These stories are all about noticing, asking, and taking one step toward the whisper of an idea. In our modern workplace, curiosity matters more than ever, and if leaders don’t make space for it, they risk shutting down the very thing that could move their organizations forward.

The Flying Pig and the Memory of Wonder

Before curiosity became a framework for leadership, it started for Van as a small clay pig hanging from the rearview mirror of a worn out Toyota Tercel. Hot summer days. Windows rolled down. A little pig swinging in the corner of her eye. At the time, she didn’t ascribe any significant meaning to it. But when she began writing her book, the image returned. It became a symbol. A reminder that maybe the impossible isn’t quite as impossible as we assume. “Seeing that flying pig every day made me believe that if this pig can fly, then what are we capable of when we follow our curiosities,” she said. 

Childhood gives us wonder without effort. We explore before we optimize. We experiment before we analyze. Then, life gets louder. Responsibilities crowd in, and workplaces reward knowing, not wondering. The flying pig is a metaphor for something we already possess but rarely activate. It invites us to reconsider the overlooked moments that could lead to ideas, improved processes, and insights that shift how we lead. Curiosity often begins at the edges of our attention. That’s why it disappears so easily. It requires us to see what we normally ignore.

Why Adults Lose Curiosity and Why Leaders Must Get It Back

Van said something that struck me: “As adults, we’re trained to act like we know everything. We forget that we were born curious.” That forgetting comes with consequences. When leaders assume they should already know the answers, they stop asking the questions that would unlock better solutions. When teams feel pressure to be right, they stop exploring ideas that could reshape their work. And when organizations value speed over reflection, they lose the ability to imagine a better future. 

We often talk about improving innovation, creativity, employee engagement, and psychological safety. Curiosity sits at the center of all of them. It pushes us to examine assumptions, it helps us understand each other, it creates space for emotional intelligence and humility, and it asks us to pause in a world that keeps shouting “go.” 

Van uses a simple framework in her book: pause, pay attention, wonder, and wander. These actions look small, but they push against the norms that dominate most workplaces. She said that wandering, even mentally, feels unproductive to many adults. Yet that’s exactly where breakthroughs often form. Curiosity asks us to loosen our grip on certainty long enough for new ideas to surface.

The Refugee Story That Redefined an Industry

One of the most powerful illustrations of curiosity in action comes from Van’s mother and a group of Vietnamese refugee women in 1975. They were living at a California relocation camp. They had no resources and no clear path for their future. Tippi Hedren, a Hollywood actress, volunteered at the camp to help the women find career skills. She offered typing and sewing classes. She could’ve stayed committed to that plan, but something unexpected happened. The women noticed her manicured nails. They were curious, so they asked about them. Tippi paused. She didn’t dismiss their question. Instead, she paid attention. She wondered what might be possible. She arranged for the women to receive training in nail care. And that moment of curiosity and responsiveness launched what would eventually become an eight billion dollar Vietnamese nail industry. 

When Van tells the story, she highlights two things. First, good ideas can come from anywhere. Hierarchy has nothing to do with insight. Second, curiosity isn’t passive. It’s active noticing. It’s engaging the questions others overlook. Tippi had already created an entire program, but she remained open enough to adapt. Leaders who practice curiosity signal that everyone’s ideas matter. That simple shift builds trust, belonging, and collective intelligence inside teams.

Asking Better Questions: The Leader’s Most Undervalued Skill

We often assume leadership is defined by clarity, decisiveness, and authority. Those matter, but curiosity requires leaders to embrace another dimension: the ability to ask better questions. Van said, “Maybe the most powerful leaders are the ones who ask the best questions. Not complicated ones, just questions like what would you do, or what else could we try.” These questions open doors instead of closing them. They create psychological safety because they remind people their thinking is valued. They shift problem solving from one person to many. And they help leaders avoid blind spots that can damage culture or strategy. 

When a leader asks why we do it this way instead of defending the status quo, the team sees that improvement is possible. When a leader asks how else might we solve this, the team begins generating ideas instead of waiting for direction. Curiosity doesn’t weaken authority. On the contrary, it strengthens it by expanding perspective.

Seeing Possibility Instead of Limitation

One of the psychological ideas Van explores is selective attention, which is more commonly known as the Baader Meinhof Effect. When you start paying attention to something, you begin seeing it everywhere. The same happens with possibility. Once you begin asking “what if?” and “how might we?,” the brain becomes primed to notice solutions and creative options that were already present but invisible. Van explained it this way: “Selective attention sounds like narrowing, but when you select wonder, you’re opening up.” 

Most organizations unintentionally train selective attention toward risk, obstacles, and efficiency. Those are important, but when they dominate attention, teams miss the chance to imagine alternative approaches. A company that trains leaders to look for possibility starts seeing ideas in hallway conversations, customer feedback, casual questions, and unexpected moments of curiosity.

