Curiosity is a powerful force and one that I recommend investing into, flexing often, and encouraging in others.

That curiosity, when used as a shortcut can be a dangerous thing.

We can read one article on something and assume we know more than we actually do.

We can hear someone’s type or style on a personality assessment and quickly assume a lot about them.

We can realize the complexity of a systemic problem and immediately be frozen from action because all options visible to us don’t appear to solve the problem.

Curiosity alone is not enough. We must flex our muscles of humility and drive along with it.

Humility that the little info gained does account for the entire lot. Realization that there is more to the person than a basic archetype (no matter how true that archetype may be for us). Acknowledgement that a systemic problem must be addressed through struggle to find an outcome.

Drive to seek out more information to truly validate a hypothesis. Stamina and care to get to know a person rather than place them in a box. Tenacity and grit to wade through the complications of systemic problems and come out the other end rather than avoid entering the muck.

A little information is good. It is the beginning unto more.

We don’t need to become experts in it all but our curiosity must have co-conspirators of humility and drive on the journey to improvement.

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Inspired initially by reading Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline where he shows that systems thinking can cause us towards inaction but must instead drive us towards resolve.

Also inspired by applying this to personality tests/assessments by Seth Godin from his Akimbo podcast episode “Spirit of Ecstasy” (Go to minute 28:00). He points out that personality tests can be used as a shortcut to actually get to know someone and build intimacy.