Curiosity Is the Competitive Advantage That Never Gets Old

Over the past several weeks, I have been delivering keynote speeches about what I call “The DNA of Success,” a framework built around five characteristics that I believe are essential to achieving extraordinary results: passion, discipline, curiosity, expertise and becoming. 

In my previous two columns, I explored passion, which provides the fuel for achievement, and discipline, which converts that enthusiasm into consistent, productive action. The third characteristic, curiosity, may be the most underappreciated of the five.

We tend to associate curiosity with children, students or people just beginning their careers. We assume that as people become more experienced, they naturally become more knowledgeable and therefore have fewer questions to ask. 

I believe precisely the opposite is true. The more we learn, the more we should recognize how much we don’t know. Curiosity is what prevents experience from turning into complacency, and knowledge from turning into arrogance.

I have been selling investment properties in New York City for more than 42 years. During that time, I have participated in thousands of transactions, experienced multiple market cycles, and watched our industry evolve in ways I could never have imagined when I started in 1984. Yet, one of the things that excites me most about coming to work every morning is the realization that there is still so much to learn.

I frequently tell people that experience, by itself, does not necessarily make you better at what you do. Experience only makes you better if you are willing to learn from it. Someone can spend 20 years doing the same thing and essentially accumulate one year of experience 20 times. Another person can spend five years constantly questioning, experimenting, studying and improving, and develop a much deeper understanding of their craft. The difference is curiosity. 

Time creates opportunities to learn, but curiosity determines whether those opportunities actually produce knowledge.

One of the most important questions anyone can ask is also one of the simplest: Why? Why did one property sell for more than another? Why did a particular marketing strategy generate extraordinary results while another failed? Why did a buyer behave differently than we expected? Why does one professional consistently outperform another with seemingly identical resources? These questions have driven much of my professional development.

At BKREA, our Knakal Map Room and Knakal Land Index reflect this philosophy. We have studied thousands of development site transactions, looking for patterns, relationships and correlations that might otherwise go unnoticed. Our research has identified measurable differences in how various property characteristics influence value. 

But the objective is not simply to accumulate more information. It is to ask better questions about what that information means and how it can help our clients make better decisions. Data tells us what happened. Curiosity pushes us to understand why. Judgment helps us determine what to do next.

This distinction is becoming increasingly important as artificial intelligence transforms virtually every profession. We are entering an era in which access to information is becoming less of a competitive advantage because information itself is becoming more readily available. Answers that once required hours of research can now be produced in seconds. But having access to answers is not the same as knowing which questions to ask.

AI can analyze enormous quantities of data, identify patterns, and generate potential solutions. Yet, the quality of those outputs depends significantly on the quality of the questions being posed and the judgment applied to the results. 

I have become fascinated by the possibilities of AI, not because I believe technology can replace decades of experience, but because I believe curiosity combined with experience and powerful technology can create entirely new levels of understanding. The value of information is declining. The value of judgment is increasing. And curiosity is the bridge between the two.

Curiosity also requires intellectual humility. One of the greatest dangers of achieving success is beginning to believe that the methods responsible for yesterday’s accomplishments will necessarily produce tomorrow’s results. Success can create confidence, which is valuable, but it can also create certainty, which can be dangerous. Markets change. Consumer preferences evolve. Government policies shift. Technology disrupts established business models.

The professionals and organizations that continue to thrive are those willing to challenge their own assumptions. They ask whether there might be a better way, even when the existing way appears to be working. They listen to people with different perspectives. They are willing to admit when they are wrong. And they understand that being the most experienced person in the room does not mean they have nothing to learn from everyone else in it.

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of mentoring hundreds of young professionals. While I have certainly tried to share what I have learned, some of my greatest insights have come from listening to the questions those younger professionals ask. People who have not yet been conditioned to accept conventional wisdom frequently see possibilities that experienced professionals overlook. They ask why something must be done a particular way, and sometimes the only answer is that it has always been done that way. That is not a particularly compelling justification.

Curiosity challenges established thinking and creates the conditions for innovation. It is also contagious. Leaders who encourage questions, welcome constructive disagreement, and demonstrate a willingness to learn create organizations that become smarter over time. Leaders who insist on always having the answers eventually surround themselves with people who stop asking questions.

There is also an important relationship between curiosity and failure. Most people naturally prefer success to failure, and I certainly do. But some of the most valuable lessons of my career have come from transactions that didn’t close, strategies that didn’t work, and decisions I wish I had made differently.

The critical question is whether we treat those experiences as disappointments to forget or opportunities to understand. Curiosity transforms setbacks into education. It encourages us to examine what happened without allowing our egos to interfere with the conclusions. And, when combined with discipline, it allows us to apply those lessons consistently until better results emerge. This is how curiosity ultimately contributes to expertise. 

Expertise is not simply the accumulation of experience. It is the accumulation of experience that has been examined, questioned, understood and applied.

As I reflect on the five characteristics making up the DNA of Success, I increasingly believe that curiosity is what keeps the entire framework alive. Passion makes us care. Discipline makes us act. Curiosity makes us grow. And growth is what allows expertise to deepen and the process of becoming to continue throughout our lives.

After more than four decades in this business, I don’t want to be someone who simply knows a great deal about what happened in the past. I want to remain someone who is fascinated by what might happen next. My encouragement to anyone, regardless of age, experience or level of achievement, is to never lose the willingness to ask questions. Challenge assumptions. Seek different perspectives. Study your failures as carefully as your successes. Be willing to change your mind when new information warrants it. And never confuse having an answer with having understanding. 

The moment you believe you have nothing left to learn is the moment you begin to limit what you can become.

Robert Knakal is founder, chairman and CEO of BK Real Estate Advisors. This is the third column in a five-part series.