Great leaders and teams demonstrate curiosity. Curiosity is essential if you and your team want to make sure you quickly get the results that you desire.
Sam Walton was very curious about the customer experience and was constantly shopping Wal-Mart’s stores and those of his competitors. He also actively sought out people to give him feedback on what he was doing wrong and how he could improve. He was almost always seen with his yellow legal pad and a tape recorder to capture ideas to improve.
Phil Knight was very curious what athletes thought about Nike shoes and the shoes of his competitors. He was often down at track meets and constantly on the hunt for new ideas to make his shoes fit or perform better.
Jeff Bezos was constantly looking at ways to reduce friction in the transactions. Because of that curiosity Amazon developed “one click” buying, ebooks, audible books, and nearly instant delivery.
Stay curious about things like:
- Customer buying preferences. (Are there shifts in what they want and challenges they are experiencing?)
- Results of actions taken. (How is that initiative really working?)
- Morale of the team. (What is energizing them and what is taking away energy?)
- Competitor/peer actions. (How are they solving similar problems?)
Curiosity will help you better serve your customers (internal and external), differentiate yourself in the marketplace, and see where you need to adjust.
Stay curious. You would be in good company.
Recent Comments