Curiosity: Your Secret Weapon for Business Mastery
In this episode of the Mastermind Mastery podcast, host Tina Corner Stolz argues that curiosity is the most critical skill for moderators of Peer Advisory Councils (PACs). She explains how adult curiosity wanes and must be deliberately cultivated through eight specific habits such as listening without judgment and seeking surprise. Stolz illustrates the power of curiosity with historical innovation stories (Post‑it notes, iPhone, penicillin, Play‑Doh, super glue) and cites research showing measurable business benefits—higher productivity, ROI, employee retention, customer loyalty, and longer personal lifespan. She provides a practical questioning framework based on the 5 Ws + H and offers concrete curiosity‑driven questions for leaders, meetings, and group facilitation. The episode closes with a call to action: listeners should extract personal takeaways, apply the habits, and share the insight (the “pebble” metaphor) with others.
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Welcome everyone to another episode of Mastermind Mastery. This is the podcast for you if you are wanting to create or already running peer groups. It's what we call PACs, Peer Advisory Councils. They might be known as mastermind groups, CEO peer groups, all the same. But this is the podcast if you want to run better PACs, that you want to be better at being a moderator, you want to up your game, learn advanced techniques, hear from myself as well as guests, what works, new concepts, trends, techniques. Also learn content, things you could take back to your meetings, different ways to do different things to solve problems that we all have when we're running groups. It will increase your retention, reduce your attrition, get you more members, make you more money. This is the podcast for you. I'm Tina Corner Stolz. The host. I've been doing this since 2005. I built a territory of 10+ groups, sold for a multiple, started Ellis Council, Leader Exchange Council, in 2012. We are a licensing model. We are the leading educator in the peer advisory council space. We have the podcast. I have a licensing program with certification. I've written 2 books. So today, when you hear this episode, each and every week it's a new podcast where we dive deep into a topic for 15, 20 minutes. One week it's me doing a deep dive on all the experience and insights from not only today with our entire licensed partner community or the past, what I've learned along the way, but we also have guests that are out there doing groups today that share their insights and new concepts. So let's get started with today's episode. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Mastermind Mastery. I am your host, Tina Corner Stolz. And today's episode is all about kind of phase 2. So if you heard in my previous episode about the game-changing, thought-provoking, you know, opportunity of asking $100,000 questions, I am building on that today with what I believe is probably the most important skill to cultivate as a moderator running peer groups, and that is having curiosity. That skill set, if you don't have a natural gene or trait of wanting to be curious, you have to cultivate it because the power of curiosity in moderating your meetings is so, so, so important. And you being curious about your members, Being curious about what their situation is, particularly also being curious with prospects. I think this is one of the number one things that why people don't close new members and have a high closing rate is because they're not curious enough about the prospect. When you are curious about the prospect and you ask a lot of these questions due to curiosity, then you're going to uncover naturally pain points and you're going to determine if they are a right fit for your group or not. And if they are a right fit, it's going to be clear to both of you because you were so curious about why they're having the challenges they're having, why they were successful, how come they got into the business they're in, all of those things. And it comes across as genuine And that makes a big difference. My question to you then is, when was the last time you actually asked why? Why on something? Like, why is that? Why is this? Or you went, hmm, I wonder why, right? And what did you do about it? Did you not do anything about it? Or did you actually research and ask and find out the why and solved your curiosity? So curiosity on my side, um, I've been fortunate enough that it has been natural, but it has been something I've cultivated and occurs, and I work at it so that it does occur frequently. And it can be as simple as things of like, you guys all know I live in St. Petersburg, Florida, so why is St. Petersburg called St. Petersburg? You know, why are there not buildings right on the water? And instead there were parks. And you know what, and many of you know that I met my husband here. We were married in 2020, and I was the boater in the family. He has become a boater, but I, I love his curiosity. And because he definitely has curiosity, and there's not a night that goes by that there isn't a question of why that's asked, and that we both have our phones and trying to figure out the answer. But you guys can relate, those of you that are boaters, because initially his curiosity was, well, Tina, why are toilets on boats called heads? And why is there starboard and port? And why isn't it not left and right? I don't get it. Why is this whole other language in the boating world? Why can't we all have the same language? And it just struck me as so funny because I grew up with it. I'm like, well, those are really good questions. I don't know why there's a total different language and all of that. So we would always go search that and have a lot of curiosity. And curiosity, unfortunately, as adults, okay, because there is a, um, quote about old age begins when curiosity ends. And my challenge to you today is don't let that happen to you. Don't let whatever age you are diminish your curiosity, because when you are running groups, you have to have high curiosity. And that happens