Kathy Taberner - The Power of Curiosity: How to Have Real Conversations that create Collaboration, Innovation and Understanding

Advance Praise for
The Power of Curiosity: How To Have Real Conversation That Create Collaboration, Innovation and Understanding

Kathy Taberner and Kirsten Taberner Siggins have drawn on their extensive experience as executive coaches to help all of us learn to pause, take a breath and, instead of thoughtlessly reacting, assuming, judging or blaming, begin to get curious. In The Power of Curiosity, they offer thoughtful guidance and practical tools that get to the heart of the matter: clarity, understanding and real human connection.

Brigid Schulte,New York Times Best Selling Author of
Overwhelmed: Work, Love & Play when No One has the Time,
Washington Post staff writer

Conflict resolution is essential to innovation, it is how you get to the bleeding edge of what is possible. How leaders navigate their way through conflict, lead their teams and ask the questions needed to out perform, out design and out create in their field can make or break them. The Power of Curiosity is the leadership handbook for the 21st century giving you a simple step by step method to have real conversations that navigate conflict with innovative outcomes.

Daymond John, Fashion Mogul and Investor on ABCs Shark Tank

The Power of Curiosity nails it! It is exactly how every successful person I know lives or strives to live their life. A must read for anyone who wants to start applying practical tools, align with their values and achieve successful, innovative outcomes.

Joey Gibbons, The Gibbons Hospitality Group

I own two businesses and have always felt like an ineffective boss. I knew my product was successful, but I had trouble delegating and motivating my staff. After reading The Power of Curiosity, my relationships with my staff have completely changed. I no longer dread having to have meetings with my employees, instead I am excited to hear their thoughts and learn from them. My business has only become stronger, and my work environment is more creative and dynamic. My team is now passionate about their workand the only thing I modified was approaching each situation with curiosity. Using the tools The Power of Curiosity has taught me, not only helps me be a better boss, it helps me be a better person. My husband, family and friends all feel more heard, seen and understood. By using the tools in this book, you open yourself up to learning more about your co-workers, your loved ones and yourself. A true gift.

Sue Bell, Founder of Giggles and
Grass Stains Creative Learning Center

Kathy Taberner and Kirsten Siggins work on being present when we listen to others, and choosing how to listen, has had a profound impact on my conflict resolution work as a mediator and negotiation trainer. The Power of Curiosity is a must read for learning how to apply these skills to our difficult conversations, and indeed all our conversationsto listen better, truly understand and connect with others, and move forward in our relationshipswhether negotiating a large business contract, acting as leaders in our organizations, or enriching our personal relationships.

Colleen Cattell, ENS International Negotiation Consultant

I feel extremely privileged to write this foreword to The Power of Curiosity. The book you hold in your hands rightfully belongs in the leadership section, the parenting section, the self-help section, the healthcare section, and the change the world section of any bookstore. But most importantly, it belongs on your tablet, or your personal shelf of the good books, so you can reference it often.

Perhaps like many of you, my earliest recollection of the concept of curiosity came from reading the Curious George books (particularly Curious George Goes to the Hospital, which may have been the book that ignited my passion for healthcare as a career). Thinking back on Curious George now, I see how he used the power of curiosity to access that innate, insatiable desire to learn more, spark the passion for discovery, be present in the moment, and take risks.

The Power of Curiosity gives us access to all of this and more. As Kathy and Kirsten show us, we are all born with curiosity, but as adults this natural gift is forgotten or dampened down for a variety of reasons. I hadnt realized that I, too, was a victim of this all-too-common loss of curiosity until I started my masters degree in leadership, where I met Kathy, and soon thereafter, Kirsten.

As the Director of Learning and Development at a large tertiary healthcare facility in British Columbia, I partnered with Kathy when our organization engaged her to facilitate an aspect of a healthcare leadership development program and provide coaching to front-line leaders. I had always loved learning and growing, particularly in my career as a registered nurse, healthcare leader, and executive coach. But I hadnt realized that the key to my next level of growth was developing my self-awarenessby becoming curious about myself.

Since then, I have known Kathy as my colleague, coach, mentor, fellow learner, and friend. I always enjoy our conversations, which are authentic, thought provoking, and inclusiveand usually involve a glass of wine! Kathys eyes twinkle and her face lights up when she discovers yet another context in which she can live out the state of curiosity.

In the same way, I love how Kirsten has taken a coaching approach to parenting. The stories she shares of her kids demonstrate a parenting style that is respectful and models the skills of deep listening and genuine inquiry. She is a wonderful role model for her children and has set the stage for the beginnings of the relational generation.

I am in awe of their special bond as mother and daughter, which is also evident throughout the book. They are a synergistic duo, and I have personally witnessed their practice of curiosity individually, with each other, with colleagues, with their families, and with clients.

Kathy and Kirsten have given us the gift of this book to aid in our adoption of this new practice of curiosity. The more we can embrace this practice, the more it can become a way of being in the world and unleashing our power to take risks, challenge the status quo, deeply listen, and intently learn. In Part One, Kathy and Kirsten help us relearn the Curiosity Skills that used to come so naturally as children. (The ABSORB acronym is my new daily mantra that I have on my bulletin board in my office and on my iPad screen.) In Part Two, they help us apply our newly rediscovered Curiosity Skills through understanding ourselves: knowing our values, setting boundaries, naming and noticing emotions, and taming those emotionssetting the stage for understanding others. They summarize this process brilliantly in Part Three, presenting a step-by-step way to manage ourselves in relationship with others and answer what they call the million-dollar question: How can we engage in authentic, respectful dialogue, even amidst tension? Accessing the power of curiosity opens the gate to be in relationship with others and move through conflict while keeping those relationships intact.

My own mantraits all about the learningis strengthened and validated through this book. Curiosity paves the way for true learning: learning about self and learning about others so that we can learn together in relationship. I offer my best wishes, utmost gratitude, and appreciation to Kathy and Kirsten for a fine piece of work that will help shape new ways of thinking, new ways of behaving, and new ways of relating for so many.