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 Want to future-proof yourself? Strengthen your CQ!

This post from Atlassian led me on an interesting connect-the-dots journey: from Thomas Friedman's NYT Op-ed piece on Curiosity Quotient (CQ) - to - MIT's Hal Gregersen and his phenomenal method of 'Question BurstTM' for what he calls 'Catalytic Questioning' - to - Lisa Bodell's (CEO of futurethink) TEDx Talk titled "How Simplification is the Key to Change" in which she talks about the importance of asking 'killer, provocative questions.'

Friedman argues that Curiosity Quotient (CQ) is crucial to learning and innovation. Gregersen has discovered that Curiosity is a core quality of great leadership. He defines curiosity as the ability to ask questions that are "catalytic, that transform something from what is to what in a very amazing way might be". This goes against the widely held belief that 'great leaders have all the answers', doesn't it? However, as Lisa Bodell so brilliantly puts it in her talk: "if you want a better answer, ask a better question."

Why is a high Curiosity Quotient (CQ) so valuable?
  • The top three skills as per the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report for 2020 are: Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, and Creativity, all of which are predicated upon a high CQ.
  • CQ is the perfect antidote to confirmation bias and leads us to better answers by helping us uncover otherwise unseen, undiscovered facts and perspectives.
  • CQ is the first step towards building empathy, which in turn is key to being inclusive.
  • CQ encourages business agility by helping establish and promote a culture of continuous learning and growth mindset.
  • CQ paves the way for well-defined problem statements.
How to build your/your team's CQ?
  • Be intentional about using prompts such as: "What have we not considered yet?", "What if...?", "How might we...?" during team meetings and other interactions.
  • Encourage quieter/introverted/virtual team members to participate by seeking out their perspectives; use video meetings even if one team member is remote/virtual.
  • Be humble; listen to understand and not to reply.
  • Be respectful; ask only those questions that further the cause/inquiry.
  • Take inspiration from Gregersen's https://4-24project.org/ or Question BurstTM.
My mentor once said to me: "What's got you here may not be enough to get you where you need to be." Whether or not we know to ask the right questions will determine not only the course of our journey but the destination itself.
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