How Heston Blumenthal created a curiosity culture
In most workplaces, curiosity isn’t actively discouraged—it’s just forgotten.
People get so busy “doing their jobs” that they stop asking why they’re doing them the way they are.
One of the world's most innovative chefs, Heston Blumenthal, built an empire by refusing to accept the obvious. He didn’t just wonder how to make better meals—he wondered how sound waves could make seafood taste fresher.
He explored how temperature and texture trick the brain into different experiences of flavour. This wasn’t just creativity. It was deliberate, habitual curiosity.
He asked his team and anyone he met these four questions that sparked new ideas:
What interesting thing are you working on?
Why is it interesting to you?
What’s surprising about it?
Is anyone else thinking about this?
If you want innovation, you need to make curiosity normal.
Reward people for asking smart questions, not just giving fast answers.
Protect time for exploration, not just execution. Praise the experiments, even when they fail.
Curiosity shouldn’t be an occasional luxury. It should be the way you work every day.