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What if the most valuable thing a leader brings isn’t an answer, but a better question?

In this conversation with the "Creativity Explorer" Frederick Haren, we delve into how curiosity, psychological safety, and small experiments shift leadership away from management-by-metrics and toward a living culture of everyday innovation.

We examine why speed, certainty, and control stifle creativity and how it revives when people may question, test, and iterate. Frederick shares the “golden paperclip” story of a missed billion-dollar idea, then introduces creative respiration: filtering inspiration, shaping experiments, and turning the strongest ideas into practice.

We also explore curiosity through language and culture. From cura as care, to the Bulgarian love of asking, Iceland’s idea of “before knowledge,” and the Swedish hunger for the new. Together, these reveal how good questions signal care, expand information, and sharpen vision. We discuss “bispective” thinking; seeing both sides of a system, and how it builds empathy and better decisions in sales, hiring, procurement, and even meetings.

You’ll leave with practical ideas you can use immediately. Swap scripts for genuine stories to role-model improvisation. Capture institutional wisdom through exit interviews. Break “industry incest” by borrowing patterns from other sectors. Can’t travel? Use AI to role-play different perspectives, take alternative routes through familiar places, and deliberately collect odd but useful inputs.

We also talk about opportunity and the doldrums. Catching the right wind means hoisting the sails. And why shifting your identity from expert to explorer makes you more present, more humble, and more effective.

If your team feels stuck in “how things have always been done,” this is your field guide to seeing differently and acting bravely.

Subscribe, share it with a leader who needs a nudge, and leave a review with the one question you’ll ask your team this week.

Tune in for an inspiring conversation that will leave you equipped with the tools to lead with confidence, overcome obstacles and unlock The Power Within

email us at: info@motivuscoaching.com

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A simple leadership truth that’s easy to miss:

Curiosity is how leaders show they care.

In this clip, Fredrik Härén explains something powerful - the root of the word curiosity links to care. When a leader stops asking questions, people don’t just notice… they feel it.

No curiosity =

🚫 “My boss isn’t interested”

🚫 “My work doesn’t matter”

🚫 “I’ll just keep my head down”

But when a leader asks:

• What are you working on?
• What’s your biggest challenge right now?
• What could we do better?

They’re not just gathering information.

They’re sending a message: You matter. Your thinking matters.

And that changes performance, ownership, and trust.

Watch the clip - then ask yourself:

👉 Where could I replace assumption with curiosity this week?

#Leadership #Curiosity #EmployeeEngagement #PsychologicalSafety #ThePowerWithin #ExecutiveCoaching

Tune in for an inspiring conversation that will leave you equipped with the tools to lead with confidence, overcome obstacles and unlock The Power Within

email us at: info@motivuscoaching.com

Subscribe, share and leave a review to help others discover the show

Send us a text

Want a front-row seat to how real leadership gets built across Asia Pacific? We sit down with Olly Riches, Managing Partner at Page Executive APAC, to unpack the moves, mindsets, and mistakes that shape careers and companies in the world’s most diverse region. From his early days in London’s high-pressure sales culture to choosing the harder path in Shanghai, Olly shares how listening beat bravado, why localising leadership makes growth stick, and how to empower teams when everyone expects you to have all the answers.

We dive deep into what boards really want now: proven transformation experience, authentic AI fluency at the top table, and leaders who can design compelling employee value propositions that retain restless high performers. Olly breaks down how talent dynamics have evolved; why fast promotions can create brittle leaders, why succession planning can’t be an annual exercise, and how the best companies turn mid-managers into resilient executives. Country by country, we explore APAC’s contrasts: Australia’s balance conundrum, China’s in-office momentum, Singapore’s tightening permits, Hong Kong’s renewed energy, Indonesia’s localisation success, and India’s vast potential that still struggles to attract expats.

Along the way, we talk resilience during crisis, hiring ahead of the curve, and the role of values as a compass when context shifts. We also get practical about AI: not a replacement for good leaders, but a force multiplier that frees time for real relationships and sharper follow-through. If you’re aiming for senior leadership, Olly’s advice is crisp and actionable: be unmissable, take the stretch roles others dodge, and keep learning the why behind your people because it changes.

Subscribe for more candid conversations on leadership, talent, and growth across APAC. If this helped you think differently about your next move, share it with a colleague and leave us a review - what’s the one risk you’re now willing to take?

Tune in for an inspiring conversation that will leave you equipped with the tools to lead with confidence, overcome obstacles and unlock The Power Within

email us at: info@motivuscoaching.com

Subscribe, share and leave a review to help others discover the show