Curiosity + Exploration = Advancement

Throughout the pandemic, I've been closely following sparks & honey's weekly Culture Briefings.

The cultural intelligence consultancy holds these live sessions 3x per week. The sessions provide context on how organizations can take advantage of trends that are shaping cultural experiences and accelerating change. The S&H team holds a wealth of cultural knowledge that anyone in the marketing industry can benefit from.

Today's session featured Sarah DaVanzo (VP of Consumer & Market Insights & Foresight at L’Oreal Group) who discussed her mission to re-inspire our planet and future generations. Here are my main takeaways from today's session (a re-airing of the Curiosity Culture briefing from last month). In the session, Sarah provides a breakdown of how applied curiosity is the foundation for transforming business and markets. Check out my main takeaways below:

1. Vulnerability is a huge component of curiosity. When leaders are vulnerable, it gives others permission to open up.

2. Don't just be curious. Live curiously. Put yourself in situations of discomfort in which you're constantly learning and pushing your perceived boundaries.

3. Individualistic societies gravitate towards short-term thinking. One of the great ways to break-out is to travel and collaborate with diverse groups of people. This isn't just limited to people from different countries / ethnicities, but also neurodiversity, physical abilities (able-bodied vs. persons with disabilities) and political viewpoints.

4. Focus curiosity on forecasting and planning for the future (a term Sarah refers to as 'tomorrowing'), but don't be afraid to pivot. "Necessity is the mother of invention"

5. Cultural intelligence, quantified foresight and futurism all fit together.

6. The curious class transcends demographic and socioeconomic conditions.

7. Curiosity is a behavior and an emotion. There are 4 modalities of curiosity. Bring in people from all four modalities to optimize for creative solutions. The modalities are:

   • See: Observation

   • Feel: Intuition

   • Think: Intellectual Curiosity

   • Do: Making

I've linked the session below if you'd like to learn more!

Here are some interesting thought starters if you'd like to explore this topic:

• How do you practice curiosity in your work?

• Do you think it's easier to practice curiosity at work or in your personal life?

• Which mode of curiosity (feeling, seeing, doing, thinking) resonates most with you?