The Curiosity Journal and the Power of Unfiltered Thinking

One tool Van recommends is surprisingly simple: a curiosity journal. Not a formal practice or a rigid routine, but a place to capture ideas without judgment. “If an idea pops in my head, I put it in the Notes app on my phone,” she said. This small act has significant psychological implications. When leaders and team members allow themselves to express wild ideas without worrying whether they’re good, they increase their cognitive flexibility, reduce internal censorship, strengthen creative confidence, and create a culture where divergent thinking is possible. 

Divergent thinking is the ability to generate many ideas. Convergent thinking is the ability to refine them. Most workplaces jump straight to convergence. As soon as an idea is offered, someone combats it with reasons it won’t work. This shuts down psychological safety and silences quieter thinkers. However, curiosity invites organizations to separate the two phases. Van teaches teams to let ideas land without commentary. Only after many options are surfaced do they begin the process of refining. That structure actually accelerates creativity by removing unnecessary pressure from the early stages of thinking.

Reframing Limiting Beliefs: From I Can’t to I Haven’t Yet

Curiosity asks us to question our assumptions about ourselves. Van writes about the inner shift from saying “I can’t” to saying “I haven’t yet.” It sounds like a small adjustment, but it changes how the brain responds. The phrase “I can’t” triggers a cognitive shutdown. There’s nowhere to go from it. The phrase “I haven’t yet” keeps possibility alive. It activates the brain’s search engine, as Van calls it, and encourages problem solving. 

She uses a three part reframing model: identify the limiting belief, create a more empowering reframe, and list evidence that supports the new belief. When she considered writing a book, her first thought was “I don’t know how to write a book.” Her reframe became “I don’t know how yet, but I can find the resources.” Then, she reflected on her life and listed other things she once didn’t know but eventually learned. The brain responds to evidence. This approach tricks the mind into expanding rather than contracting. In a workplace context, reframing helps leaders coach teams toward growth. It shifts conversations from shutdown to exploration, and it builds a culture where learning is normalized instead of feared.

One Small Step: Why Big Goals Trigger Resistance

Curiosity falters when goals feel overwhelming. Van discovered this firsthand. For two years, she scheduled weekly two-hour writing blocks for her book. She never once used them. The task felt too large. Even seeing the block on her calendar made her shut down. That’s why she made a change: she reduced the writing block to fifteen minutes. Suddenly, she began writing, not because she had more time but because she removed the psychological barrier. Writing seventeen minutes felt like a victory instead of a failure. 

“Big goals activate the part of your brain that tries to protect you,” she said. This is where the Kaizen philosophy of small steps becomes a powerful companion to curiosity. Curiosity sparks the idea, and then small steps give it a path forward. When people take even a tiny action, they send a signal to themselves that their curiosity matters. That’s when momentum begins to grow, and when momentum grows, resources, connections, and opportunities tend to surface in surprising ways. Van described moments where the universe seemed to meet her halfway after she committed to consistent small actions. Many leaders experience this too. Once they model curiosity and movement, teams respond in kind.

Creative Chaos and the Threshold of Innovation

There’s a moment in every creative process when things look like they’re falling apart. The idea feels wrong. The path feels unclear. The effort feels wasted. Van calls this the stage of creative chaos. It’s the point where many leaders retreat to familiarity. They abandon the experiment and return to what they know. But creative chaos isn’t a sign of failure. It’s a sign of progress. It means the team is pushing beyond old patterns. Innovation lives on the far side of that discomfort. Leaders who normalize this phase help teams stay committed long enough to experience breakthroughs. Curiosity steadies people through that chaos. It keeps them asking what if instead of assuming the worst. And it reassures them that the discomfort is temporary and meaningful.

Let Curiosity Become Larger Than Fear

At the end of her book, Van writes, “Allow your love for curiosities to grow larger than your fear of them.” That single line captures the entire spirit of her message. Curiosity doesn’t erase uncertainty, but it makes uncertainty more interesting. 

When team members follow their curiosities, they begin taking small risks. When leaders follow theirs, they create permission structures for teams to experiment. When organizations embrace curiosity as a cultural value, they unlock engagement, innovation, and trust at levels that traditional command and control structures can’t reach. Curiosity doesn’t guarantee success, but the absence of curiosity guarantees stagnation. And in a world of constant change, stagnation is the greatest risk of all. The flying pig hanging from a college rearview mirror is a reminder that possibility is everywhere. We just have to notice it. And when we notice it, we have to allow ourselves to take one step toward it.

Brandon Laws is a workplace culture and leadership enthusiast, host of the Transform Your Workplace podcast, and VP of Marketing and Product at Xenium HR.