What’s Really at Stake When No One Gets Curious?

Dr. Stacy Feiner

Aug 11

2 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

In this month's newsletter, we take a look at how curiosity shapes relationships and helps us truly see the people around us.

Curiosity Builds Relationships

Relationships grow through attention. We learn about ourselves and one another through the exchanges that happen between us: asking, listening, sharing, responding, and allowing ourselves to be influenced by what we discover. Curiosity creates the conditions for those exchanges. It invites people to bring more of themselves into a relationship and gives us access to perspectives beyond our own. Over time, these moments build trust, belonging, and the sense that our presence matters.

In organizations, this is felt when people pay attention to how they are received, whether others take an interest in their experience, and whether there is room for them to contribute to the exchange. Leaders shape this experience through everyday interactions. A question asked with genuine interest can reveal what motivates someone, what concerns them, where they want to grow, and what they may be seeing that others have missed. Curiosity expands what a group is capable of understanding together.

Featured Case Study

To See or Be Seen

We've all heard the warning: "Curiosity killed the cat." But in our relationships, what happens when caution keeps us from being curious? Robyn spent eleven months inside a company surrounded by people every day. She showed interest in her colleagues, asked questions, and made an effort to know them. Yet over those eleven months, very few people became curious about her.

No one asked what mattered to her. She remained present and productive while much of who she was stayed unseen.

Robyn's experience raises larger questions about the relationships we create at work. Her story reveals how quietly distance can take hold, and how simple actions can begin to change it.

What happens to people, teams, and culture when we stop being curious about one another?

Read 'To See & Be Seen'