For Oscar-winning Hollywood producer Brian Grazer, curiosity is not just a quality of his personality but a secret weapon as well.
For decades, Grazer has scheduled a weekly "curiosity conversation" with an accomplished stranger. From scientists to spies, and adventurers to business leaders, he has met with anyone willing to answer his questions for a few hours.
These informal discussions sparked the creative inspiration behind many of his movies and TV shows, including "Splash", "24", "A Beautiful Mind", "Apollo 13", "Arrested Development", "8 Mile", "J. Edgar" and "Empire".
The conversations include those Grazer had with Isaac Asimov, Barack Obama, Princess Diana, Andy Warhol and Michael Jackson among several others.
What is it that connects a kid exuberantly going through kitchen cabinets, a person typing a query into Google's search engine and pressing 'enter' and questions that have an impatient compulsion right up till the moment we get the answer?
It's curiosity and that's what has interested Grazer. All his experiences have been produced in a book "A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life" by Grazer and business journalist Charles Fishman.
The book, published by Simon & Schuster, is an entertaining peek into the weekly "curiosity conversations" that have inspired Grazer to create some of America's favourite and iconic movies and television shows.
Grazer says without curiosity, none of this would have happened.
"More than intelligence or persistence or connections, curiosity has allowed me to live the life I wanted. Curiosity is what gives energy and insight to everything else I do. I love show business, I love telling stories. But I loved being curious long before I loved the movie business.
"For me, curiosity infuses everything with a sense of possibility. Curiosity has, quite literally, been the key to my success, and also the key to my happiness," he says.
Curiosity has been the most valuable quality, the most important resource, the central motivation of his life and he thinks curiosity should be as much a part of our culture, our educational system, our workplaces, as concepts like 'creativity' and 'innovation'.
According to Grazer, the goal of "A Curious Mind" is simple, "I want to show you how valuable curiosity can be, and remind you how much fun it is. I want to show you how I use it, and how you can use it. Life isn't about finding the answers, it's about asking the questions."
Grazer says the ability to ask any question embodies two things: the freedom to go chase the answer, and the ability to challenge authority, to ask, "How come you're in charge?"
Curiosity is itself a form of power, and also a form of courage, he says.
