How To Lead Like Leonardo
Curiosity and purpose are a powerful combination.
In his excellent book on Leonardo da Vinci, Walter Isaacson argues that we should learn a few key lessons from the Renaissance master’s life. Among his key insights are the need to stay curious, retain a sense of childlike wonder about the world, and be willing to get distracted and dive down rabbit holes to pursue the things that catch your attention.
Certainly, Leonardo’s curiosity was remarkable. The art historian Kenneth Clark called Leonardo da Vinci “the most relentlessly curious man in history,” and his notebooks are full of questions and provocations. What does the tongue of a woodpecker look like? What happens if you inflate a pig’s lungs? How can you ice skate, repair a canal lock, or measure the size of a city—or of the sun?
These questions—and many more—are peppered throughout Leonardo’s writings, reminding him to stay curious and keep asking questions about his world. But it’s easy to overlook that Leonardo wasn’t just deeply curious. As leaders, we need to look deeper if we’re going to learn the right lessons from the world’s most curious man.
Beyond Curiosity
Even Leonardo’s biggest fans will acknowledge that unrestrained curiosity isn’t always appealing. One critic calls Leonardo “matchlessly weird,” and it’s easy to see why. People who wander around asking bizarre questions might sometimes stumble on useful insights—but often, they’ll simply trip themselves up, disappear down dead ends, or drive your team in the wrong direction.
What set Leonardo apart was his willingness to use his insatiable curiosity purposefully as part of a bigger project focused on challenging received wisdom and testing ideas for himself. His strange-sounding questions were part of a well-organized program of exploration—interrogating ideas in anatomy, engineering, mathematics, and so forth—to push beyond the stale certainties of his time.
Moreover, Leonardo had an amazing ability to anchor his curiosity in the real world and use theory and experimentation in tandem to test ideas and arrive at new understandings. His curiosity wasn’t simply idle speculation—it was a proving ground where he drew connections between what he read or heard from others, what he saw around him, and what he could test or verify for himself.
Leading With Purposeful Curiosity
As leaders, we need to cultivate not just Leonardo’s roving curiosity but also his purposefulness and drive. We need to create space for our team to play and ask weird questions, but we also need to link that playful exploration back to a bigger mission and find ways to organize our knowledge, insights, and capabilities to drive our people and our organizations forward.
Make no mistake: we always need to stay curious. But we also need to be mindful about how we unleash our curiosity. You can’t simply send your employees out into the world without any guidance to chase after whatever shiny objects appeal to them.
The goal is always to move forward with Knowledge Mindfulness. That means staying playful and joyful—but also using that delightful exploration in smart ways to drive tangible benefits.
After all, Leonardo’s goal wasn’t just to be curious. It was to leverage his curiosity to make progress toward his goals. As leaders, we need a similarly deep and lasting commitment to purposefully enriching our total stock of knowledge in ways that directly and constantly help us progress toward our goals.
