation, where employees are less likely to question existing processes or seek out new, innovative solutions.

Curiosity is a driving force behind critical thinking, problem-solving, and innovation. Hamilton's research supports the idea that curiosity is fundamental to a leader's ability to handle change, complexity, context, and connectedness. Leaders who cultivate a culture of curiosity encourage their teams to explore new ideas, challenge assumptions, and continuously learn—behaviors crucial for thriving in today's fast-paced, ever-changing business environment.

Curiosity as a catalyst for holistic transformation

I have often emphasized the importance of holistic transformation, where true change involves not just improving parts of a system but improving the entire system. A culture of curiosity aligns perfectly with this approach. Curiosity drives employees to understand the broader implications of their work, see beyond departmental silos, and contribute to the system as a whole. When curiosity is encouraged, employees are more likely to question how their tasks fit into the larger organizational goals and how they can contribute to broader improvements. Despite 83% of C-suite executives claiming to encourage curiosity, only 52% of employees feel rewarded for it according to Harvard Business Review. This means there's a significant gap between executives' perception of fostering curiosity and employees' experience of being rewarded for it, which hinders the potential for innovation within organizations.

We can do better!

Lenovo: a case study on curiosity

Art Hu, Lenovo's Senior Vice President and CIO, took a bold approach that shows why fostering curiosity can be more powerful than just piling on the latest tech. When Lenovo decided to shift into a services-led company, Art realized that simply delivering technical solutions wasn’t enough—they needed to think bigger. So, he pushed the IT team to stop seeing their work as just tasks to complete and start thinking about how their efforts could make a real difference in business outcomes.

Art led the charge to commercialize Lenovo’s internal IT capabilities, encouraging the team to get creative about how they could use what they were already doing to better serve customers. This curiosity-driven approach paid off big time. Lenovo started integrating AI and industrial metaverse tech into their manufacturing processes, which not only boosted efficiency and quality but also caught the attention of the World Economic Forum, earning them recognition as a leader in the industry.

By making it easier for teams to experiment and encouraging a culture that values curiosity, Art helped Lenovo come up with scalable, innovative solutions that went beyond just using the latest gadgets. This approach led to real, meaningful changes in the way they do business.

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Jeff Winter
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