Radical Curiosity: Questioning Commonly Held Beliefs to Imagine Flourishing Futures

A bold manifesto arguing that the most complex challenges we face today--as individuals, businesses, and a society--require us to ask deeper questions, not seek easier answers

＂With this beautifully written book, Seth Goldenberg awakens the gifts we all possess: wonder, optimism, and the fearlessness to reverse destruction.＂--Bruce Vaughn, vice president of experiential creative product, Airbnb

In a world with an endless hunger for innovation, why is it so hard to create audacious change? According to thought leader Seth Goldenberg, the answer to this question stems from how we, as a society, view questions themselves.

In Radical Curiosity, Goldenberg argues that because we value knowing above learning and prioritize doing over thinking, curiosity has become an endangered species. Only by rediscovering the power of questions can we hope to rewrite the commonly held ＂legacy＂ narratives that no longer serve us and to remake our organizations, our politics, and our lives.

With this empowering book, Goldenberg introduces the practice of Radical Curiosity through the lens of seven narratives that are going through significant transformation: Learning, Cohesion, Time, Youth, Aliveness, Nature, and Value. Along the way, he unpacks principles intended to spark our own questioning, including:

- Education is too big to fail, but maybe it should.
- Time travel isn’t reserved for DeLoreans.
- Let us now praise rural communities.
- Survival economics have made imagination a luxury good.

Blending philosophy, business strategy, cultural criticism, and fascinating case studies, Radical Curiosity is a new way of solving our most complex problems--one focused not on technology or science but on the power of human inquiry. By asking us to relearn how we learn, reengage in dialogue, revive our youthful sense of wonder, and rethink what we value, it reignites the curiosity needed to imagine and build a better world.

Seth Goldenberg is an entrepreneur and thought-leader working at the intersection of design, business, and culture. Since founding Epic Decade, Goldenberg has led a series of high-profile projects to help organizations build their capacity for ambitious change. He was previously co-CEO of the research insights group Now What, interim chief marketing officer of the state of Rhode Island, chief marketing officer of Intarcia Therapeutics, VP of Bruce Mau Design Studio, executive director of Massive Change, where he led major client engagements such as Oprah Winfrey Network, Disney Imagineering, and Myspace, and founder and curator of the civic engagement program for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Dialog: City. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Wired, Fast Company, and HuffPo.