Curosity didn't kill the cat

Growing up, I often heard adults say, “curiosity killed the cat”. The English playwright, Ben Johnson, was credited with inventing the phrase in 1585 for one of his plays. The idiom is a warning. Being overly curious, gets you in trouble. It’s sound advice….for anyone investigating organized crime!

Fortunately, in most cases, curiosity is a worthy and powerful ally. It’s had a profound impact on civilization. Curiosity makes you better at your job¹, helps you be more empathetic², improves children’s education³, and quite literally saves lives when it comes to doctors⁴. The decline in the pursuit of knowledge and critical questioning are the reasons for the demise of the Islamic empire from the 13th century on.

Being curious has lifelong health benefits, and can slow mental decline by a third⁵. It keeps the mind active and reduces the risk from ailments common in old age. So why aren’t we shouting more about curiosity?

# Curiosity

Curiosity is a strong desire to investigate, explore and learn something beyond a passing interest. Given its importance in so many aspects of life, it should be more widely discussed.

Ironically, the internet lets us access information more easily than at any time in human history. Yet, rather than promoting curiosity, people accept the Facebook experts at face value, COVID-19 vaccines being a case in point. I’ve talked about technology downsides in another post. Maybe the ease of acquiring information made us lazy?

We’d do well to teach children and young adults in schools, colleges, and universities the importance of curiosity and in-depth investigation. Multiple psychological studies have highlighted intelligence’s role in successful academic outcomes, but a research paper in 2011⁶ found intellectual curiosity and effort "rival the influence of intelligence". A hungry mind can be just as effective as innate talent.

# Cultivating curiosity

Asking “why“, to gain a deeper understanding, requires more than a fleeting interest. With the right mindset and approach, you can hone the necessary skills to become more effective in life.

Don’t take things for granted.

IDEO, a leading USA based Design Agency, renowned for helping blue-chip client come up with innovative ideas, advises you to “think like a child” when problem-solving, and for a good reason. Children question everything, but with age we start to question less, taking things around us for granted.

Curiosity requires the power of observation and asking substantive questions:

• Why do people behave this way?
• Why do we do it this way?
• What causes this reaction?
• Why does this happen?
• Where did that come from?
• What would happen if we did this instead?

We’re all guilty of not noticing the world around us. But the world’s greatest innovators noticed. They asked how it could be done better. This is why we have WeWork, Uber, and the iPod. None of these ideas were inventions. They were things we’d always done, but delivered in a new way.

Assumption is the mother of all mistakes.

The philosopher Mr. Eugene Lewis said:

Evolution developed our brains to rely on pattern recognition to conserve energy and save time. We assume all sorts of things, and coupled with confirmation biases, we have a misplaced confidence in the answer we tell ourselves. We assume too much.

Misplaced assumptions are one of the biggest causes of failed business ventures. Treat everything you think you know as a “hypothesis”, something to be proven. A bit less confidence in what we think we know, would force us to assume less and dig deeper for answers.

Joining the dots.

Steve Jobs delivered a legendary speech at Stanford University’s 2005 graduation ceremony⁷. He talked about his early life, and the importance of “joining the dots” between the wide and varied experiences in his life. His curiosity was the stimulus for many of Apple’s innovations. The fonts used in the first MacBooks were as a result of a calligraphy class he took. He had no reason to take the class, but its lessons led to beautiful fonts in the early MacBooks, at a time ugly block characters were the norm.

Innovation is different from invention. It is about blending what already exists in a new way. Uber delivered an age-old taxi service through our smartphone apps. Taxi’s existed before Uber, as did smartphones and apps, but the blend of the inventions created a multi-billion pound business. Innovation is about “joining the dots”.

It is no coincidence people with ADHD exhibit above average innovation traits. Their brains naturally jump around, connecting disparate thoughts and ideas in a way most can’t imagine.

There’s a game I used to play with the kids, where they’d have to come up with a story from two random words. I’d say, “tell me a story using the words elephant and concrete”.

# Summing up

• Being curious is more than a passing interest, and it takes practise.
• Look at the world around you, and observe. Ask why.
• Practise innovative thinking. Take the most mundane of things and ask how it can be done differently. Find three ways of doing the same thing.
• Don’t overlook the obvious.
• Question everything you think you know.

One thing that’s always been true and won’t change, is hard work. It is easy to switch off and ignore everything around you. Developing an innovative mind is like going to the gym. You have to do it often, and put the effort in.

# References