In an episode of Mad Men, Don Draper, creative director of the advertising firm Sterling Cooper, is pitching a new campaign idea to a marketing chief from Heinz. He shows a large picture of plain fries with no ketchup and explains, “It’s clean, it’s simple, and it’s tantalizingly incomplete. What’s missing? One thing: Pass the Heinz.” (He then applies a transparent film over the top of the image that says “pass the Heinz.”)
Draper’s response to the Heinz team is perhaps the best explanation of curiosity. It exists in the minds of people, with no time limit and no boundaries. It is always on. The best intangible asset a company could possibly have are curious, imagination-driven leaders.