When in Doom, Be Curious – The Mindset Shift We Need Now

Change and disruption can unnerve us. 

Last year, I was facilitating a leadership workshop when a participant shared a concern that stayed with me. 

He expressed,”With all the uncertainty around – AI disruption, climate change, geopolitical upheavals – it sometimes feels like the world is falling apart. What’s the point of trying to lead amidst this chaos?”

To tackle this question, I asked the group, “What according to you is one thing that can help us navigate uncertainty and disruption.”

Each participant had to write one thing on a sticky and put it on a wall. 

As we noticed what they had shared, a common theme emerged – CURIOSITY. 

Ezra Klein wrote, “The antidote to doom is curiosity”. When faced with uncertainty, our natural instinct is to retreat, to simplify, to judge, to despair. 

Curiosity, on the other hand, invites us to lean in, to explore what we don’t yet understand, to be comfortable with not knowing. It replaces fear with fascination. 

The spirit of curiosity nudges us to ask, “What can I still make possible?”

In times of uncertainty, our questions matter more than our answers. When the world feels heavy with doom, perhaps the best thing we can do is to stay curious – about people, about problems, and about possibilities. 

Every meaningful change, whether personal or collective, begins not with certainty, but with curiosity.

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