“You can’t have curiosity without active listening.”

Co-Founders Randy Hain and Brandon Smith are back on the mics for a new episode of The Leadership Foundry Podcast!

From building your empathy muscle to becoming a better listener, tune in as they share five ways curiosity makes you a better leader.

03:00 Why is curiosity important? “We talk at each other; we don’t get to know each other.” – Randy

04:30 Brandon explains why curiosity is a superpower for leaders that eliminates all guessing! It makes things efficient and effective.

07:00 Randy says don’t over prepare – think of better questions to ask.

08:00 “Being curious is being vulnerable.” Brandon shares how curiosity builds our confidence, humility, and leads to openness. “There’s power in being the one asking questions.”

11:00 The first question opens the package. Randy and Brandon discuss the power of “tell me more about that.”

13:00 “You can’t have curiosity without active listening.” – Randy

15:00 Get comfortable with not knowing where the conversation is going to go. Be genuinely interested in learning something new.

18:30 Without curiosity, you miss out on the opportunity to learn something new or discover new solutions.

19:00 How does curiosity help us build relationships with the people we care about? It’s a form of empathy.

21:00 “You can’t have intimacy without curiosity.” – Brandon

23:00 Randy and Brandon give examples of the types of questions to ask. We ask questions to build dialogue!

27:30 The “Curiosity Cake”- Randy summarizes the ingredients needed to have meaningful conversations.

31:00 Be careful of opening any question with “why?” – why implies judgment.

32:00 Where do we start to build the curiosity muscle?

Show Resources:

  • Check out books from our founders including “Essential Wisdom” by Randy and Brandon’s new book, “The Author vs. Editor Dilemma” mentioned in this episode here.
  • Never miss an episode – subscribe to The Leadership Foundry Podcast on Apple PodcastsSpotify and Google Play.