Leadership Traits Decoded
Leadership is shifting - and so are the demands on today’s leaders.
Join Cynthia Kyriazis and Andrea Martin as they spotlight a core leadership trait, exploring how it meets the evolving challenges of today’s workplace.
Through candid, practical conversations, they unpack how each trait influences culture, drives development, and creates the conditions for growth and performance in modern organizations.
Learn more at www.plllab.com.
Leadership Traits Decoded
The Curious Leader’s Dilemma - When Questions Spark Friction Instead of Clarity
What happens when a leader’s need to understand runs up against a team’s need to execute?
In this episode of Leadership Traits Decoded, Cynthia Kyriazis and Drea Martin unpack Intellectual Curiosity - a trait that drives deeper understanding but can create friction when not well-managed.
Cynthia shares real-world moments where her curiosity collided with others’ preferences for brevity. Together, the hosts explore how to balance the hunger for clarity with the communication needs of different roles and personalities.
You’ll learn:
- When intellectual curiosity becomes a strength - and when it overwhelms
- How leaders can communicate why they're asking, not just what
- The difference between curiosity for learning and curiosity for progress
- How trust, communication, and alignment shape how questions are received
- Practical strategies to build understanding across technical and non-technical roles.
Whether you lead with questions or work with someone who does, this episode offers practical insights to transform curiosity into connection - and friction into flow.
Ready to explore your leadership traits? Connect with us on LinkedIn or visit www.plllab.com to see how we transform leadership intelligence into return-driven action.
Welcome to Leadership Traits Decoded. I'm Cynthia Kiriasis, Chief Experience Officer at the Culture Think Tank.
Drea Martin:And I'm Drea Martin, Product Owner of the Crucible. We are collaborative partners at Performance Leadership Learning Lab, where we transform leadership intelligence into return-driven action.
Cynthia Kyriazis:Today, we're unpacking the leadership traits essential for building, investing in and scaling successful companies. Our insights come directly from data-driven metrics within our platform's solution, so let's dive in.
Drea Martin:Hello Cynthia. I'm really excited today to pick your brain a little bit on a trait. Do you want to share what trait and maybe why this one came up?
Cynthia Kyriazis:Oh my, yes, okay, expose everything. When I took crucible traits, my report came back and said that I had intellectual curiosity, and I can certainly identify with that. I have an interest in many, many things. But I think it kind of drives some people who don't have that necessarily. They have other skills that are strong, but not that one. So what I get a lot is do you have still more questions? So I've kind of learned that little dance, so to speak.
Drea Martin:Yeah, talk to me more about what that dance is. How do you interact with others then that have lower intellectual curiosity and that maybe reflect in that way to your questions? Instead of appreciating maybe are like really another?
Cynthia Kyriazis:Well, I think it's that I'm not just asking it out of the blue. I'm asking it because something triggered me, and if it's at work, something triggered me that I don't understand. It's not always technical, sometimes it's conversational, sometimes it's process oriented, but it's something I don't really understand. So in order for me to be the chief experience officer and do demonstrations and work with Will Lindstrom to get through this, I need to get some background information. I'm curious about it and I start asking questions. After about the third or fourth okay, maybe the fifth question, the person I'm talking to says do you have enough yet? And my response is it's not a matter of having enough yet. It's like I'm not asking this just for my own happiness. I really need to understand how this kind of works. So can you take a step back and maybe we can role play it or do something that would help you understand why I have these questions?
Drea Martin:Yeah, very cool. Yeah, that's helpful too to be able to kind of give that perspective to your coworker or to anyone who's kind of pushing back on you, asking questions on any scenario you're in. I think something that you mentioned that's really important to highlight is this kind of knowing when to push and when to let go and giving that clarity to them right around when you really need that information, when you really need that information, and it's not just, oh, I'm curious because I want to know for fun or because I want to dig into this area, which maybe is a natural inclination but also knowing, then, like coming into something, maybe with a plan of like what do I need, and getting that information and then kind of once you reach that point, understanding where that is. Yeah, that's an interesting kind of balance trying to find out, I think some of our listeners will probably be able to relate to this.
Cynthia Kyriazis:I am the least technical person in the world, yet I am surrounded by programmers and technical types. There is a kind of a stepping back to step forward. Like I don't really understand this. Could you explain it to me so that I get a better understanding? Because they're kind of like talking to each other all day and they understand each other's language Gotcha Right, and I'm not getting that language.
Cynthia Kyriazis:But I'm also kind of curious about how it works, how whatever it is I'm asking for works without the big technical explanation. That's another thing, and I'm always kind of fascinated when somebody like that on the team gets a bit frustrated with the fact that I don't get the concept or why do I need to know? All I need to know is they programmed it and it works. And they're not trying to be rude in any way. They just kind of don't get where I'm coming from. Just like I don't get where they're coming from. I have to take a step back and kind of say I'm not just playing curious about, I really, really would like to know how this works, because then it will help me, help the client.
