For Leaders & CEOs | Matt Karlsven - Curiosity Expert & Author

As businesses scale, CEOs often shift from curious to certain, from inventing to defending, from learning to repeating. The early days are fueled by discovery, questions, and experimentation. Then expectations increase, pressure rises, and leaders begin assuming instead of asking.

Curious → Certain

Inventing → Defending

Creating → Managing

Learning → Repeating

Curiosity is the antidote.

Curiosity Creates Better Leadership Decisions

Better Questions → Better Visibility → Better Decisions

💢 "Why are they not doing their job?"

🔍 "What obstacle do they believe stands in their way?"

💢 "Why can't they follow instructions?"

🔍 "What part of this didn't feel clear or aligned to them?"

💢 "Why aren't things improving?"

🔍 "What assumptions are we making that may not be true anymore?"

Leaders Often Don't See What Employees Experience Daily

Employees live close to inefficiencies, customer objections, recurring fires, bottlenecks, and system gaps. Leaders live close to forecasts, strategy, investor expectations, and customer outcomes. Curiosity bridges that distance.

Story: The Founder Who Thought His Team Was Slow

A CEO of a fast-growth agency was frustrated: Deadlines slipped. Quality varied. People seemed disengaged. He assumed: "They don't care as much as I do."

Then he asked a curiosity-based question in a team workshop: "What slows us down that leadership doesn't see?"

Employees immediately listed: unclear priorities, frequent scope changes, meetings scheduled during deep work, leadership approvals delayed, conflicting KPIs. None of them involved laziness.

The CEO learned: They weren't slow—they were stuck. Curiosity changed accusation into diagnosis.

Within 60 days: ✔ they reorganized work cycles ✔ approvals were batched ✔ priorities were clarified ✔ distractions reduced

Productivity soared. Culture improved. Retention increased. Curiosity moved the lever at the source.

Curiosity Turns Leaders Into Motivators

Employees don't want perfection. They want leaders to be interested.

Ask Your Team

💬 "What part of your job feels harder than it should—and why?"

💬 "What are you currently working on that makes you proud?"

💬 "What's something you wish leadership understood about your workload?"

💬 "Where are we losing time or money internally?"

💬 "What's the biggest opportunity you see that we're not acting on?"

Employees feel valued where curiosity exists.

Curiosity Removes Fear From Culture

When teams don't speak up, leaders say: "Nobody gives feedback." Truth: People don't give feedback when they think it will be punished.

Curiosity communicates: "I want to know." Fear communicates: "Don't rock the boat."

Change Your Wording

❌ "Why did this fail?"

✓ "What did we learn from this?"

❌ "Why didn't you hit goal?"

✓ "What assumptions about the goal were wrong?"

❌ "Explain what went wrong."

✓ "What part of the process made this outcome likely?"

Curiosity makes failure useful.

Leadership Experiments CEOs Can Run

These are real, low-risk, high-insight practices:

⭐ Experiment #1: The Shadow Day

Spend 1 hour shadowing a team member with no agenda. This reveals real operational friction.

Watch for:

Tools used
Interruptions
Repetition
Decision-making
Time spent on approvals

⭐ Experiment #2: Remove One Rule

Ask: "What policy, process, or recurring meeting would make your work meaningfully better if removed?" Then remove one for 30 days.

Measure:

Speed
Costs
Morale

⭐ Experiment #3: Micro Wins Recognition

End weekly standup with: "Tell me one win you had this week—even if small."

This creates:

Visibility of progress
Celebration habit
Identity reinforcement

⭐ Experiment #4: Role Clarity Swap

Ask each key leader: "What is something your role owns that everyone assumes someone else owns?"

Result:

Accountability alignment
Reduced confusion
Clearer ownership

Curiosity Makes Space for Innovation

Story: The CEO Who Wanted Innovation But Accidentally Punished It

A founder said: "I want people to try new things." But every time someone innovated and it failed, the CEO corrected publicly, removed ownership, rewrote the solution, and explained "how it should have been done."

People learned: "Risk leads to embarrassment."

Then one day he asked a curious question: "What could I change so taking risks feels safer for you?"

Responses shocked him: "Let us finish an experiment before stepping in." "Don't solve problems in meetings." "Give feedback privately."

He changed that. Within 90 days: new products launched, automation increased, revenue improved, culture became creative.

Innovation returned—not because he demanded it, but because curiosity made space for it.

Curiosity-Driven Leadership Mindset

Leaders thrive when they ask themselves:

⭐ "What can only I see right now?"

⭐ "What problem has everyone normalized that I shouldn't?"

⭐ "Where have we stopped innovating and started protecting?"

⭐ "What assumptions might be outdated?"

⭐ "What bottleneck exists because I haven't delegated?"

⭐ "What skill gap do I need to own instead of wishing someone else had?"

Curiosity sharpens leadership self-awareness.

Curiosity Creates Trust

Trust doesn't come from compensation, perks, speeches, or slogans. Trust comes from: "I'm interested in how you experience this place."

Curiosity is the highest form of respect in leadership.

The 1-1 Curiosity Framework

Use in employee meetings to transform relationships

💬 "What part of your job has meaning for you?"

💬 "What's something that drains you that we may not realize?"

💬 "What capability do you want to develop next?"

💬 "What does success look like in your role in the next 90 days?"

💬 "What should I be doing differently to help you thrive?"

People Follow Meaning, Not Instructions

Story: The CEO Who Wanted Loyalty

A CEO once said: "My team just doesn't care like I do." But when asked: "Do they know what matters most to you?" His answer was: "Yes—results, growth, improvement." No mention of relationship, trust, security, belonging, or belief.

He reframed: "If my team knew the STORY behind the mission, they'd work differently."

He started sharing: why he started the company, what obstacles nearly shut it down, who helped, what customers said, what made him cry, what his turning point was.

His employees finally understood WHAT and WHY. Within months: Turnover dropped. Engagement grew. Productivity increased. Revenue grew.

People won't follow instructions with loyalty. But they will follow meaning. Curiosity uncovers meaning.

How Curiosity Transforms Leadership