Effective Leadership in Turbulent Times

Thoughts on the leadership-enhancing power of curiosity

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This is an essay about curiosity, how I’ve come to suspect it’s in short supply and why reconnecting with it might just be one key to more effective leadership in confusing and unsettled times.

The Victoria and Albert Museum is a truly unique place and I do mean “one of a kind.” It was founded as the offspring of the Great Exhibition, really, the first World’s Fair held in London in 1851 and at one time its brand was “the nation’s attic.” At one level, it’s a museum of decorative arts but it’s so much more than that. This last visit, I wandered into their new performing arts collection and was dazzled by video and costume displays from theater, dance and music and set models and all sorts of enchanting physical evidence of performances past.

Early in my visit, I was walking around the true decorative arts galleries and went from this sort of thing:

To this:

And I just found this deeply curious! While the V&A is innovative, it usually is pretty traditional in its gallery curation. So I went and read the curator’s notes on the piece, titled “Globe” and then decided to sit inside it. After watching people’s reactions for a few minutes, I got so involved I ended up staying nearly half an hour.