Curiosity: Why the best product managers never stop learning
Background
Curiosity often comes up as a trait of high-performing product managers, but I didn’t initially include it in my list of behaviors as I wasn’t sure it was distinctly different from all of the other things. That, and every time I heard someone talk about it, their definitions were slightly different. Everyone agreed it was critical but the examples never lined up.
After some research I decided to add it this year because I was able to identify the unique value of the trait, and isolate why everyone has different definitions. The TLDR for me, and what changed my mind, is that curiosity is really a proxy for “is this person constantly in learning mode or are they happy to accept where they are and what is going on around them?” The best PMs are the ones that never feel like they know enough about the customer, the market, the technology, how to do their job well - there is a drive that pushes them to always seek new information which has all sorts of spillover benefits.
What is curiosity anyways?
It seems odd to define something that we all think we know so well and use in conversation so frequently, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I found when I started researching and how it changed my perspective.
The Oxford definition is about what you’d expect: “a strong desire to know or learn something.” Where things became interesting was looking at it through a human psychology lens: what are the various factors that make someone more or less curious? More importantly, is there an ideal mix of these characteristics that is particularly well suited for product management?
What makes you curious (or not)?
In my research on this topic I came across an article by Todd B. Kashdan Ph.D who has spent his whole academic career researching curiosity. In this article he was basically trashing his earlier research and saying “use this new method.” Always a fan of self-deprecation, I was happy to see the new framework was straightforward and tied in with some of the other key PM behaviors:
1. Joyous Exploration. This is the prototype of curiosity—the recognition and desire to seek out new knowledge and information, and the subsequent joy of learning and growing. ←- this is the unique bit
2. Deprivation Sensitivity. This dimension has a distinct emotional tone, with anxiety and tension being more prominent than joy—pondering abstract or complex ideas, trying to solve problems, and seeking to reduce gaps in knowledge. ← Ties in with Self awareness - you need to know what your gaps are to want to fill them
3. Stress Tolerance. This dimension is about the willingness to embrace the doubt, confusion, anxiety, and other forms of distress that arise from exploring new, unexpected, complex, mysterious, or obscure events. <-Ties in with resilience
4. Social Curiosity. Wanting to know what other people are thinking and doing by observing, talking, or listening in to conversations. <-ties in with empathy
5. Thrill Seeking. The willingness to take physical, social, and financial risks to acquire varied, complex, and intense experiences. ← ties in with decision making and taking appropriate risk
The line that sticks out to me as the part that does not overlap with other elements in the PM framework and the part I agree is present in great PMs is the “joy of learning and growing.” Someone who, on their own, genuinely enjoys learning and growing is someone you can drop into new situations and see them thrive. Someone who will find things no one else is looking for and (hopefully) act on them.
Also interesting was the insight that there are 5 vectors that impact curiosity, and that many of them map to other elements that are in the PM profile. This also helped me to explain why everyone I spoke to said they felt curiosity was important, yet had slightly different examples.
Why Is Curiosity Important as a Product Manager
I think the short answer here is that the job is complex and there’s a lot to learn when you first start no matter what your prior work experience. Then you add the element that in the tech field things are changing all of the time - technology, tools, customer needs, etc. Unless you are able, willing, and this framework suggests, happy to keep up with the rate of change, you will struggle in the role.
Curiosity also helps product managers leverage data, but not be directed by it. Many people will look at data, take it at face value and start to chart a plan of action. Excellent PMs ask “why does the data look the way it does?” Is there an anomaly when none was expected? Was there no change to the KPI after major changes? I guess you could also call this healthy skepticism, but when I see this work it’s typically driven by someone’s desire to understand the “why?” vs just not willing to readily accept something new or extreme. Part of improving decision quality is seeking out disconfirming information. Great product managers are not only curious why the data looks the way it does, but what else might be out there that proves their hypothesis to be wrong.
Wrapping Up: Building Curiosity into your Product Team
If we’re going to declare curiosity as a key trait for product managers, then you have to consider how to both isolate it during the hiring process, as well as how to coach existing product managers to improve in this dimension.
From a hiring standpoint, I think the key is to look for demonstrated examples of lifelong learning in multiple dimensions. This can take on many forms but it ultimately boils down to whether they seek out learning and growth when it’s not directly required:
Outside of work:
A mix of interests, majors, clubs, in undergrad
Advanced degrees, certifications beyond undegrad
Maintaining a high level of activity in music or sports or non-native languages
Professional Experience
Successfully switching job functions because of interest or growth
Successfully switching industries or customer segments
Growth in the way they do the job - ask them what they are doing differently now than 2-3 years ago and why
From a coaching standpoint, I think it’s helpful to refer back to the framework and focus on the stress tolerance angle. People have a wide range of natural curiosity as a starting point, but as the article describes, everyone shuts down to some extent when they are stressed or anxious. If a PM on your team has shown prior evidence of curiosity but is currently more focused on straight execution, you may want to talk to them to see if there is something causing an increase in stress levels. If you have someone on your team that never really shown any evidence of “learning when no one was looking” then you need to be honest with them and realistic in your expectations. If the person is highly self-aware, then they may be able to identify personal gaps and fill them to progress in whatever role they are given, however they may still need direct coaching on the need to question the “why” behind data and seeking disconfirming information.
