---
id: "concept-curiosity-hacks"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["§ 3. Help your workforce harness the skills AI is unlikely to master"]
tags: ["learning", "psychology", "management-tactics"]
related: ["action-induce-knowledge-gaps", "claim-expertise-redefined"]
definition: "Scientifically backed management tactics—such as inducing knowledge gaps and rewarding questioning—designed to stimulate employee curiosity and critical thinking."
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-edu-36-team-collaborate-with-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2024/11/set-your-team-up-to-collaborate-with-ai-successfully"
sourceTitle: "Set Your Team Up to Collaborate with AI Successfully"
---
# Curiosity Hacks

**Curiosity hacks** are scientifically backed methods managers and organizations can use to stimulate a deep desire to learn and know within employees. In the AI age, expertise has shifted from 'knowing the answers' to 'asking the right questions' and vetting AI insights (see [[claim-expertise-redefined]]) — so curiosity becomes a critical, trainable skill.

Effective hacks named in the source:
1. **Deliberately inducing knowledge gaps** to create intrigue — making people aware of what they don't know but need to know.
2. **Explicitly rewarding employees** for questioning the status quo and asking 'why.'
3. Having leaders and managers **actively model inquisitive behaviors** themselves.

These tactics transform passive consumers of AI output into active, critical thinkers. The corresponding manager task is [[action-induce-knowledge-gaps]].

**Enrichment context:** Organizational-psychology research supports both inducing knowledge gaps and modeling inquisitiveness as effective drivers of curiosity and exploration. Balanced Scorecard Institute's emphasis on continuous learning and critical evaluation of AI insights, and Askme360's stress on questioning assumptions, reinforce curiosity as a core AI-era competency.