Why intellectual curiosity is important in the corporate world
The quote “curiosity killed the cat” is quite famous amongst many people these days when a question they don’t want to answer pops up. While curiosity is often overlooked as being bothersome or aggravating for few people as they just want the job in question to be completed without wastage of their time.
But, most of the hiring managers or the relevant HR’s should base their main focus to be on the curiosity of the employee. Better yet, they need to focus if the curiosity is relevant to the growth of the company.
Intellectual curiosity is a term used to describe one's desire to invest time and energy into learning more about a person, place, thing or concept.
According to a study from Gallup International, an international cooperation of independent market research and polling firms stated that curious people can "creatively look beyond the present and imagine possible futures for their company" which is useful for companies in the long haul. Curious people are also aren’t the type of people who would just sit in their cubicles and wait until the project is completed but would take few of the matters into their own hands and try to do something innovative and according to Vartanian, “it's a quality one wants in every employee decided to hire at a startup.”
Aside from the most prominent reasons, curiosity is mainly important in the corporate world as it lets the mind stay active. As the corporate world mainly consists of sitting in front of computers and typing code or working on different projects, it is best if the employees are curious, as it lets their brain work much like exercise is to a body. The more you exercise the more active and healthy your body would be. So, the mental task caused by curiosity will be enough to maintain their mental health.
Furthermore, curiosity also lets you have new ideas as your mind anticipates new ideas related to your current project. When new ideas occur, they can be jotted down mentally and reorganized. But, if the employee does not have any curiosity and is bland with just a long list of achievements there would little to no improvement and it doesn’t matter if you hire a robot or a person as either of them would perform their task mechanically. Just think, how many great ideas may have been lost due to lack of curiosity in employees?
Without curiosity, the ideas may pass right in front of you and yet you miss them because your mind is not prepared to recognize or organize them properly. Curiosity can also let you see new worlds and possibly bigger possibilities of designing a unique and genuine project with the existing one. It can also be very appealing to employers as new things always attract new recognition for those who are prepared to accept out of the box thinking.
The best way to incorporate curiosity on the employee’s mind is essential to have a healthy work environment. But, it would be only if the employee is prepared to keep an open mind and accept various things in the corporate world. Another way to let employees be curious would be if a complex puzzle or obstacle is given to them with quite a simple logic. Along with brushing up their basics, they can also try to dig deeper into the matter as it would increase their analytical skills. Another way to encourage employees to be curious would be when he/she questions “Why only that solution is to be applied?”, “Why do they need it?”, “How long would they need to use it?”, “Why do they need the output to be that way when the other one can be more productive?.” Essentially, the questions what, why, when, who, where, and how are the best friends of curious people.
The most important fact anyone would ever tell you would be that do not underestimate any problem. Whether the problem is big or not, never label it as boring or too easy as it would demean others who are new to the field or it can also be that you might appear arrogant to others. So, it is best to remain humble and try to search for new techniques for the existing problem. If you feel that learning something is a burden, there is no way that your seniors would recommend you for new projects or to learn something new. It is better if you have an open mind and try to utilize your current option to the best and try to soar new heights.
Also, never spend a long period of time only on one task or whatever it is you are doing. It will stunt your intelligence to a particular topic and not let you learn new things. One easy way to do this is through reading diverse kinds of reading. Try to pick out a novel or magazine on a new subject and let it feed your mind with the excitement of a new world. Finally, the most impressive thing to be found in a potential employee should not only be their qualifications but if they are able to think out of the box for a situation and further justify it.