As I was reflecting upon the leadership talks we had in class, I was trying to identify a common trait among the CEOs we’ve invited so far to be our guest speakers. One may say that it is intelligence, i.e., you cannot be a CEO if you are not intelligent.
But I beg to disagree. If we were to use intelligence quotient (IQ) as a measure, I don’t think all CEOs will come out as having high IQs. Similarly, not everyone with a high IQ will become CEO. So what do they have in common apart from those you can read online? For me, it is their curiosity – the ability to have an inquisitive mind.
Instead of citing the actual experiences of our guest CEOs again, allow me to share this time around my own experience. If I summarize my career so far, I am a marketing graduate who was exposed to the human resources (HR) field during my internship and ended up in banking or finance for the last ten years of my corporate life. Was it challenging? Of course, it was! Just imagine a person who has been taught about product, price, place and promotion for four consecutive years, only to hear trading jargon upon employment, such as dovish sentiment, inverted yield curve, belly to long-ends, the greenback, etc.
Now, I’m handling support activities for trading and sales, including counterparty management, compliance and governance, systems, MIS, and other strategic initiatives surrounding the financial markets segment of the bank. So, how was I able to learn all of those things despite having zero background? Was it because I was intelligent and readily picked up all the concepts presented to me? No. Rather, I was curious enough to know what I currently don’t know. I was always attracted to new and uncharted territories, always asking about unfamiliar things. It was only a matter of time when I realized that I gained so much knowledge in a short span of time compared to others who were around the same age as me.
Hence, I would like to highlight that you don’t have to be intelligent to climb up the corporate ladder; you have to be curious.
Whenever you encounter a new word, try to google its definition or meaning. One word a day means learning 365 new words a year. The same goes for those with specializations; it won’t hurt to try or learn about new stuff, even if you have already dedicated your life or career to a certain field or area of expertise.
The sad reality is that many people stay in their comfort zones. I don’t have anything against those who ask for job descriptions (JD) because that is their right. But some are too extreme in that all they want to do is precisely what their JD prescribes, nothing more and nothing less. Then, they will wonder why they never got a promotion. That’s because a promotion means you are ready to accept bigger responsibilities. How can you be entrusted with more when you don’t want to know more? That’s why in Filipino, “daig pa ng mausisa ang matalino.”
So, what must one do to be curious or develop an inquisitive mind? Does he have to force himself to be interested in things he does not find amusing? Not really. All it takes is to start with one simple question and then make it a habit whenever or wherever you are. Don’t be discouraged if you cannot get it the first time, so long as there is an effort to know what you currently don’t know until it becomes a virtue. No one is born with a habit, and as I’ve pointed out in an earlier reflection, you don’t need to know everything. But you are not excused from knowing as much as you can.
The author is an MBA student at the Ramon V. Del Rosario College of Business of De La Salle University. He wrote this reflection paper for his class on Trends and Issues in Business and Management: CEO Series. He can be reached at charlston_sagaran@dlsu.edu.ph.
The views expressed above are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.
