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SPOTLIGHT

Curiosity

New research shows that curiosity is vitalto an organization’s performance—as are the particular ways in which people arecurious and the experiences they are exposed to. This package examines howleaders can nurture curiosity throughout their organizations and ensure that ittranslates to success.

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The Business Case for Curiosity

Although leaders might say they valueinquisitive minds, in reality most stifle curiosity, fearing it will increaserisk and inefficiency. Harvard Business School’s Francesca Gino elaborates onthe benefits of and common barriers to curiosity in the workplace and offersfive strategies for bolstering it. Leaders should hire for curiosity, modelinquisitiveness, emphasize learning goals, let workers explore and broadentheir interests, and have “Why?” “What if...?” and “How might we...?” days.Doing so will help their organizations adapt to uncertain market conditions andexternal pressures and boost the business’s success.

The Five Dimensions of Curiosity

Psychologists have come to realize thatcuriosity is not a monolithic trait. George Mason University’s Todd B. Kashdan,David J. Disabato, and Fallon R. Goodman, along with linguist and educationalscientist Carl Naughton, break it down into five distinct dimensions:deprivation sensitivity, joyous exploration, social curiosity, stresstolerance, and thrill seeking. They explore which dimensions lead to the bestoutcomes and generate particular benefits in work and life.

From Curious to Competent

The executive search firm Egon Zehnder hasfound that executives with extraordinary curiosity are usually able, with theright development, to advance to C-level roles. But that development iscritical: Without it, a highly curious executive may score much lower oncompetence than less curious counterparts. Egon Zehnder’s ClaudioFernández-Aráoz, Andrew Roscoe, and Kentaro Aramaki describe the types ofstretch assignments, job rotations, and other experiences needed to transformcuriosity into competence.

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HOW I DID IT FEATURES FEATURES

LEADERSHIP

UNITED WAYʼS CEO ON SHIFTING A CENTURY-OLDBUSINESS MODEL

Brian Gallagher | page 036

In the 1950s the United Auto Workers negotiateda plan that allowed employees at the big carmakers to donate money directlyfrom their paychecks to the local precursors of United Way. For most of the organization’shistory, it had no direct relationship with its donors. That has changed.Payroll deductions still play an important role, but United Way is moving totechnology-driven engagement that allows individual donors to become more closelyinvolved with the mission.

In partnership with Salesforce, it has createda platform on which donors have their own home pages; there they can track allthe gift s they’ve made and all the volunteer hours they’ve committed to causesand find content or policy news or volunteer opportunities relevant to theirinterests. It has found that individuals who engage with it online give moreand continue giving from year to year. Today some 25,000 people have each givenmore than $10,000 to United Way; more than 600 have given $1 million; and 35have given $10 million or more.

HBR Reprint R1805A

FEATURES

STRATEGY

NAVIGATING TALENT

HOT SPOTS

William Kerr | page 060

Innovation clusters like San Francisco andBoston have long had an outsize impact on the global economy, and their influencekeeps growing. In 2017, for instance, America’s 10 largest tech hubs accountedfor 58% of U.S. patents.

Globally, cities such as Tokyo, Paris, Beijing,Shenzhen, and Seoul produced a similar proportion. The increased geographicconcentration of innovation activity poses a challenge for firms based insuburban industrial parks. To stay relevant, they need to tap into urban hotbeds,but setting up operations there can be extremely expensive.

In his work on global talent flows,HarvardBusiness School’s Kerr has seen organizations try three solutions: At oneextreme, they can relocate their headquarters to a hub, as GE recently did (butmake them much smaller). A less expensive strategy is to create an innovationlab or corporate outpost in a talent cluster, as Walmart did with Walmart Labs.The most conservative strategy is to run executive retreats and immersions intalent clusters—a tactic Vodafone uses effectively.

These three options aren’t mutually exclusive.Given the need to stay in touch with multiple clusters, companies may want totry them all. Each one involves substantial risks that executives must manage.But together they offer a good playbook to firms that are finding themselvesoutside the action as the clout of a handful of cities grows.

HBR Reprint R1805E

FEATURES

MARKETING

THE GOOD-BETTER-BEST

APPROACH TO PRICING

Rafi Mohammed | page 078

Companies oft en crimp profits by using discountsto attract price-sensitive customers and by failing to give high-end customersreasons to spend more. A multitier offering can use a stripped down product(the “Good” option) to attract new customers, the existing product (“Better”)to keep current customers happy, and a feature-laden premium version (“Best”)to increase spending by customers who want more.

There’s nothing new about this concept, ofcourse—think of the different grades of fuel at any gas station and the varyingpackages marketed by cable TV providers, to name just two examples—yet manycompanies and industries have failed to embrace it. The author, a consultantwho has helped many organizations adopt G-B-B pricing, presents a step-by-stepguide to devising ,testing, and launching the strategy.

Key steps include identifying “fence” attributesthat will prevent current customers from trading down from the existing offering;carefully choosing features and names to create clear differentiate on andvalue; and setting prices using feedback from in-house experts and, whenpossible, drawing on conjoint analysis and other market research.

HBR Reprint R1805H