Last week, we told you about an interview question we love to ask job applicants.
In addition to asking candidates where lettuce comes from (yes, really) and what animal most represents their personality (again, we aren’t making this up) and what they are currently reading (still waiting for someone to say “the back of the cereal box”), we ask prospective team members to tell us about something they have learned recently.
Because here is what we have discovered to be almost universally true:
Curious people are the best people.
I don’t know the last time you played the “wiki game” or went all-in on an extremely random topic, but we are here to remind you that there is joy down the rabbit hole. There is value in learning about random issues of interest, regardless of how disparate the topics feel from your “real” job.
Learning for the sake of learning matters.
Recently, we’ve read about AI language generator GPT-3, a man who spent a year living in a hollowed-out Redwood tree, and this bananas story about a tenant who refuses to leave. We learned that Shakespeare likely spoke more like an American Southerner than a modern-day Brit (yes, our minds were blown, too) and that sharks are eating the internet (one of our favorite stories to drop at parties…also, remember parties?!).
Getting lost in exploration is fun — and it makes us better at our jobs. Because that habit of asking what? and how? and why? — well it turns out that habit is good for business. We are more compelling storytellers when we chase down the entire story. We are better advocates when we are willing to wade fully into an issue. And best of all, we never run out of things to talk about at the (Zoom) office lunch table!
What have you learned recently? We’d love to hear from you!
If you haven’t already, check out what comes after the Intro in the +Good Newsletter.
