Leadership’s Most Critical Skill

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The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.

- Stephen Hawking

While we may debate the most important skill of a good business leader, certainly a critical skill is curiosity. That is, demonstrating curiosity and inspiring and cultivating the natural curiosity in your staff. Ineffective business leaders are the ones who have lost their passion and curiosity for their subject or even for their job.

You can’t fake curiosity and passion. The best leaders are the ones who show their passion to continuously learn more about their subject. They are not afraid to show mistakes or admit that they don’t know it all. They continuously seek to experiment with new ideas.

The best leaders guide, coach, inspire, and feed that natural flame of curiosity and exploration that lives within every employee. The courage to lead, then, is the courage to expose yourself as you demonstrate your curiosity and passion for business subjects. This kind of passion is both infectious and memorable.

The openness to show your natural curiosity in front of others requires one to be vulnerable. Passionate curiosity demonstrates many things to others, including that we don’t know all the answers or even that we are uncertain about various things. Be curious and never fear your vulnerability.

Become the leader and coach who lights the sparks and inspires those around you to pursue curiosity, exploration, and discovery.