The boss gave a presentation one day and no one asked questions. The boss said, “The person who asks the first question will get a raise, the second will get a promotion, and the third will get a P100,000 on the spot.” Faster than a speeding bullet, one smart guy raised his hand and said, “I have three questions.” Now, that is smart, and it reveals that the person has the potential to be a good leader one day.
The contract proposal indicates that I would do a keynote for one hour or an hour and 15 minutes and then devote another 15 minutes to questions and answers from the participants. This is hardly the case. I notify the organizers beforehand that when the questions keep on coming, and should there be no other program after that, I would be happy to extend the Q&A time for as long as needed. This always takes clients and organizers aback. I discovered this just very recently: some speakers would charge extra if the session exceeded the agreed time for the presentation. This is correct because there was an agreement to the effect. Another reason I discovered is that many speakers refuse even to have a question and answer portion. This, I cannot understand.
When clients or organizers wonder why I welcome the extended Q&A portion, I explain that my presentation is not as important as the Q&A portion because this is how we get to know the participants’ needs and hopefully address those needs. Hearing their questions spurs my curiosity to know what’s going on in their lives and careers. I empathize with the participants by listening to them and respectfully answering their questions. In the process, the leaders and their HR people would get to know their people better and devise initiatives to help and develop them.
Empathy and curiosity are the two most important “soft skills” in leadership and career development. Curiosity is the spark that ignites innovation in marketing. It propels us beyond the mundane into the realm of the remarkable. The participants who eagerly ask me questions are likely high-potential future leaders. And I’ll stay as long as I need to because this curiosity needs nourishment. That’s the future of leadership standing in front of me!
High-potential leaders don’t settle for surface-level insights. They dig, probe and ask “why?” five times. They need more than easy cliches, jargon and cheap answers. They want to know what keeps their customers up at night, what makes their hearts sing and what stories they tell themselves.
But curiosity is about more than understanding our people. It’s about challenging our assumptions. The curious leader looks at “best practices” with a skeptical eye. They’re willing to test, experiment and be wrong. And when they are wrong, they own their mistakes, and the team will forgive them. They know that the most valuable lessons often come from failure.
My most significant concern today is that leaders need to be adequately trained. All those “training frameworks” are outdated and irrelevant, and they do not address the need of the times. Next, curiosity is the true path to differentiation. It leads to unexplored niches, unmet needs, and blue oceans of opportunity. Curious leaders don’t just copy their previous leaders’ actions; they create and implement timely ones. They create trends.
Do you know that curiosity keeps us humble? It reminds us that we don’t have all the answers. This humility is refreshing and practical in a field often plagued by hubris and overconfidence. Genuine curiosity requires vulnerability. It means admitting what we don’t know. It means being willing to have our worldviews challenged.
Here’s an important truth: In this overwhelming world of AI change, you can only have some correct answers. But you can have all the right questions, and that curiosity will make all the difference. Good leadership does not depend on being more brilliant or intelligent or having all the answers. It depends on being more curious and driven to improve and help others succeed.
This is why I love the question-and-answer portions. I am curious to know people’s pain points. I want to empathize with them, encourage them, challenge them, and inspire them to do more and be more. When the questions come rolling in, real learning begins.
(Francis Kong’s “Inspiring Excellence” podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, or other podcast streaming platforms.)