Curiosity killed the cat?
No, not 1980’s British pop band fronted by the extravagantly named Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot (ask an elderly relative 😉)
“Curiosity killed the cat” is an expression used to discourage overstepping boundaries, often used to warn someone not to ask too many questions about something.
Our own beloved family cat did suffer this predicted fate in 2022 when she got a little too keen on late night wandering in the road. But that’s another story . .
I can remember the phrase as a kid, but I never really took any notice. (What’s new, I hear you ask?)
The truth?
Curiosity Killed the Cat, Maybe, But It Is Your Superpower!
It always has been, but maybe even more in the age of AI.
An article from Jim Cook got me pondering this further.
He describes technology inflection points and the historical pattern;
- Spreadsheets: Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel in the late 80s/early 90s rewired the way financial modeling and business analysis got done.
- The Internet and the Netscape Browser in the mid-1990s broke open distribution and communication on a worldwide scale.
- Mobile in the mid-2000s (specifically BlackBerry, then iPhone and Android) shifted user behavior from in-office desktop to your pocket and mobility anywhere/everywhere.
- Cloud computing (in the mid-2010s) shifted the on-premise data center mentality towards Software as a Service (SaaS) and easier scalability, reliability, higher security, and significantly higher redundancy.
- AI in the mid-2020s (today), changes the game again . . .
It might be interesting to rank these 5 and see which you feel are the most significant. Of course, number 5 is predicated on 4 and 2 . . . .
Every one of these historical technology shifts required adaptation of skills, habits, behaviors and capabilities.
But what is the cause and what is the effect?
I would argue that the need for these skills, habits, behaviors and capabilities is independent of technologies, they just become more visible.
When running workshops on “end-to-end processes” and digital transformation, we spend a lot of time on the human qualities we need to nurture to drive success in these domains.
Jim suggests that the required qualities, skills, habits, behaviors and capabilities include;
- Be an agile, curious learner.
- Think fast, to learn fast.
- Think in systems and architect new solution architectures.
- Train on new skill sets.
- NOT be the last one to adapt.
I would add some additional perspectives, such as;
- Think “outside-in”
- Build trust through credibility, reliability, rapport and the relegation of self-interest.
- Try to understand perspectives that are different
I echo Jim’s assertion that curiosity is key – the willingness to ask questions and the willingness to truly learn.
A learner’s mindset is a wonderful childlike quality, the “capacity to sit comfortably in not knowing, and instead of being embarrassed, getting genuinely curious”.
Curiosity is critical to understanding the end-to-end processes (business cycles), our customers, stakeholders, suppliers, colleagues, technologies . . .
But never confuse curiosity with procrastination, which is a close relative!
We need curiosity together with a “bias for action”.
You can read Jim Cook’s post “Your Curiosity Is Your Ai Superpower” here . . .
Curiosity killed the cat?
Thanks for reading . . .