because as we are adults, our curiosity wanes, right? So, you know, all the research says that curiosity is highest when we're all children, 3 to 4 years old, primarily because we are able to speak and be a little bit more aware. And a child will ask up to 100 questions a day, right? So as time goes, our curiosity goes downhill. Why does it go downhill? Because the more we think we are familiar with something, the less curious we are about it. And the only time it becomes more curious is either one, when you start a new career and, and you have a passion about it, so you're more curious to learn everything you can. But as things get further along and you mature, which could be the case for those of you that have been running groups for a long time, And so your curiosity to become better wanes. So you have to really protect against that, because what will happen is that innovation will overtake you if you are not curious, meaning there'll be some shift in how the peer group industry is run, and you will be left behind because your members will start to leave, or you couldn't and don't have the best meetings that you possibly can. So you have to develop habits to be curious. So there are 8 habits. Like what? One, to develop your curiosity: curious people listen without judgment. It's kind of straightforward. You can't be judgmental and be curious, okay? Because being judgmental means you've already made up your mind, you've made a judgment call. So you can't do that. Therefore, You have to listen without judgment and ask lots of questions. You have to seek surprise, like, well, I'm wondering if I might even be wrong. I want to see if there's a different perspective here. So you're willing to be wrong, be surprised by it, and that that's fine. And not being afraid to say, I don't know, I don't know, let's go find out. But being curious also takes time. It is not something that happens quickly. So for example, if you are looking for the why on something, you got to research that, you got to ask questions, you, right, have to take some time in order to figure out the answer. And that whatever that answer is, etc., it never actually impacts how you're thinking because you don't let past hurts affect what you might find out about being curious. So those are habits of curious people, right? You're going to ask questions, you're going to listen without judgment, you're going to be fully present. Now think about if you cultivated that with your members in your group, that you got them into the habit of listening without judgment, you got them into the habit of asking lots of questions and being fully present, and it's okay if they're wrong. So if somebody indicates to you in a conversation, let's say you're processing a challenge and there's questions being asked, another member could ask a question. Well, I'd be curious as to why you think that way, or I'd be curious as to, right, what assumptions are you making? I'm curious as to how you got to that point. Any of those types of questions work, and that comes from curious people. There are so many instances of where curiosity has created just wonderful outcomes. And you guys all know the actual story of 3M and Post-it notes, right? That's an easy one. That's where obviously Spencer Silver, who was the scientist at 3M. He was curious about creating the strong adhesive, and then he accidentally developed something that was super weak instead. Well, he didn't exactly get rid of it. Um, he thought it was a failed experiment, but what happened is, is that he started to search what else it could be used for, and his colleague, who was frustrated with bookmarks, okay, falling out of his hymnal and stuff, used it, and it was now what we are known for as Post-it notes, or what 3M is known for, for its Post-it notes. So you also have these other scenarios. You have, first of all, I want to use the iPhone with Steve Jobs because why is that as this scenario? Because it changed the industry took out Nokia. BlackBerry basically, you know, didn't change due to innovation and didn't listen to the customers and thought they knew. But Steve Jobs continued to push the envelope and wanted a more user-friendly interface. And the phone— the camera on the phone changed, right? The camera industry on top of it all. So it impacted so many different industries based on his curiosity and what he wanted to see as a vision. You have penicillin. That was a mistake, right? And it actually happened once that, you know, Alexander Fleming realized that bacteria could be killed by mold. You have Play-Doh. Who didn't turn out. That was supposed to be clean wallpaper. Who cleans wallpaper anyway? So they gave it to the local schools in Cincinnati and the rest is history. Super glue. That was the absolute reverse. It was supposed to be something that wasn't as adhesive-oriented and strong because what it was going for were some components on, on aircraft. So these are all different examples that came out extremely positive due to the scientists and the inventors being curious to solve a problem. Something else happened that became an amazing outcome. So being curious not only has the benefits of what I've already talked about, but there are hard studies about it. So let me give you just a few hard studies for those of you that are, um, in that category. Of, of liking facts. Productivity— HBR study in 2018— of being curious, of curiosity being cultivated into cultures inside organizations, there is a 20% increase in productivity. There's a 30% higher ROI and profitability of financial performance per McKinsey and Company. Employee retention is likely to be more so, 87%, okay, um, are less likely to leave per Gallup when you cultivate curiosity in your organization. 