Drea Martin:Does that make sense? Yeah, it does, and it's that interesting difference of like. Not everyone is driven by the same need to explore ideas or understand even what other people are doing, and that's just different strengths. Some people like to do things, some people like to think, some people want more information and function. So it's so important to go into that situation with trying to gain understanding but also showing empathy, and that's something that everyone around you can benefit from too, like even if you have lower intellectual curiosity and you're listening to this, to reflect on that and realize where are situations where I have to be more empathetic. And then where are situations where you have to lead by example and stay curious or kind of help make sure that things are concise as needed and kind of strike that kind of system of allowing both the people who are more intellectually curious to thrive and help that grow and create new ideas and foster understanding and collaboration, while also not letting it take over and still make sure things get executed on, and so on and so forth.
Cynthia Kyriazis:Yeah, those are such good points and it kind of has my mind leading back to what we do. We do for the client, right, and who's to say that the client isn't going to ask me that question or ask our team that question? I think the client has paid for the service they're getting. They're receiving the benefits of all that it provides, and they may have intellectual curiosity or they just may have a simple question around understanding how XYZ works, because we are here for them and because of them. To me, it's always well, what does the client need? Also, it's not just a Cynthia show or anything like that. It's really and I'm sure that you experienced that at the Crucible as well. I mean, you work with many types of leadership, teams and leaders, and it's for them, it's for their knowledge or development. This has really been interesting. I really learned a lot from you there. Drea, do you have more to share?
Drea Martin:I'm curious. So an area here that I'd want to kind of dig into a little bit more is how would you suggest kind of working with people both that are more intellectually curious and less kind of? From your own experience as someone who is more intellectually curious, how would you suggest someone works on that Because it's an interesting field, to kind of, it's an interesting trait I mean to kind of try to build, Because it's one where you can kind of dig for your hidden curiosity and try to kind of lean into that more. But how else would you say developmentally, someone can tackle that.
Cynthia Kyriazis:I'm thinking that one needs to recognize who am I speaking to. Yeah Right, I have this trait. How does that person receive that trait? Right? Can we figure out? Are they waiting for it? They want it right away. I try to read the person's intake and then, if I don't think that I know it, I will say to them well, tell me what it is. That's not clear, help me understand so I can reframe it for you, right? And if I think that they're getting it, but they still seem to be scratching their head, then that's a sign that they're not going to ask me. So I'm going to put it out there. I'll just say part of the reason I'm explaining this is because of this, right, and I'll give an example. When I saw this working, it worked beautifully. When I didn't see this particular thing working, it was something that required a lot of unraveling in terms of what I'm looking for or the development of that person.
Drea Martin:I like that, so it's really pulling on communication and reading the person you're talking to. That makes me think about when we work with our developers at the Crucible. We're much more technically focused. I've realized like I can't drop a big idea in a conversation unless I've already mapped out the details, because that's they're just not the people. Yeah, they'll hear the big idea and the wheels start turning a big idea for three months from now. It's something that I need to keep internally, talk to my team, map things out and then bring it when we're ready for the wheels to start turning and it to become a reality. It's very interesting. It's just catering to the type of-.
Cynthia Kyriazis:Yes, yes, and I do a lot of executive coaching so I'm somewhat used to that, but not everybody I work with has had that experience or is used to it. But the most important thing you said is communication, because our solution discusses and assesses four dimensions of culture and the first one is communication. The second one is trust, the third one is alignment and the fourth one is accountability. And the communication and trust aspects carry more weight, they're more serious. The other two, of course, all four are connected, but the communication and trust scenario is really the one that I see the most in the results of our solution. Results is mostly communication, but not to minimize the other three or certainly not to say that trust is not right on that same level with communication. But in this case communication is where it's at.
Drea Martin:Definitely and so essential for culture, and making sure that you have differing levels of different traits, like intellectual curiosity, you can find that middle ground. You can build an effective team because of it, not in spite of it. Yes, exactly.
Cynthia Kyriazis:Exactly Well. Thanks a lot, adrea. You really helped me think about it and realize what the different parts of it and how I can be even better.
Drea Martin:Awesome. Yeah, thanks for your time, see you next time.
Cynthia Kyriazis:Thanks for listening to this episode of Leadership Traits Decoded. You'll be able to find all our episodes on the Performance Leadership Learning Lab website at wwwplllabcom, or you can listen on your favorite streaming platform.
Drea Martin:We'll be back soon to explore the next essential trait. Until then, feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn if you have any questions or ideas.
