How Bold Questions Drive Leadership, Engagement & Performance With Dr. Debra Clary

Curiosity isn’t a soft skill. It’s a strategic advantage.

In this episode of Career Sessions, Career Lessons, JR chats with Dr. Debra Clary, author of The Curiosity Curve: A Leader’s Guide to Growth and Transformation Through Bold Questions, and explores why curiosity is the missing link in leadership, engagement, and high performance.

Drawing on four decades of corporate leadership experience, Dr. Clary explains how curiosity directly impacts employee engagement, innovation, decision-making, and organizational culture.

Together, they discuss:

• The research-backed link between curiosity and performance
• Why 65% of millennials report being disengaged at work
• How leaders unintentionally kill curiosity
• The difference between exploration and execution
• The four components of the “Curiosity Curve”
• Why “I don’t know” may be the most powerful thing a leader can say
• Whether AI enhances or diminishes critical thinking
• How to build a culture of curiosity during transformation or change
• Practical questions leaders can ask to assess curiosity in candidates and teams

Dr. Clary also shares how organizations can measure curiosity through diagnostics, activate “curiosity ambassadors,” and create alignment from the executive team down.

If you care about leadership development, culture transformation, employee engagement, innovation, or becoming the kind of leader people actually want to work for, this conversation is for you.

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Check out the full series of “Career Sessions, Career Lessons” podcasts here or visit pathwise.io/podcast/. A full written transcript of this episode is also available at https://pathwise.io/podcasts/dr-debra-clary.