The New ABC
Why Learning to Always Be Curious is my Life’s work

The journey map for this story
 Why “The New ABC” - what problem(s) do I see?
 Why does it matter – what are the consequences?
 Why do I care, and now we’re at it, Who am I?
 How can these problems be addressed?
 What can you expect from me?
 Who are you?
 … and how can you contact me?

Why – The starting point
 We are all born curious, with age 5 as the Summit of Asking Questions
 After 12-20 years of education we’re trained in giving answers and have been
actively deskilled in the Art of Asking Questions
 Then we start careers and are expected to be creative and innovative
 … which is to say, “professionally curious”
 So we need to be reskilled to relearn something we knew already
 That’s a senseless waste of time and effort

Why – Does this matter?
 Yes, it does
 And increasingly so
 21st century skills, i.e., creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, etc … to complement
the traditional focus on knowlledge (re)production
 Most recent research (HBR, 09/18): Curiosity boosts not only innovative
behaviour but also collaboration, quality of decisions and …. Overall
Performance
 But most organisations are scared or do not Walk the Talk

Why – What’s it to me?
 Having worked in many different organisational environments…
 All focused on changing the world for the better…
 … it has become clear to me that Curiosity is a big gap, everywhere
 The world is obsessed with taking action & being in control
 Which leaves too little time to reflect about Why (not) and What else
 Result 1: perfectly nice answers to bad or irrelevant questions
 Result 2: actions being taken that are wildly underinformed and underexplored
 That bugs me. A lot.

So who am I?
 Wouter Kersten
 Chief Curiosity of The New ABC
 At your service
 20 years of experience in a wide
diversity of environments
 With strong academic background
 Including a part-time, fast-track PhD

How – So what is the alternative?
 Convey my vision that (professional) curiosity is at the core of all progress
 I repeat ALL progress, in human history
 It’s not just a cuddly topic
 It’s serious. And if you ignore that, you have a serious problem
 So I want to encourage you to put curiosity (back) in your DNA
 Encourage an attitude of 1. Wondering, 2. Enquiring, 3. Meaning
 In that order

I’m not alone, and I’m not the first
“Logic can take you from A to B,
Imagination can take you anywhere”
(Einstein, A.)

How – More details?
 Join the journey that lets you experience how
 … being more Curious can help you deal with…
 … exploring new avenues instead of ploughing on
 … start to embrace complexity (i.e., life), and uncertainty
 … so you can work with these phenomena
 But you need to have/ get/ give the room and time for this

What – Can I offer you something?
How to Always Be Curious
1. Get Inspired
 Sparring: develop better questions to arrive at better amswers
2. Get started
 Create new directions rising up from ‘Noise’
 Introduction Training in how to become more curious
3. Get better
 How to Cherish complexity – in a box
 Advanced training in applying curiosity
Special
 Curiosity in Education – it starts with the teachers and decision makers

“Thinking outside the box”
is NOT the summit of creative thinking.
It only shows you’re still thinking in terms of boxes…

For whom – Who are you?
1. Any organisation, department or team, that
 feels stuck, overwhelmed, confused,
 Is done with tools that promise simple solutions
 senses that curiosity is important, but don’t know how to start
2. Or a school (board) that
 wants to allow more space for curiosity to flourish in its students (and teachers)
 but is doubting how it can do so “within the system”
 Therefore you are willing to try out new things and by now have gotten curious

How to reach me and learn more
 www.thenewabc.nl
 Wouter.thenewabc@gmail.com
 +31 6 24635593
 The Hague, The Netherlands
 Blog
 LinkedIn