60% of customers are more likely to be retained per Forrester because you're being curious with what could help them and what it is they like and want. Per IBM, 33% are more likely to lead the industry as far as organizations from a leadership standpoint of curiosity. And then from a personal standpoint, per the National Institute of Aging, 30% of us live longer and higher quality of life when we are curious. And we all know that, and I'm sure you guys have heard this, Google, who allows 20% of the time So basically a day a week for their employees to just flat out be curious and work on anything that they want to work on, whether it's a Google-related initiative or not. And Gmail came from that, along with other products that they have. But it became such an integral success factor for Google, and it all came from this 20% time they gave, which was to cultivate innovation and curiosity. So curiosity takes a lot of deep diving and questioning. And when you foster curiosity in a team, you can tell just from examples and everything, it enhances innovation and improves them being adaptable. There's a lot better communication and collaboration. And How is it that you can cultivate these curiosity questions? And most of them come from the 5 W's and an H, right? So if you just think about continually asking questions of the 5 W's and an H, so those 5 W's— when, where, who, what, why. The H is how. So when, where, who, what, why, and then how. And why is the central component of being curious. Why? Well, why did you do that? Why did you like that? Why do you like doing that? Why? So you will bring back your inner child from way back when you were 3 or 4 and ask a crapload of why questions. That's part of being curious. It's not being annoying. It is truly genuine that you want to know, but you have to really want to know. You can also just ask things that are more clarifying. And it all goes back to 5 W's and an H though. So what's more clarifying? How did you do that? What made that successful? Right? We're back to what assumptions have to be true for success. It is just diving deep. What if we did this instead? Or what if— so a lot of what-if questions help with being more curious. So if you think about your members, there's a lot of curiosity questions CEOs should be asking about their business. And this is one of the benefits as the moderator you can help them with. So when they're walking around talking with their employees, so management by walking around, or they do town hall— town halls, or they're interacting with customers, if you can instill them to be more curious, how much better of a leader they will be and how much better their decisions will be. So if they were just even walking around and asking employees, they can ask things like, what trends outside our industry do you think we should explore? If you were in my shoes for a day, what would be the one thing that you would do differently? What's one thing you think our customers would love if we actually offered that? What's a risk you think we should be taking that we're not? What's one thing you've learned from a colleague that's changed how you do work? Who do you want to connect and collaborate with in the business but you're not? But you would like to do that? These are all great questions, or you can just simply, as a moderator, think about using these all the time. So here are 4 from a simpler approach. When you're in your meetings, you can also be asking— and somebody brings up a challenge, opportunity, or problem idea— what were you trying to accomplish, or what are you trying to accomplish? How do you feel about what's happened so far? What have you learned from this? What can you use that you've learned? How can you use it? So these are all curiosity questions, just even as a moderator, you can be asking in your meetings. So curiosity is life on discovery. It starts, right, with you being curious. And I hope that you can take away from today's episode Just an awareness of being a little bit more curious and see the impact it has, not only you, but the person you're speaking with. Albert Einstein, I'll leave you with this, is quoted by saying he has no special talents. He's only passionately curious. He says, I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. So the opportunity you have is to not settle for how it's always been done, but to be curious, because that will pave the way to innovation. You will notice that in being curious in a business environment will help your business clients be more innovative and have continuous learning. So I wish upon you that you will take this seriously and develop this as a skill set and continue to develop it as a better skill set of being curious, and that it becomes natural for you that you really want to be curious versus, yeah, you're not so much a curious person, but try it and see the benefits behind it. So thanks everyone again for listening to another episode of Mastermind Mastery. And until next time, go make it happen. Thank you everyone for listening to another episode of Mastermind Mastery. And to get access to today's episodes, not only the show notes but any tools and resources, encourage you to— not only will you find them in the episode show notes, but also you can go to the website www. Counsel.com. So elxcounsel.com, and you will find a plethora of articles and content and tools and resources and worksheets and things like that that can be helpful to you in creating and running successful PACs. I want to leave you with one thing that we end and teach to do in every single meeting, and that is the very last thing is to ask, what is your takeaway from today's episode? I encourage you to give that thought. Take advantage of the time you just invested in listening to the episode, and what can you do to move one step closer to the vision that you have and the goals that you're trying to achieve with your groups? So again, take a step back. What's your key takeaways? What can you actually act on? And I leave this with one note, and those of you that have read my book, Your Seat at the Table, you know that I ended the book with a story about my mentor. He always, when he met people, had a pebble in his pocket that he passed to them when there was knowledge shared. And so I ask you today to think about that pebble concept and to pass what you learned today on to someone else, which could be your members, or take it internally to yourself and act on it. So now go do something with those takeaways.
