The Curious Leader's Edge in Uncertainty: Scott Shigeoka

We talk a lot about curiosity as a mindset. Scott Shigeoka lives it as a practice. Right now he’s driving a 25-foot purple van across the country, finding and documenting the stories of ordinary people making their communities better. He's not just curious about what's possible. He's out there finding out.

In this episode, Mina Seetharaman talks with Scott Shigeoka, author of Seek and Head of Curiosity Cultivation at the Eames Institute, about what distinguishes a genuinely curious leader from a performative one, how power dynamics play into curiosity, how the Curious 100 project reveals the many forms curious leadership takes, and why curiosity, when practiced well, can restore your energy rather than drain it.

Scott was previously on the Creative Confidence Podcast to explore why curiosity is a business imperative. That episode is linked below.

This episode is part of an ongoing series on navigating uncertainty. We're exploring this topic from multiple angles with several guests this year. Also in this series: How to Not Know with Simone Stolzoff and The Decisiveness Crisis in Senior Leadership Teams with Sam Conniff.

Related Resources:

Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World, by Scott Shigeoka — https://scottshigeoka.com

The Curious 100 — https://thecurious100.org

Curiosity Club (free newsletter) — https://scottshigeoka.com

Scott Shigeoka on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottshigeoka

Scott's Curiosity Toolkit (free guide for building curiosity at work) — https://curiosity-toolkit.netlify.app/

Scott's first Creative Confidence interview: Why Curiosity Is a Business Imperative — https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/why-curiosity-is-a-business-imperative

IDEO U's Foundations in Creative Leadership Certificate — https://www.ideou.com/products/creative-leadership-certificate

More episodes on navigating uncertainty:

How to Not Know: Simone Stolzoff — https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/how-to-not-know-simone-stolzoff

The Decisiveness Crisis in Senior Leadership Teams: Sam Conniff — https://shows.acast.com/creative-confidence-podcast/episodes/the-decisiveness-crisis-senior-leadership-teams-sam-conniff

In This Episode:

Timestamps are approximate due to ad breaks.

(00:00) Cold open — the grace curious leaders earn when they make mistakes

(02:47) The Curiosity Mobile — six months on the road, the belief gap, and why stories close it

(07:36) Stories from the road — a florist, a group of librarians, and rafting across political lines

(12:11) How getting curious refilled Scott's own hope and energy before the trip

(14:57) Busting the echo chamber — curiosity as "what else are we missing"

(15:58) The Curious 100 — what the project is and what separates real curiosity from the performative kind

(20:50) Curiosity looks like many things — storytellers, editors, and activists on the list

(23:10) Being an "admitter" — why owning your mistakes makes leaders more trusted, not less

(28:11) Power and directionality — why the most powerful person in the room needs to be the most curious

(33:28) Inclusion vs. belonging, and why curiosity is the difference

(34:44) The question of the day — a research-backed practice for any meeting

(39:34) Why the curious leadership framework matters — a menu of options, not a personality test

(43:42) The four curious leader archetypes: Explorer, Provocateur, Reflector, Imaginator

(48:11) Your dominant archetype — and why leaders can shift between all four depending on the moment

(48:42) Curiosity vs. conviction — why staying open doesn't mean abandoning your values

(51:28) Predatory curiosity — what it looks like, why it backfires, and deep canvassing as its antidote

(59:16) Lightning round: Queer Eye, Lady Gaga, learning to surf, and curiosity as an act of love

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