Why Curiosity Is the Basis of Great Ideas

In this episode of Behind the Brand, Bryan Elliott talks to Seth Godin about how in a world of constant innovation, being curious can lead to groundbreaking success.

There was a time when being curious wasn’t important. Now that the world has evolved, and everyone is changing with it, Godin says learning new things isn’t merely an option—it’s a must. If you’re not curious about anything, you won’t learn much, he says.

“Too often in our world, someone does something, something extraordinary—and we don’t ask, ‘How did you do that?’ We don’t wonder, ‘How does it work?’ ” he says.

Godin believes society doesn’t ask these questions as often as it should because big corporations innovated everything—cars, electricity and appliances—in a way that discouraged the do-it-yourself mentality. By the time children got to school, they were expected to accept it all, he says. The world had become a “Don’t ask questions, no user-serviceable parts inside” kind of place.

“So now we enter this revolutionary age that we’re in right now where so many things are being rebuilt, and every once in a while, a 20-year-old comes along and builds a website that makes them billion dollars,” Godin says. “And the rest of us were just saying, ‘Oh, we never thought of that,’ because we’re just waiting for someone to tell us what to do.”