The 7 reasons curiosity is the career superpower we all need right now
Recently, I had the joy of welcoming Neil Hoyne, Chief Strategist at Google, to Georgia State University at a Future of Marketing conference for a fireside conversation about careers, innovation, and something we're both incredibly passionate about: curiosity.
What began as a casual, unscripted discussion quickly evolved into a deep dive on how curiosity isn't just a soft skill—it's a strategic, creative, and career-defining force. Across our different industries and career paths, we've both seen the same truth again and again: Curiosity may be the most underestimated—and most powerful—advantage you can bring to your work.
We talked about emerging tech (AI, of course), career pivots, hiring blind spots, and the disconnect between companies saying they want innovation and actually rewarding the behaviors that lead to it.
There's a tendency to treat curiosity as something cute or optional. But when you really step back and look at how organizations grow—and how careers evolve—curiosity is the engine behind it all.
Here are seven reasons we believe curiosity is your ultimate career superpower.
1. It helps you spot what others miss. Whether you're analyzing data, launching a campaign, or leading a team, curiosity gives you the instinct to ask better questions. It's how you catch faulty metrics, challenge outdated assumptions, and uncover opportunities hiding in plain sight.
2. It separates hype from real opportunity. Trends come and go (remember the metaverse?). Curiosity is how you evaluate what's meaningful and what's marketing. It encourages you to investigate—'What does this do? Who is it for? Why now?'—instead of blindly jumping on a bandwagon.
3. It makes you a stronger collaborator. The best ideas rarely come from a single person—they come from unexpected intersections. Neil shared how his teams literally sit with different departments just to learn their language and observe their rhythms. Curiosity helps you bridge silos and build empathy across roles.
4. It drives continuous learning. Careers stall when learning stops. Curious people stay energized because they're always discovering. When you measure your career not just in promotions, but in how much you're growing, that's when things get really interesting.
5. It creates career resilience. Neil's journey to Google wasn't smooth; he was rejected more than 30 times before landing the role. But his curiosity kept him asking, 'Where can I create the most value?'That mindset turned rejection into insight, and ultimately, into a breakthrough.
6. It builds more innovative teams. Too often, companies hire for 'safe' over 'interesting.' But diverse thinkers—those who ask 'why' and 'what if'—are the ones who push teams forward. Cultures that reward curiosity, not just conformity, are the ones that actually innovate.
7. It leads to meaningful work. Neil said it best: 'I'm not paid to be right—I'm also paid to ask, what if we're wrong?' That simple reframing is what opens possibility. It's how great leaders future-proof their decisions, and how great marketers connect more deeply with their audiences. He went on to say he knows many people whose career journey at Google hasn't been smooth, with some being rejected more than 70 times. The common trait? Their curiosity kept them asking.
Curiosity is how we connect the dots between what we do and why we do it. It's how we stay aligned with purpose. It helps us find not just any job, but the right one. Not just any solution, but the one that truly makes a difference.
One of my favorite takeaways from our conversation was this: curiosity isn't just a tool for early-career professionals or researchers in labs. It's just as essential in the boardroom, at the front of a classroom, or around a startup table.
Whether you're navigating your next big pivot, mentoring a student, leading a team through change, or just wondering what's next in your own career, stay curious. Ask better questions. Learn someone else's language. Reimagine what's possible.
Curiosity may not always be the easiest road, but it will absolutely take you somewhere extraordinary. And who doesn't want to take the ordinary to extraordinary?
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