Curiosity wanes as we get older, we need new ways to bring it back. I discuss how to do that in this episode with my guest, Carla Johnson.
Carla has spent decades working with leaders, researching and writing books to teach people how to make innovation everybody’s business. By fusing visionary creativity with pragmatic innovation strategies, Carla helps create cultures that welcome offbeat perspectives while also experiencing unprecedented growth and alignment.
Carla started out as an electrical engineering major. She was great at math and science in high school and genuinely curious about those things, but much discovered those fields were much too structured for how she likes to think. She ended up with a master’s in history. The stories about how and why things happened drew her to that history major.
After graduating her background became working in the business-to-business marketing arena. She then started working in architecture firms, it was what she learned from the design architects that influenced how she looked at creating connections with customers. She enjoyed the process of building those relationships and learned about growing a business. When she talks about being an Innovation Architect, Carla discovered there’s a lot that we can architect into marketing by being more curious, by being more innovative and creative about how we think. We did it as kids but have forgotten how to do it as adults.
Re-Sparking Your Curiosity
Carla thinks the biggest thing to re-spark your curiosity is to understand that curiosity doesn’t have a purpose other than for you to practice being curious. We’re not looking for a definite outcome when we practice curiosity. Anything goes in initial brainstorming sessions. When you think about kids, they don’t have any purpose around why they do the things that they do. They just let their minds run in a naturally curious way. When we move from childhood to school age, especially middle school and into high school and how we prep for college and then the real world we’re told those are things we need to put on the shelf because we have real world work to do now.
There needs to be a balance between allowing curiosity to flourish and the constant “Why, why, why?” that we have as children. Learning new subjects and getting schoolwork done and eventually engaging in your life’s work take over. Things have gotten so focused on data and productivity that we’ve forgotten not only the joy of what happens when we explore for exploring’s sake, but also the beautiful outcomes that can come out of unbridled curiosity that we don’t really expect.
In this episode we also discuss:
- Ways to practice curiosity.
- Why your brain defaults to the familiar and how to break that pattern.
- How to create a “safe zone” for practicing curiosity.
- How hobbies can fuel what you love to do.
- How embracing and learning from failure fuels curiosity.
- Why many meetings fail and how to avoid those problems.
- Why not being curiosity leads us to become unproductive.
- When to stop brainstorming ideas and start taking action.
- How to clearly define what it is you’re trying to accomplish. Objective statement.
- How to have successful brainstorming sessions.
…and more golden nuggets of advice!
You can get my book here: “Idea Climbing: How to Create a Support System for Your Next Big Idea”
About the Guest
No longer is the status quo the sure bet. In today’s world, standing still makes you a sitting duck. Disruption’s inevitable. But if anyone’s going to disrupt your company, shouldn’t it be you? That’s where curiosity starts!
As the world’s leading Innovation Architect, Carla Johnson has spent 20 years working with leaders, conducting research and authoring numerous books. She’s developed frameworks that teach people how to redefine what innovation means to them, and then equips leaders to make innovation everybody’s business.
Carla’s approach transforms organizations by fusing visionary creativity with pragmatic innovation strategies. The result is a culture that becomes a playground of limitless potential while also experiencing unprecedented growth and alignment.
Learn more about Carla!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlajohnson/
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