How Leaders Can Leverage “The Curiosity Curve” to Spark Innovation, Engagement, and Trust

Fresh out of business school, with tons of hope and an abundance of aspiration, my first job wasn’t in a corner office, it wasn’t even in an office at all. It was behind the wheel of a Frito-Lay delivery truck. I was a Teamster. At 4:00 a.m., I loaded boxes of chips and stocked shelves in grocery stores across Detroit. On the surface, it was routine, manual work. But I quickly noticed something important: the drivers who simply followed the planogram, the set chart of where products should go, finished quickly but rarely grew sales.

The drivers who asked questions, however, were different. Why is this display hidden in the back? What if I moved it near the checkout? Why do shoppers in this neighborhood buy more of one flavor than another? They didn’t just deliver snacks, they reshaped the customer experience. Those were the drivers who consistently outperformed the rest.

In aisle seven, it occurred to me: curiosity is not a luxury, it’s a strategic advantage.

Years later, I found myself leading teams inside Fortune 50 megabrands, working alongside executives managing billions in revenue. The settings couldn’t have been more different from my days as a Teamsters union driver, Local 337, hauling boxes of chips. But the pattern was strikingly similar. The leaders who asked better questions built stronger teams, uncovered innovative pathways, and solved complex problems faster. The ones who defaulted to “the way we’ve always done it” stalled, just like drivers who never moved the display.

Curiosity, it turns out, scales from the truck to the C-suite.

I wondered: could curiosity be the secret elixir to growth? After years of research, the answer was a resounding yes ma’am. I discovered that curiosity isn’t just a personality trait—it’s a capability that can be learned, cultivated, and even measured.

That insight led me to create the Curiosity Curve™, a framework designed to help leaders intentionally build cultures where curiosity fuels performance, not fear. It’s an antidote to stalled growth, disengaged teams, and the critical gap between strategy and execution.

What Is the Curiosity Curve™? 

The Curiosity Curve™ maps curiosity across four zones that leaders must continually balance. Each zone sits on a continuum. We move up and down depending on the environment we’re in, the people we’re with, and the circumstances we face.

• Exploration – the courage to ask, “what if” and “why not”?
• Focused Engagement – the discipline to dig deeper, not skim the surface.
• Inspirational Creativity – the spark that connects dots in unexpected ways.
• Openness to New Ideas – the humility to consider perspectives beyond your own.

All four zones matter. Our curiosity naturally rises and drifts with context, it expands in some settings, and contracts in others. And here’s the truth: curiosity is contagious. So is incuriosity. When a leader models curiosity, it spreads. When they shut it down, that spreads too.

Why Leaders Should Care 

• Innovation depends on it. Curiosity widens the solution space, uncovering options that execution alone can’t.
• Engagement soars. Employees are 2.5x more likely to stay when their questions, not just their answers, are valued.
• Trust deepens. Asking, listening, and considering perspectives creates the psychological safety teams need to thrive.

Ignore curiosity, and the cost is clear: stale thinking, silent rooms, and disengaged teams. In a world where organizations are battling for top talent, losing curiosity is the fastest way to lose your edge.

How to Apply the Curiosity Curve™ 

1. Start with yourself. Ask more questions than you answer. Pause before responding and really listen with an open mind. Curiosity starts at the top, and employees take their cues from you.
2. Put curiosity into decisions. Test decisions through the four zones: exploration, focus, creativity, openness. Have we explored enough options? Have we considered all perspectives? Have we been disciplined in our analysis?
3. Reward the question, not just the answer. If your systems only reward short-term output, curiosity will vanish. Celebrate the game-changing “what if” as much as the quarterly win. Culture thrives on what leaders notice, celebrate, and sustain.
4. Build routines of inquiry. Start meetings with a single bold question. Rotate “chief curiosity officer” roles within your team. Small rituals can normalize big cultural shifts.

The Bottom Line 

The future belongs to leaders who can balance speed with exploration, discipline with creativity, and certainty with openness. That balance doesn’t happen by luck, it happens by intention.

The Curiosity Curve™ is more than a framework. It’s proof that growth begins not with the smartest answer but with the boldest question. Leaders who understand this don’t just innovate. They create organizations where people want to stay, contribute fully, and trust that their ideas matter.

In a world where talent and ideas are the ultimate competitive edge, that’s the culture that wins. And these are the valuable lessons I learned as a delivery truck driver.

Written by Dr. Debra Clary.