#22 Curiosity (Part 2 of 2) — The Price List
Somewhere around 1992 I got a Nintendo, and for the rest of the decade most of my free hours went into a screen: Super Mario on the NES and the Game Boy, later Half-Life, Counter-Strike and StarCraft on a PC. My mother and stepfather had a simple word for it: waste. A waste of time, and of a good brain.
Whether they were right is not the point. What matters is what the word "waste" did: it stayed with me long after the games. It taught me that being curious has a price, and that the people around you set it. Nobody banned the games; I just learned to keep quiet about them.
(This is the second of two editions on curiosity, the second of Microsoft's 5Cs covered here.)
8 min read. If you take one thing from this: interest is only half of curiosity. The other half is what it costs to be seen not knowing, and that price is set by the people around you. Ahead: the two halves, and why one without the other goes nowhere; who sets the price at work; what AI does to the wall, in both directio...
#21 Curiosity (Part 1 of 2) — The Mid-Career Dip
A child in front of a television is doing something clever. In twenty minutes it gets a jungle, a submarine, a city at night and a family that isn't its own, without leaving the sofa. More new things per minute than the house could ever offer. The brain, built to hunt for novelty, has found a shortcut.
For plenty of adults the shortcut survived childhood; only the screen changed. And somewhere between the sofa and the office, for many, the pleasure in the new goes missing. This edition is about whether that's true, what the shortcut leaves out, and why mid-career may be where it costs most.
(Second of Microsoft's 5Cs in this mini-series, after courage. Curiosity gets two editions as well, and this one is about the first of two dials: wanting the new at all.)
7 min read. If you take one thing from this: curiosity is a learning state, not a mood. It tends to dip in mid-career. And the grey feeling at the start of something new is real, not a weakness. Ahead: what novelty does in the b...
Recent Posts
Categories
All categories
KNOWLEDGE THAT WORKS IN PRACTICE
This is not a place for buzzwords. Or for theories that don't hold up in real life. Our blog is a space for leaders and professionals who are looking for genuine answers to genuine questions: How do I lead better in a hybrid environment? How do I communicate in a way that actually lands? How do I use AI meaningfully in my daily work? How do I build resilience in my team?
Every article in the Digital Leader Program blog is designed to be directly useful – with insights, methods and examples you can take straight into practice.
TOPICS THAT MATTER TODAY
Leadership in the digital age: How is leadership changing when teams work remotely or hybrid? What do new leaders need – and what do experienced managers need to relearn?
Human Skills under AI influence: Which human capabilities become more important as AI takes over routine tasks – and how do you develop them deliberately?
Hybrid work in practice: Concrete tips, rituals and tools for productive hybrid collaboration – what actually works, and what doesn't.
Culture Design and team dynamics: How do you build an organisational culture that attracts, retains and energises people?
Communication and feedback: The capabilities that separate average performance from real high performance.
FROM PEOPLE WHO WORK IN PRACTICE
Our articles are written by Andre Ottlik and our team – people who work in coaching sessions, workshops and training every single day. What you read here is not copy-pasted from academic studies, but knowledge drawn from lived practice.
And occasionally we feature contributions from external experts sharing insights from their own fields – such as the piece with Pascal Baumgartner on hybrid meeting optimisation.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)
How often are new articles published?
Regularly. Subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn to make sure you don't miss new content.
Are articles available in German too?
Yes. Many of our articles are also available in German – particularly on topics relevant to German-speaking leaders and organisations.
Can I suggest article topics?
Absolutely. Write to us or bring it up in a conversation – we welcome input from our community.
How can I go deeper than the blog?
Our workshops, coaching programmes and the podcast "3 minutes max." go further and support you systematically in your development. Browse our service pages or book an initial consultation.
Author
Andre Ottlik
Author
Andre and his Team are the authors of Digital Leader Programs Blog Posts
