Episode 2

Prof. Francesca Gino: How can you encourage curiosity and rebel talent?

Available on these channels and more

How do you respond to a world that feels more complex, and uncertain? Put your head in the sand, do the same, pedal faster, hoping it goes away? As silly as that sounds, many executives and professionals do this even while they talk eloquently about their context.

A better approach is to double down on your curiosity. At work this means being more curious about the needs and expectations of your customers, the dynamics of the workplace, the wider system you operate in and your own ways of thinking.

There are obvious things you can do: ask more questions, seek out new people to spend time with, learn new skills, spend time in new places (virtual or physical). It means being able to handle the feeling of being uncomfortable and out of your depth. It also means opening your mind to new possibilities, overcoming your limiting assumptions. Curiosity is the topic I discuss with my guest Professor Francesca Gino at Harvard Business School.

The best bits of these conversations are captured in my newsletter Flashes+Sparks.

Further resources

“Being rebellious is a way of being where we just don’t sit with the status quo, we don’t become complacent. We’re always looking at life and at work as opportunities for changing and learning continuously.”

Professor Francesca Gino, Harvard Business School

VIEW RUNNING ORDER

03.25 What her research on workplace productivity and engagement tells us.
05.50 The impact of leader sentiment and internal strength in dealing with the challenges of the pandemic.
08.03 How we sustain “better” behaviours in the post-pandemic period.
09.26 The biases she would be alive to if designing a workplace from scratch.
12.16 How to have effective productive disagreement in a virtual environment.
15.36 Is nurturing rebel talent a perpetual state of beta?
19.48 How she rebels in Harvard Business School.
22.53 How she measures her own impact.
25.30 Leading her life without trying to be perfect all of the time.
27.43 The frontiers of research in behavioural science.
32.13 What her research tells us about the design and execution of strategy.
34.23 The relationship between strategy and culture.
Pia Lauritzen: Connecting through questions

Pia Lauritzen: Connecting through questions

Frances Frei: Fixing hard problems fast

Frances Frei: Fixing hard problems fast

Aga Bajer: Cracking the code on culture

Aga Bajer: Cracking the code on culture

Holger Nils Pohl: Tackling complex problems using visual thinking

Holger Nils Pohl: Tackling complex problems using visual thinking

Paolo Gallo: Mastering your inner journey

Paolo Gallo: Mastering your inner journey

Herminia Ibarra: Mastering career transitions

Herminia Ibarra: Mastering career transitions

Alison Taylor: Taking the Higher Ground

Alison Taylor: Taking the Higher Ground

Morra Aarons-Mele: Turning anxiety into your superpower

Morra Aarons-Mele: Turning anxiety into your superpower

Neil Mullarkey: Communicating with improv

Neil Mullarkey: Communicating with improv

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