Curiosity, the ability ask “Why?” and “Why not?”; the willingness to set aside our ego, our self-importance and admit to not knowing something, the openness to all possibilities when we are in a state of not knowing – this is the basis for innovation.
Curiosity thus powers discovery, knowledge gathering and sharing (education). And superstition is one of its greatest enemies. Superstition stops questions. Once a “truth” is established, it can never be challenged or questioned. “It has always been this way” or “this is tradition” or “God said…”
And just so you do toe the line, threats to these “truths” often entail punishments - social or capital. Think blasphemy laws.
The only creative part is the act of imagining “truths”. This can work well for creative fantasy and story telling, but it does not serve the pursuit of factual knowledge, knowledge that is essential to our continued wellbeing and survival as a species.
Businesses have cultures, and those cultures have their own superstitions and “we’e always done it this way” blind spots as well. It can be great practice to regular question accepted practices for the sake of practising curiosity, and to prevent practices from becoming too firmly entrenched lest a sudden change is required.
