The Imperfectionists summary

In the 1970s, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M) made a pioneering change. While the rest of manufacturing America was intent on continuing assembly line productivity, 3M required employees to spend up to 15 percent of their paid hours away from core tasks. Why? Well, they wanted to imbue their organization with a spirit of curiosity. If people had time to pursue their interests, they figured, the result would be more innovation. Many similar companies have risen and fallen since then. Meanwhile, 3M has been in operation for over a century. (Decades later, Google upped the ante, requiring 20 percent unstructured time.)

Curiosity is at the heart of innovation. Just take the Nespresso capsule, which was invented by a brilliant engineer named Eric Fevre. Fevre was curious about why there was a longer line at a particular coffee shop in Rome, Saint Eustacios. He investigated, and discovered how they created a remarkable “crema” on their espresso, which he later reproduced in the lab.

Psychologists define curiosity as the desire to bridge the gap between our current knowledge and what we’d like to know. For McLean and Conn, it’s the most foundational strategic mindset. As much as we may rail against uncertainty, curiosity can’t exist without it. 

We’re innately inquisitive beings. From the moment we’re born until about the age of five, our curiosity compounds. Case in point, researchers have found some toddlers ask 300 questions per day. 

Researchers have also identified a curiosity “sweet spot,” where the level of uncertainty is neither too over- nor underwhelming. At this midpoint, we can tackle complex creative problems with relative confidence of success. 

So why have studies found that only 24 percent of us believe that curiosity at work is valued? While certain deadlines and metrics need to be met, do we have to sacrifice questioning and experimentation to do so? Examples like 3M and Google show us the two aren’t mutually exclusive. 

What might adoption look like in practice? There are three ways in. 

The first is putting yourself in the path of stimulating people, places, and conversations. The second is not feeling afraid to pose rudimentary or absurd questions. Ask “why?” to everything without fear. And the third is cultivating conditions for “novelty, gestation, and safety” in your workplace to make creative thinking welcome – just as Nespresso did when it gave Eric Fevrethe time and space to be curious about the espresso crema. 

The coming years will be bumpy for those who stick hard and fast to assumptions and the status quo. “That’s the way we’ve always done it” will become less a point of pride, and more a cause for serious concern. 

By making small shifts in your life today, such as engineering an interaction with someone in another department, for example, or going for a walk during your lunch break to let your thinking percolate, you’ll be well on your way to cultivating the first strategic mindset our near future demands.