Bio/About
When professionals and executives want to elevate their standing as a sought-after authority, Roberta Guise advises them on developing their purpose-driven personal brand and gaining a reputation as a thought leader.
She’s founder of Guise Marketing and PR and creator of the Rock Your Reputation program. Her ideas have been published in major market and industry publications and presented to diverse audiences across the country. She’s currently writing a book on personal branding and reputation development.
Roberta also founded FemResources, a nonprofit with the mission to close the gender gap in technology.
Before becoming a marketing advisor, Roberta was a professional video producer. She created “Keys to Weight Training,” an instructional video on lifting weights for fitness that couldn’t compete with Jane Fonda’s exercise videos, but did win numerous awards and critical acclaim. She also produced and directed video stories and programs for corporate education and training.
She was born in England, and as a teenager emigrated to Israel before landing in the U.S. in her mid-20s.
She cools her feet and warms her soul by swimming year ‘round in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay. She’s also a jazz nut and avid birder. And she speaks with a funny accent.
The Top 7 Ways to Be Curious
Harness your curiosity as a tried and true way to learn and stimulate creativity without
lifting a finger.
By Roberta Guise DTM
WHEN WE WERE INFANTS AND OUR BRAINS
were on a growth tear, everything was new. We
hadn’t yet learned to filter our curiosity. We
sopped it all up, learning important connections,
such as, “This is food and it goes in my mouth.”
As we became children, then adolescents and on
to adulthood, teachers told us what we needed to
know. This kind of learning isn’t always
compatible with curiosity, and by the time we’re
in the workforce we’ve largely forgotten how to
let our minds roam.
Curiosity enhances learning, this being consistent
with the theory that the primary function of
curiosity is to facilitate learning.* If we want to
continue learning throughout our lives, we need
to reclaim our ability to be curious.
How then does one become intentionally curious,
or build on existing curiosity? I’ve crafted the
following seven points to guide you towards
raising your curiosity quotient and putting you
squarely on your curiosity journey.
1. BE INTERESTED. The age-old cliché, go out and
smell the roses, is still valid today. Stop what
you’re doing, look around, and notice things.
2. BE A VORACIOUS READER. Get in the habit of
reading something new every day, whether
fiction, nonfiction, business and news. Binge read
a topic. Read a physical book as well as digital
versions. Move to a different spot to read.
3. LISTEN UP. Tune your ears for sounds you don’t
recognize. Listen to a piece of music and focus on
one instrument, then another. Listen to music you
normally avoid. Listen attentively to what
someone is saying and how they’re speaking.
4. RECORD IT. Write down ideas as they pop into
your head. A convenient solution for notetaking
is a small notebook, such as Field Notes
(https://fieldnotesbrand.com/). Or pull out your
smartphone and record an idea. Professional
writers and speakers often put their notes into
categories so they’re easy to retrieve. Could
categorizing work for you?
5. ASK TO KNOW. Ask questions, because it’s one
of the fastest ways to know more or understand
better. Asking is curiosity’s jewel in the crown.
Ask questions because it’ll also expose any blind
spots or biases.
6. BE UNCOMFORTABLE. Intentionally seek out
an activity that’s outside your norm — hike
© Roberta Guise 415-420-6276 www.GuiseMarketing.com 2
challenging terrain, read and ponder writings
that discuss ideas you disagree with, have
conversations with people who have different
ideologies, opinions and experiences. Go
someplace new.
7. BE A PERPETUAL LEARNER. Start with the
mindset that you can never know enough, and
that there are always new ideas to explore and
new ways to learn from others. Intentionally seek
to understand and know. Make learning one new
thing a daily habit.
The curiosity in self-reflection
There’s another kind of curiosity that gets scant
attention and bears mentioning: self-reflection.
Instead of acting reflexively and falling into
old patterns when something throws you off
your game or you feel triggered, try to stop
yourself in your tracks and summon up some
curiosity. Strive for internal dialog like this:
“Hmm, I wonder why…[you fill in the blank].
If you practice self-reflection with curiosity,
you’ll find yourself noticing, instead of
reacting.
As you build your adult curiosity muscle and
give your mind permission to go “free range”
now and then, you’ll experience the kind of
knowledge, insights and delights that accrue
to those who realize they can never know
enough.
__________________
Roberta Guise DTM is the creator of Rock Your Reputation!TM a one-to-one guided marketing advisory service
and online learning program for personal branding and thought leadership development that elevate experts as
acknowledged authorities in their field. Get info at www.GuiseMarketing.com.
*The Psychology and Neuroscience of Curiosity, a peer-reviewed article by Celeste Kidd and Benjamin Y. Hayden in the US
National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. Neuron. 2015 Nov 4; 88(3): 449–460
http://bit.ly/2QjSMFJ
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