What You Need to Know About Curiosity Quotient (CQ)

Probably the greatest scientist of them all, Albert Einstein, said it best: “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

For a while, it was believed that people should stick to doing one thing given their aptitude for a given subject. They were never meant for anything else.

Of course, it was not until recently, and with the rise of online education, that people discovered that this was not necessarily true. One could easily take an arts course or even spend time learning STEM-related subjects too.

A number of website offered quality courses that lasted for a month or two offering a certificate as a result, if you passed an examination.

And given how hiring managers still view these courses with disinterest, the desire to learn had to be truly intrinsic. There were no tangible benefits from it all.Which brings us to the concept of curiosity quotient…

Understanding Curiosity Quotient

The term ‘curiosity quotient’ was used by an author and journalist Thomas L. Friedman to describe how motivated people could be to learn about a topic that seems personally interesting.

Of course, this had nothing to do with their intelligence quotient since the only two factors that pushed someone to learn more about a subject was a combination of their curiosity and passion.

In fact, he went on to say that these two factors combined is far greater than one’s intelligence quotient alone.

While the equation he went on to create cannot be used in a literal sense, he claimed that curiosity and passion matter much more given that we live in a world where education is freely available over the internet.

Finally, he also believed that the people who have learned how to learn and are self-motivated will benefit greatly than those who don’t.

Of course, till this day, there are no valid tests to offer a quantitative CQ score.

Yet it should be obvious that having a ‘hungry mind’ will get you further in the long run compared to those who have no motivation to learn at all.

Now as you might have guessed, your intelligence quotient is very different from curiosity quotient. While the former measures your intelligence, the latter looks at that innate desire to learn.

So, it’s not easy to do this yet identifying people who do have a high CQ has been done. For the most part, they get bored with routine and fancy creating original ideas as a result.

It should be obvious that they possess a non-conforming nature which despite being viewed as ‘difficult’ does have a place in a place of employment.

In fact, some people believe that developing one’s CQ is the ideal way to create simple solutions to complex problems.

And with the skill level of every job increasing by the day, the need for individuals with both a high curiosity and passion quotient becomes more and more necessary.

It is a wonderful time to live in if you are a lifelong learner… the internet truly has so much to offer for hungry minds.

In Closing

Yet the best part about one’s curiosity quotient is that it can be developed and honed unlike one’s intelligence quotient.

And it’s well worth the effort given that the world is moving in such a direction, anyways.

So, is there anything else you’d like to add about curiosity quotient? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.