CURIOSITY AND LEADERSHIPedited

Running Head: CURIOSITY AND LEADERSHIP 1

Curiosity and leadership

Students Name

Institution

CURIOSITY AND LEADERSHIP 2

Curiosity is a trait that makes an individual to have the desire to know more about a

phenomenon that is not clear to them. It is not only phenomena that people are curious about but

also other issues and occurrences that may happen to them in their lives. It has been established

that the levels of curiosity differ from person to person. There are those persons whose level of

curiosity is higher than those of others depending on the state of their minds. The difference in

their levels of curiosity is only seen in the intensity of how they become curious and their ability

to do away with the curiosity when they have established what the occurrence of the event is all

about.

To understand the different levels of curiosity between different people, one observes

how people behave when they face some event or something that they want to gain an

understanding about, and they are not yet in the position to understand that event (Peterson &

Seligman 2004). There are those who will be curious to the extent that they cannot do anything

else apart from paying their full concentration to the event that they want to understand. They

will ensure that the focus is on the event in question until they understand what the event is all

about. For example, a person may observe a strange creature in water and decide to go closer to

make out what the creature is. The person may be very curious and cannot observe anything

around them until they establish what the creature is. If the person gets satisfied after

understanding the creature, then their level of curiosity can be seen to be moderate.

However, there are other persons whose level of curiosity is very high to the extent that

even after establishing what their cause of curiosity was, they still continue to be curious. For

example, a person who observes the strange creature in water and goes to observe it closely is

expected to satisfy their curiosity when they establish what the creature is. However, if the

person continues to desire to know more and more details about the creature, their level of

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curiosity is interpreted to be very high. Such persons do not satisfy their curiosity by just getting

closer to understanding what they want to know. They continue to push for more details about

the event in question even after getting closer to understanding their cause of curiosity.

Curiosity is directly proportional to real life leadership as it has a significant influence on

those who are leaders. Firstly, it influences how they perceive real-life situations and how they

can approach these situations to solve the life problems that are encountered by people. People

who are curious at different levels will have different approaches to life problems, and especially

when they are leaders, they will have different leadership approaches from one another (Kashdan

& Steger 2007). A moderately curious person will not adopt the same leadership approaches with

another person whose level of curiosity is very high. 

A little curiosity is good because it enables a leader to work and cannot remain dormant

without doing anything concerning the problems that the people he or she leads are facing.

However, too much curiosity might be dangerous to a leader because they may end up not

looking for a solution to a problem but rather take a long lifetime wondering about the issue.

This is because they cannot get rid of their curiosity even after they have established that there is

a problem. For instance, a leader who is faced with the problem of insecurity or terrorism to

solve needs to be moderately curious. If the people are faced with the issue of insecurity, the

leader is only entitled to understanding that there is insecurity among his or her people (Langer

2016). This should make them curious to find out the possible causes of the insecurity after

which they embark on fighting the vice to promote peace.

However, if the leader has too much of curiosity, if they are faced with the problem of

insecurity, they will establish that there is terrorism who are interfering with the peace of people,

but they will not act promptly. If they get to understand the issue of hand, they will continue to

CURIOSITY AND LEADERSHIP 4

be curious and ask themselves why there could be a rise in the rates of terrorism among the

people they are leading. They do not solve the problem with immediate effect when they learn

about it because they continue to be curious about the whole event even after learning that such

an event is still thriving (Jones 2017). This is why it is necessary for people to tame their levels

of curiosity. Any person is subject to curiosity but how they face their curiosity is what will

determine the effect the curiosity has on them. For the leaders, if they cannot tame and manage

their curiosity, they will affect the people who they are leading because the curiosity will be part

and parcel of their life even at times when an action is needed from them to save the day for the

people who are looking upon them for direction and protection.

Closely related to this is the concept of mindfulness and meditation as exposed by these

readings. The state of mindfulness and meditation are two different concepts with the state of

mindfulness being created by meditation (Thompson & Miller-Perrin 2003). One must meditate

first about something so that they can consequently become mindful of it. For one to have the

ability to be a self leader, they have to always meditate on what faces them and thereby

becoming mindful of the same. It is only through this that one can act upon the issue at hand

because when they are mindful of something, they will think through it seriously while finding

ways to approach it. A self leader, who must be a problem solver, will require these aspects to

ensure that they can come up with solutions to as many problems as they may face.

In summary, the concept of curiosity goes hand in hand with self-leadership and the

making of the meaning of life. Given that different persons have got different levels of curiosity,

they, therefore, have different ways of approaching the reality of life and consequently giving

life meaning. This why some people perceive mindfulness in life as being the same as meditation

while others have grasped the right concept two distinct concepts. One who is a self leader and

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had the best approaches to of meaning of life is the person who achieves the state of mindfulness

by meditating.

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References

Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Curiosity [Interest, Novelty-Seeking, Openness to

Experience].

Kashdan, T. B., & Steger, M. F. (2007). Curiosity and pathways to well-being and meaning in

life: Traits, states, and everyday behaviors. Motivation and Emotion, 31(3), 159-173.

Langer, E. J. (2016). The power of mindful learning. Hachette UK.

Jones, X. (2017). The resolution, is REVOLUTION. Page Publishing Inc.

Thompson, D., & Miller-Perrin, C. (2003). Understanding Vocation: Discerning and Responding

to God's Call. Leaven, 11(1), 11.

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