Dr Dimitrios N. Koufopoulos BSc, MBA, PhD, FCMI, FIC, AIIA, CMBE, FRSA

is hosting

Stefaan van Hooydonk MSc, MBA , Founder Global Curiosity Institute

on the Topic of Curiosity for individual and organizatinal success.

Abstract Every person is born with a healthy dose of curiosity. Some people can maintain this level through adulthood, many however see its original strength deplete. The same happens with systems like start-ups. Early start ups have a high predisposition on exploration, only to see that this mindset deteriorates once the company expands, focuses on efficiency and conforms to rigid standards. The current conformist mindset of leaders is one which has been handed over from thinking of the last century. The speed of business and change we have witnessed over the last 20 years have made it clear that that model for running companies is not viable anymore. The tricks of the industrial 20th century are not good predictors anymore for running agile operations in the new 4th industrial revolution. The 21st century is the century of ideas. Those leaders and companies which allow for curiosity, openness to new ways of working, humility in changing course and allowing ideas to flow freely in their organisations will exploit better the past / explore better the future than their competition. Intentional curiosity is needed for this. Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino has found that while leaders often state that their organisations value curiosity at work, most stifle it through their culture, processes, and practices. We will explore what we know about curiosity, why it is important and what individuals and organisations can do to get better at it.