1650 - Creating a Culture of Curiosity: How Leaders Can Foster a Safe Environment for Questions with CuriosityBased's Dr. Julie Pham

In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge speaks to the CEO & Chief Executive Officer of CuriosityBased, Julie Pham.Dr. Julie Pham is a force to be reckoned with. Her mission is to help people practice curiosity in the workplace. She believes there is often a gap between what leaders say they value, such as curiosity, and what individual contributors experience.Curiosity, according to Julie, is a practice. It's about asking questions and feeling safe to do so. She cited a study that found 70% of individual contributors think there are barriers to asking questions at work. This can hinder communication and learning, which are vital for any organization's growth and success.One of the reasons people hesitate to ask questions is the fear of looking incompetent or dumb. Julie acknowledges this fear but also points out that asking questions can reveal that one wasn't listening or their team didn't adequately prepare them.However, she notes that some people consider asking questions passive and prefer to state opinions instead. To counter this, Julie suggests that leaders can model curiosity by admitting when they don't know something and encouraging others to ask questions. She recommends leaders ask questions themselves, create a safe environment for questions, and give everyone a chance to contribute in meetings.Julie shares her litmus test for language - if her refugee parents with limited English cannot understand the words being used, then it is necessary to reconsider the language. She believes that communication should not be about intellectual bullying but rather about being able to communicate with one another.
Key Points from the Episode:Importance of curiosity in the workplaceGap between leaders' values and individual contributors' experiencesDefinition of curiosity as a practice and the importance of asking questionsBarriers to asking questions at workFear of looking incompetent or dumb as a reason for hesitating to ask questionsLeaders modeling curiosity and creating a safe environment for questionsUsing plain language and clear communication for effective and inclusive conversationsCuriosity-based inclusion and the importance of asking questions for learning about others and oneselfChallenging nature of practicing curiosity and the importance of grace and listening<br/>
About Dr. Julie Pham:Dr. Julie Pham is a best selling author, a charismatic, dynamic public speaker, and an award-winning researcher and entrepreneur. Her talks are based on her nontraditional career path as well as her original research and years of community building. Her speeches have been characterized as “surprising”, “interactive,” and "thought-provoking.” She engages audiences to reframe popularly held beliefs and guides them to discuss and practice in real time. Dr. Julie Pham was born in Saigon, and escaped with her family as boat people to the U.S. to Seattle. She earned her PhD in history at Cambridge University as a Gates Cambridge Scholar and she graduated magna cum laude from UC Berkeley as a Haas Scholar. She then got her "real life MBA" by returning to Seattle to help lead her family’s Vietnamese newspaper through the 2008-2010 recession. She left the newspaper to work in the tech industry and then pivoted to start her company, CuriosityBased, in the middle of the pandemic.
About CuriosityBased: CuriosityBased is a dedicated consulting practice that empowers individuals to harness the potential of their curiosity through interactive workshops and skilled facilitation. Specializing in enhancing communication, collabo