Get Curious About the World Around You

Curiosity isn't a luxury of philosophers. It's a business and leadership essential.

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THE MICROWAVE OVEN was invented by accident in 1945 by Percy Spencer, the lead on a radar project for Raytheon. The story goes that while testing a new vacuum tube, he noticed that a chocolate bar in his pocket had begun to melt. He decided to put some popcorn kernels near the tube-and marveled as they popped.

The list of accidental inventions goes on: Bubble Wrap, Post-it Notes, Viagra, Silly Putty. All it took was for someone to remove the blinders, tap into their curiosity, and see the value of the unexpected.

Unfortunately, most of us don't have time to stumble upon inventing the Slinky. We have too many pressing concerns, too many deadlines. As a midlevel manager at Airbnb once told me when I asked one too many questions, "Enough with the curiosity! Let's get shit done!"

While I understood his point, I also knew that curiosity actually helps get things done faster.