The Curiosity Gap: How Questions Drive Innovation

In this solo episode, James Taylor shares his favorite listening game—Only Questions—and shows how strategic curiosity can unlock trust, insight, and innovation. You’ll learn the science of the curiosity gap (why a good question makes the brain restless until it gets an answer), the three reasons leaders suppress curiosity (ego, speed, fear), and a practical playbook for asking better follow-ups, spotting surprises, and building a personal “question bank.” Includes a Zurich-to-Dubai story where one question turned into a keynote-worthy insight.

Key takeaways

• Play “Only Questions.” Make it your mission to learn as much as possible about the other person—without talking about yourself. It sharpens listening and builds trust fast.

• Use the Curiosity Gap. As behavioral economist George Loewenstein described, the gap between what we know and what we want to know pulls attention like gravity—great communicators open that gap on purpose.

• Why curiosity gets suppressed: Ego (signal expertise), speed (rush to ship), and fear (looking uninformed). Naming these helps you counter them.

• Questions change rooms. “What problem are we actually trying to solve?” and “What if we flipped the approach?” surface constraints and reveal blind spots.

• Follow-up is where the gold is. Ask “Why is that important to you?” or “What’s been the biggest challenge so far?” to go deeper.

• Train your curiosity muscle. Listen for surprises, keep a running list of great questions, and practice in low-stakes settings (planes, breaks, 1:1s).

• Pro travel tip: Bring chocolates for cabin crew—they often know the stories behind the seats.

Memorable quotes

• “Only Questions is a deliberate exercise in curiosity.”

• “In leadership, innovation, and creativity, curiosity is a superpower—and it’s massively underused.”

• “Some of the biggest breakthroughs didn’t come from the right answers; they came from better questions.”

• “The most valuable insight you hear this month might come at 35,000 feet—starting with two words: What’s interesting?”

Timestamps (approx.)

• 00:09 — The game: How Only Questions works and why James plays it on long-haul flights.

• 01:xx — Outcomes: Building trust, mapping context, and collecting insight—while revealing almost nothing about yourself.

• 03:xx — The Curiosity Gap: Why questions hook attention and keep people engaged.

• 04:xx — The blockers: Ego, speed, and fear—how they shut down inquiry in business.

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
I want to share a game with you that I've been playing for years, one that's helped mesharpen my listening skills, build trust faster, and uncover insights that have made their
way into my keynotes around the world.
I call it Only Questions.
The rules are really simple.
Your goal is to learn as much as possible about the person you're speaking with withoutrevealing anything about yourself.

(00:33):
I often play on long haul flights.
Sometimes it's eight hours, sometimes 14.
My only mission
is to keep asking questions until I know their professional background, their interests,what's going well in their business, what challenges they're facing, and what they're most
excited about for the future.
Here's the kicker, by the time we land, they know virtually nothing about me.

(00:56):
One of my favorite examples was a 14 hour flight to the US.
By the time we touched down, my seatmate had shared their life story, the structure oftheir company, who their biggest competitors were, and even a
few industry secrets.
And yet, if you'd asked them to describe me, they wouldn't have been able to tell you muchbeyond, he was polite and we talked a lot.

(01:18):
Sometimes people press me for details about myself.
That's when I'll casually say something deliberately unexciting like, I work in internalaudit.
That usually shuts down the curiosity pretty quickly, which is exactly what I want if I'mstill playing this game.
This isn't just a fun way to pass time in a flight.
It's a deliberate exercise in curiosity because here's the truth, in leadership,innovation, and creativity, curiosity is a superpower and it's massively underused.

(01:48):
In 1994, behavioral economist George Lewenstein introduced the concept of the curiositygap, the space between what we know and what we want to know.
Once the gap opens, the brain becomes restless.
It wants to close it.
That's why cliffhangers work in TV shows.
It's why a good mystery novel keeps you turning the pages at 2 a.m.

(02:11):
And it's why great communicators use questions to pull people in and keep them engaged.
But in business, we often neglect curiosity.
There are three main reasons for this.
First, ego.
We want to show what we know rather than admit what we don't.
Second, speed.
We're so focused on ticking boxes and hitting deadlines that we skip

(02:34):
over opportunities to dig that little bit deeper.
And third, fear.
We worry that asking too many questions will make us look uninformed or unprepared.
The irony is, it's usually the people who ask the best questions who end up looking themost confident and capable.
Some of the biggest breakthroughs I've seen in business didn't come from knowing the rightanswers, they came from asking better questions.

(02:59):
What problem are we actually trying to solve here?
Why has no one tackled this before?
What if we flipped the usual approach?
Questions like these change the room.
They take conversations in new directions.
They surface hidden constraints, reveal blind spots, and often open up opportunities noone had considered.

(03:20):
One of the most valuable conversations I've ever had was during a flight from Zurich toDubai.
I was seated next to a woman in finance.
We spoke for hours, or rather she spoke and I asked questions.
She told me about an emerging market trend in her sector.
something I'd never come across before.
I scribbled it down in my notebook and months later, that single insight became a centralstory in a keynote I delivered in Washington, DC to an audience of senior executives.

(03:46):
See, that's the power of curiosity.
It turns a casual conversation into a strategic advantage.
So how do you sharpen your curiosity muscles?
Here are a few ways I found to be really effective.
One, play only questions at your next opportunity.
It could be on a plane, it could be a networking break at a conference.
or even in a one-on-one meeting with a colleague.

(04:07):
Make it your goal to learn as much as you can without flipping the spotlight ontoyourself.
Two, use follow-ups.
The first question is rarely the most interesting one.
If someone tells you about a project they're working on, ask, why is that important toyou?
Or what's been the biggest challenge so far?
Three, listen for surprises.

(04:29):
When something catches you off guard, resist the urge to move on quickly.
Pause.
and dig deeper.
That's often where the gold is.
Four, keep a running list of your favorite questions.
I have a page on my notebook dedicated to this.
When I hear a question that gets people to open up, I write it down so I can use it later.
And here's one last tip, especially for when you're traveling.

(04:52):
Bring chocolates for the cabin crew.
Not only is that a kind gesture, but they often know a lot about your fellow passengers.
It's amazing what you can learn from the people who see everyone come and go.
The reality is, most of us are swimming in answers.
Google has made sure of that.
What scares today is the ability to ask a question that changes the way someone thinks.

(05:15):
So next time you find yourself sitting next to someone new, resist the urge to fill thesilence with your story.
Open a curiosity gap instead.
Ask a question, then another, then another.
Because the most valuable insight you hear this month
It might not come from a conference, a report or a formal meeting.

(05:35):
It might come at 35,000 feet from a conversation that started with just two words.
What's interesting?