Want a career in marketing? Open your eyes and look around

“Curiosity killed the cat*” is a proverb that warns of the dangers of unnecessary investigation or experimentation (credit Wikipedia).

Proverbs, by definition, are accepted truths so my curious nature couldn’t help but wonder if this particular proverb still rings true.

I think not.

This is the ‘Information Age’. We’re on the brink of a Fourth Industrial Revolution. At this moment, Curiosity is literally roving around the planet Mars.

Really, in this day and age, is anything as indispensable as an inquiring mind, an inquisitive nature?

As a Chief Marketing Officer and marketing agency leader, I consider curiosity to be the soft skill modern marketers simply must have. Here’s why:

1. Curious people are open-minded. They have a strong desire to acquire knowledge and information, and a genuine appetite for learning.
2. Curious people tend to embrace change (or are, at least, less resistant to change) and so are well suited to working in dynamic industries and environments.
3. Because curious people are motivated to understand, they’re often creative ‘out-of-the-box’ thinkers.
4. Curious people are also most likely to learn from their mistakes. 

If you’re seeking to establish a career in marketing, you must be curious.

If you’re recruiting someone to join your marketing team, you’d be wise to look for curiosity.

And if you’re weighing up which staffer to promote, you’d do well to favour curiosity.

Open your eyes and look around.

* Curiosity Killed the Cat was also the first single released by 70s Aussie super group, The Little River Band.