Mar 8, 2017
Co-hosts Jan Rutherford and Jim Vaselopulos interview
Becki Saltzman. Becki is a curiosity expert and an
applied-curiosity trainer and consultant. In this interview, Jim,
Jan and Becki discuss the nature of curiosity training vis-a-vis
your curiosity muscle. Becki points out that asking additional
questions is better than getting quick answers to obvious
questions. Leaders can encourage innovation by fostering a culture
of curiosity in their organization.
Listen in to learn more about how peak curiosity can
clarify your
vision and guide decisions.
Key Takeaways
[4:03] Becki notes that you can control whether you
are interested, more than whether you are
interesting. If you are not interested in people, you
don’t know about them, so you don’t know what will make
you interesting to them. Curiosity can lead you
to find uncommon commonalities with them.
[4:50] Becki was raised by auctioneers, and attended
hundreds of auctions, where she found a variety of people and
objects to stimulate her curiosity. In graduate school she realized
that curiosity was relegated to an ingredient in the greater
studies of innovation and creativity. She chose to study it in its
own right.
[7:14] Becki tells leaders that curiosity is a
muscle, to be exercised before judgment, criticism, fear, and
complacency. Because it is a tool, peak curiosity is to be used in
some, but not all, situations.
[11:55] Becki talks about managing familiarity and
heightening curiosity in a business setting, and also in a personal
setting. When her son was hospitalized, instead of just accepting a
nurse’s statement about a test, Becki engaged her curiosity to ask
a critical question that made a big difference.
[15:25] Becki distinguishes the difference
between
free-range, basic curiosity vs. applied curiosity. Applied
curiosity training concentrates on using curiosity as a tool in
three areas: busting cognitive biases and brain bugs, creative
problem-solving and innovation, and sales and influence.
[17:26] George Loewenstein identified the information
gap between what you want to know, and what you do know. Becki
found gaps between what you do know and what you need to know, and
between what you want to know and what you need to know. Thinking,
before you whip out a cell phone to search, is enough to keep the
curiosity gap alive. Easy information can make us think we know
enough.
[29:39] Elevating curiosity ahead of criticism,
judgment, fear, and complacency is often enough to question why you
make the decisions you make. Elevating curiosity makes your
judgment more accurate.
[31:59] Becki starts curiosity training by
identifying your curiosity archetype, or how you default to using
curiosity. Each archetype has its own set of cognitive biases,
fueled by assumptions. Once your biases are identified, you can
evaluate whether to use them or not, in making decisions.
Familiarity and expectations are the basis of assumptions.
[34:15] The minimum viable question in sales should
be meaningful, unexpected, and not infused with any judgment. The
reply is how you get your best information about the client or
prospect. Becki’s MVQ is, “What did your childhood smell like?”
[39:26] Becki employs Richard Feynman’s learning
technique of taking something very familiar, and manipulating your
sense of familiarity about it, to bring yourself to peak
curiosity.
Books Mentioned in This Episode
Living Curiously: How to Use Curiosity to Be Remarkable and Do
Good Stuff, by Becki Saltzman
Arousing the Buy Curious: Real Estate Pillow Talk for Patrons
and Professionals, by Becki Saltzman
"The Psychology of Curiosity: A Review and Reinterpretation," by
George Loewenstein
The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning
Organization, by Peter M. Senge
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James
Gleick.
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale
Carnegie
Bio
Becki Saltzman holds a masters degree in behavioral science from
Washington University in St. Louis, and has spent the last two
decades studying curiosity and the role it plays in innovation &
creativity, problem solving and decision-making, sales, and
adventure. She is the author of Living Curiously: How to Use
Curiosity to Be Remarkable and Do Good Stuff, and Arousing
the Buy Curious: Real Estate Pillow Talk for Patrons and
Professionals. She is a trainer & consultant, professional
speaker, and ex-real estate broker and fashion buyer. Becki is the
founder of the Living Curiously Lifestyle and creator of
Applied-Curiosity, Peak Curiosity, and the Living Curiously Method
— frameworks and teaching programs for using curiosity to
accomplish remarkable things in work, adventure, and life. She is
the spawn of master persuader auctioneers and breeder of boys. When
she’s not traveling to speak about curiosity, Becki lives in
Portland, Oregon with her husband. She loves great travel
adventures, crowded dance floors, and brown drinks.
Website: BeckiSaltzman.com
Google:
Join the Tribe of the Curious
Facebook: Becki
Saltzman
Twitter: @BeckiSaltzman
LinkedIn: Becki Saltzman