Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Curiosity as a measure of passion

Learning and curiosity is one of the key elements of quiet leadership as defined on this blog. My personal carnival of learning at Lead Quietly would include these posts:
I was intrigued when Steve Roesler, a fellow Best of 2008 Leadership Blog nominee at his All Things Workplace blog took a different twist, a better perspective on the work of Dr. Carol Dweck that differentiates between a Growth versus Fixed Mindset. I have discussed this concept previously.

In Curiosity, Passion and Leadership, Steve elevates the value of curiosity, by proposing that a curious mind-set that can be used as a yard stick to measure passion. As he writes,
Leaders value people who display a never-ending curiosity for the many facets of the business. Similarly, successful employees of every ilk display a never-ending curiosity that emerges as "passion" in a meeting room filled with people.

What better measure of passion than curiosity?
You can see it's presence or absence in interviews, meetings, telephone conversations, or luncheon chatter. You can display it and you can discern it.
Steve encourages leaders to hire and promote people with passion where you measure passion by sensing their curiosity.

As leaders, we should show our curiosity, it comes across as passion. And when asked, "What's in your mindset?" Show your curiosity and passion.

Thanks Steve for the new insight.

Thanks for reading. Please lead quietly and show your passion, ahhhh, I mean curiosity.
Don








2 comments:

steveroesler said...

Don,

Thanks so much for the kind reference in your post.

The whole notion of "Lead Quietly" makes me want to shout "Yes!" (If one leads quietly, does one still get the occasional chance to shout?:-)

Over the years I've watched and worked with probably hundreds of executives in their natural habitats. A long time ago I concluded that the bulk of those who were "getting it done" were doing so without fanfare. No celebrity, nor the desire for celebrity. They were leading quietly day after day, and their people were following.

In an era of sound bites and faux stardom, the "Lure of Loud" may act like the Song of the Sirens to those who equate celebrity with successful leadership.

If the celebrity is earned as a result of solid results and a healthy organization, I'll be the first to applaud. But my money is on those who we don't see or hear about, yet are doing the right things day after day.

Keep writing. . .

Tom said...

I agree about the importance of having employees that have real curiosity about the business that they work for. I think good leaders respect not only their employees passion but also their ideas and individuality. I have been working on a website www.LeadingwithKindness.com that highlights five successful companies that treat employees kindly. One of the things that amazes me about the companies is how much the employees are able to follow their passion with in the company. The end result is you get people who are passionate about their work and know the company.