Can you be both???
I’m not truly sure that the last many months have directly caused what I am about to write about, or if it simply magnified what was already there. You choose the cause or the reaction… but either way, this needs critical understanding and action today.
As I converse with people all over the world and from a professional perspective and a personal perspective it seems to me that we have truly driven distinct style differences in communicating and understanding.
Today I see two polar opposite positions within the way that people converse and interact. We have what I have labeled as two solid differences between groups. They are pretty firmly divided as either HIGHLY OPINIONATED or HIGHLY CURIOUS. As you stop now and examine it, I am sure that you can pretty quickly put all those that you interact with within either of those camps.
It seems that we have become pretty quick to judge, everybody, and everything. Bucketing all that we see into our own little matrix of good, bad, important, needless, etc…. And this seems to happen in a matter of moments and at a huge variety of levels and real importance.
On the other hand, I do see a group of folks that have become more open to new ideas than ever. It seems some have learned that we really don’t know much and what we know should be challenged on a regular basis for clarity of thought. Our COVID battles have shown us that the entire world CAN in fact be turned upside down and we will still manage to thrive somehow in all the resident madness. And in fact, will learn to move beyond surviving and into highly successful actions that are new AND better than ever. Who, 14 months ago would have guessed that we would stop face to face (in person) interactions with clients and we would not wither and fade away, but we would actually learn to serve them better than ever and co-create more value than ever (this is a point that our clients tell us regularly).
It is strange, a long time ago, I was asked what do I look for when I am interviewing people for our team. My response even then was… a great deal of intellectual curiosity and a natural sense of humility. If those traits are not present they will not fit into a growing and evolving organization.
Today those traits are the cornerstone on which we build great teams. The skills we can train, the attitudes must be there and they must be moldable.
FIT is first, curiosity is second, humility is third. This is the secret to finding and growing great teams.
So ask yourself….honestly.. are you more comfortable giving opinions or seeking out understanding?
It is my firm belief that we can all do more to help the world be a much better place if we were all HIGHLY CURIOUS as individuals, leaders, mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers, and friends to all.
CARING greatly,
UNDERSTANDING deeply,
SERVING endlessly, with
PURPOSE!
And it all starts with a great sense of curiosity as the catalyst.
OK, LETs ROLL!
Mitch
