There’s a moment, often quiet and unnoticed, when innovation begins to slip away. Not with a failed launch or a major mistake, but with the absence of something much smaller. A question that never gets asked.
It starts slowly. The “why do we do it this way?” is left unsaid. The bold challenge becomes a silent nod. Meetings become updates. Strategy sessions open with ideas, not problems. Curiosity fades into routine, and nobody notices the light going out.
But make no mistake. When questions stop, innovation stops too. Without curiosity, we’re not adapting to change. We’re just maintaining the past.
The Decline of Questioning
Warren Berger, author of A More Beautiful Question, describes a troubling pattern. One that begins much earlier than most leaders realise.
Children, between the ages of two and five, ask an astonishing number of questions. Research shows the average child asks around 40,000 questions in that short window of early life. That relentless stream of why, what, and how is not just noise, it’s the foundation of how we learn.
But something shifts when formal education begins. Berger highlights how, once children enter school, the number of questions they ask begins to fall. Dramatically.
As the system places more value on answers than inquiry, the behaviour changes. Children stop asking. Compliance is rewarded. Exploration becomes secondary.
By the time students reach their teenage years, regular questioning in school drops by nearly half. What begins in the classroom carries into the workplace. People learn to keep their heads down, avoid looking foolish, and stick to the script.
And just like that, a generation of natural questioners becomes a workforce of answer givers.
The Systems That Silence
The problem is not curiosity. It’s the systems we place around it.
Most organisations are designed for consistency and control. They prioritise efficiency over exploration, results over reflection. Over time, they become inhospitable to the very thing that made them successful in the first place.
The rules are rarely spoken aloud, but everyone learns them quickly.
Stay in your lane.
Meet your targets.
Don’t rock the boat.
Follow the process.
And if you have a question, make sure it’s safe.
But innovation doesn’t grow in safe questions. It grows in bold ones. The kind that challenge the very foundations of what we do and why we do it.
“To think outside the box, you must first get outside the box.”
And before you do that, you must question why the box exists at all.
The Case for Curiosity
We are living in a time where curiosity is not optional. It is essential.
The world is moving fast. Customers are evolving. Competitors are disrupting. Markets are shifting in ways no one predicted. And in the face of all that change, the only thing more dangerous than asking the wrong question is not asking one at all.
Curiosity sharpens decision-making. It helps us spot blind spots, rethink assumptions, and open new doors. It leads us to the deeper problems beneath the surface and guides us toward more meaningful solutions.
It is not a fluffy mindset. It is a strategic capability.
Curiosity is not a soft skill.
It is a survival skill.
What Curious Culture Looks Like
Curiosity is not an individual trait. It must be embedded into the way teams think, work, and collaborate. In a curious culture, people feel safe to explore. They are encouraged to slow down and think more deeply. They know that asking why is not just allowed but expected.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Meetings begin with problem framing, not solution hunting
Teams have rituals in place, such as retrospectives that help them question and improve.
Idea walls and speculative What-If sessions encourage exploration of wild ideas without judgement
Teams are encouraged to explore future possibilities and reframe today's priorities
Leaders ask more questions than they answer, and model reflective thinking over reactive decision-making
These are not gimmicks. They are signals. They show that curiosity is not just something we talk about, it’s something we practise.
Leaders Go First
Culture is not written in values posters. It’s revealed in moments.
The way you respond to a question. The tone you use when someone challenges the status quo. The space you create for others to think before they speak. These moments shape whether curiosity grows or gets shut down.
To lead innovation, you must first lead with curiosity.
Ask better questions.
Welcome ambiguity.
Encourage reflection.
Reward exploration.
When you do, you give your team permission to do the same.
A Beautiful Return to Questions
Warren Berger puts it best when he writes,
“We are all beautiful questioners, until we are taught not to be.”
The opportunity for every leader is to create the conditions where that questioning returns. Where curiosity is no longer a lost skill, but a living, breathing part of daily work.
If innovation is a journey into the unknown, then questions are our compass. They point us in new directions. They give us permission to challenge, to reimagine, to explore.
So ask yourself, and your team this:
What’s the most important question we’ve stopped asking?
Because the answers that matter most always begin with a better question.