Curiosity is not a soft skill, but an operational advantage

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February 3, 2026 | 12:00am

The smartest move isn’t talking about what you’ve achieved. You know that already. There’s no point in bragging, but in getting curious and learning about what others have lived through. Real influence doesn’t come from polished stories about you; it comes from the questions you ask them.

Questions like — how did that make you feel? What was that like? What surprised you the most? What would you do differently if you had another chance to do it again? How did that experience change the way you act and think after that? And here’s the Swiss Army knife of curiosity, ask — what did that teach you that still applies today?

Those questions do something which bragging can never do — they open doors to insight, trust and learning.

Two weeks ago, I tested this theory with the department managers of a Cavite-based factory. Without me signing any non-disclosure agreement, the factory head confided to me their difficulties in achieving even the first level of world-class excellence.

“Please elaborate. What’s your definition of world-class excellence?’’ He said they can’t force their workers to cooperate even with their 5S good housekeeping program. “Why not? What makes it difficult for them to support 5S?”

But why force it? I asked those questions with a heavy dose of active listening. I didn’t say, “that’s easy to fix,” because that would be wildly presumptuous with so little information. In manufacturing, instant solutions are like emotional candy — sweet, flashy and great for a consultant’s show-offs.

The problem? The sugar rush fades fast and you’re left with the same operational toothache. On the other hand, asking polite, but intelligent questions, not the investigative ones are like vegetables. They’re healthy. They’ll keep your continuous learning alive and well.

Disclosure-seeking questions

In the world of Kaizen and Lean Thinking, practitioners ask Five Whys to discover the root cause of a problem. Why did we miss the project deadline? Why did our top customer receive a defective product? Why are we still observing a 1993 management policy?

Why are we giving the perfect attendance award to people who are required to come to work daily and on time? Why are we not gathering and analyzing customer feedback? Why do we have a high attrition rate? The list goes on and on.

The more whys, the better. And at times, you’ll be surprised to discover an instant low-cost solution to a recurring problem. To be precise, even asking dumb questions is a better option than correcting costly, dumb mistakes.

That’s why we ask disclosure-seeking questions — the kind that identifies motives, conflicts and inconvenient facts. When talking to a major supplier, one uncomfortable but revealing question might be – “how are you related to one of our executives?” That one, single question does more background checking than volumes of a procurement policy.

When you do that, look the other person in the eye. Prepare to decipher their facial expressions, adjusted posture, even those micro-pauses. Most of the time, you’ll get the information you’re seeking.

To a job applicant, the best question to ask is — “if I will talk to your past employer, what would they tell you about your capabilities?” It’s the best option to “why are you planning to leave your current company?”

That’s because applicants are ready to give you a rehearsed answer (found in the internet) you don’t want to hear, like what they claim in their self-serving statements on LinkedIn. Instead, you want the human, unadulterated version given to you in person.

It’s not a trick question, but a trust question. Then, imagine dealing with one authentic applicant willing to tell something even at the risk of losing the race.

Quality questions

We can judge people more accurately by the quality of their questions than by the genius of their answers. Anyone can rehearse answers, but few can fake curiosity, self-awareness or intellectual honesty. One of the most powerful leadership questions I know is also one of the simplest:

“What is the weakness of your proposal, your program or your own leadership — if there’s any?” The key phrase “if there’s any” represents objectivity. It exposes whether someone could justify their narrative. Questions like that function like an organizational X-ray.

They reveal fractures before they become funerals. Full trust, of course, does not appear in onboarding. It develops over time — sometimes one year, sometimes five. What matters is not the calendar. What matters is the behavior practiced along the way.

When managers ask engaging questions, they often encounter a predictable corporate species. Eyes widen. Movement slows. Silence spreads. Then ask follow-up questions starting with — “at what point does room for error become a room for responsibility?”

Andy Grove titled his book Only the Paranoid Survive (1996) because in leadership, paranoia does not mean fear. It means “disciplined curiosity” when you constantly question assumptions that “used to work.” It means long-term success belongs to leaders who are alert, humble and willing to reinvent — even when things still look fine.

Lastly, if you don’t ask the most difficult questions, you’ll never know the answer. You’ll just keep guessing — and guessing is how myths, office rumors, costly assumptions, suspicions, misalignment and spectacularly bad decisions are born.

Rey Elbo is a quality and productivity enthusiast. For comments, email [email protected] or DM him on Facebook, LinkedIn, X or via https://reyelbo.com. Anonymity is the luxury reserved for braggarts — because they also need a witness protection program.