Episode Summary
Warren Berger, the author of A More Beautiful Question, states that kids ask an average of 40,000 questions between the ages of 2 and 5. And this natural curiosity sparks a lot of growth in an individual’s earlier years. But at some point in time, people grow out of their natural curiosity and focus more on answers. And this prevents further growth from happening.
In this episode, Tristan Pelligrino welcomes Harris Fanaroff on the show. Harris is a podcast host and founder of Activate Onboarding. And during this conversation, we learn how you can get your curiosity back by focusing on several key shifts in your mindset. And you’ll be able to take these tools to spark more curiosity as a podcast host.
Harris and Tristan also touch upon the idea of NOT being the most intelligent person in the room and how it drives growth and how posting on LinkedIn and Twitter impacted Harris’s career.
Guest Profile
Name: Harris Fanaroff
What he does: Harris is the founder of Activate Onboarding
Company: Activate Onboarding
Noteworthy: Harris is also a podcast host. The Greatest Self Podcast is for HR leaders eager to stay updated with everything happening in their space.
Key Insights
- Kids master the art of asking a lot of questions. So why do we neglect it when we grow up? The post that motivated Tristan to invite Harris on the show was about the importance of curiosity. Moreover, a particular statistic drew Tristan’s attention. It was about how many questions kids ask per day versus grown-ups. “I started to research and figure out how many questions they ask. And so when I came across that 200 to 300 number, I sent it to my brother and he’s like, ‘It’s way more than 300. It’s nowhere close to 300.’ So it’s funny that even that 200 to 300 number was a little short according to his experience.”
- Although adults don’t ask that many questions, it doesn’t mean they have everything figured out. On the contrary, adults often fear they would look uninformed or ignorant if they are curious. But Tristan and Harris agree that there’s no right and wrong question, and in some cases, there are no right and wrong answers.
- You can learn from everyone regardless of their age and experience. Companies use podcasts to bring subject matter experts and provide value to their listeners. Still, you should not expect executives to know everything. They may have the experience, but they are coming from their own perspective. At the same time, other employees and even customers can provide valuable information and enable listeners to make a more informed decision about a potential collaboration with that organization. “I don’t think that the degree to which somebody is at in their career necessarily makes them have more answers than somebody else. I think that’s important to remember. You can learn from an entry-level employee just as much as from an executive. They’re just teaching you different things.” In addition, it is not only the professionals from your field that you learn from. Harris says you can learn plenty from people in your immediate surroundings, starting from your kids to parents and grandparents.
- Sometimes it’s not what you say but how you say it. It’s the same with questions. A conversation is a two-way street. No one wants to listen to someone’s monologue without having the chance to give feedback or share opinions. Therefore, the lesson Harris learned and was willing to share with our listeners is about the power of being a good listener, asking the right questions, and showing interest in someone’s point of view. Such an approach, Harris says, allows you to get to the root of the problem and potentially provide a solution instead of just pitching your proposal without knowing the challenges the interlocutor is dealing with. “That was also something that coaching and going through being a coach taught me. I asked bad questions before. ‘Are you interested in this? Yes or no.’ That’s a bad question. Most people are going to say yes because they want to be nice. ‘What interests you about this?’ is a much better question to get some interesting and good information.”
Episode Highlights
Curiosity is what makes a great podcast host
“If you come in with a mindset that everybody has something to teach you and you have something to learn from everyone, that mindset allows you to go wherever the person at the end of the conversation in the podcast wants to go, and that’s where the magic is. That’s where you can find what gets somebody excited. What is their passion? And then inside that passion is where they’ve done a lot of research. They’re experts in that.”
“An eight-year-old has something to teach me and so does my 91-year-old grandma. So there’s something in every single conversation that I can learn from and that’s what I like to approach every single person as if they’re experiencing life and seeing the world in a different way. And so let’s figure out what that is because there’s probably something for me to learn.”
The importance of a question-focused approach
“When you’re going into a conversation with somebody and they are just talking, you are super unengaged and uninterested in what they’re saying. So no matter how smart they are, if they’re constantly talking, it’s like ‘Get me out of this conversation.’
“When I have a typical client conversation, I don’t want to talk for more than 30% of the time. There are times when I’ll talk a little bit about my solution. But for the most part, I wanna make sure that I’m asking a lot of questions and getting to the root of their problem and having them speak rather than me constantly providing answers.”
Being selfish has a negative connotation but it is critical for the podcast
“When it comes to being a podcast host, in a way you have to be selfish because of what your audience is looking for. I run a podcast for leaders in the HR space. And so I want to make sure that anybody listening to my podcast is getting tactics that would help them if they are in the HR space.”
“So if we go down a rabbit hole into something else, it is my job as the podcast host to pull us back to ‘Okay, what would my audience care about?’ I’ve made this promise that we’re going to talk about topics related to HR, whether that’s why you got into HR, where you see HR going, what are some of the trends, that’s why people are coming to listen to this.”
“So we will go down certain rabbit holes and what excites them but you also gotta manage that with ‘This is what I promise my audience when they listen to this show.’
Don’t be afraid to share your ideas with the world, especially on social media
“I lurked on Twitter and LinkedIn for a very long time. I started at the beginning of 2022 and I was like ‘I’m gonna post every day or five times a week.’ It’s hard in the beginning, you’re posting and you’re like ‘Does anybody care about what I’m saying?’
“But it takes a little time to build momentum. That’s how you get connected to people like yourself. I’ve met so many amazing people like myself by sharing my story and my view of the world.”
“It’s amazing what it’s done for my career. So another shout-out to do that. And if you’re struggling to do that, start and you’ll find your group. You’ll find people who like what you’re sharing.”
“It can be hard but you end up having awesome conversations and meeting people like yourself. There are benefits to putting yourself out there and posting and sharing what’s going on in your universe and your world because you’re an expert in that.”
