Curiosity Didn't Kill the Cat; It Made Them a Better Consultant

There’s a line from Ted Lasso that’s always stuck with me: “Be curious, not judgmental.”
It sounds simple, almost obvious, but it’s also the difference between being the person who knows the answer and being the person people trust to help them find it.

In the ServiceNow ecosystem, we’re surrounded by experts. Architects, consultants, admins, we’ve all spent years honing our knowledge. But I’ve learned that expertise can sometimes work against us. The more confident we become in what we know, the easier it is to stop asking questions. And when we stop asking, we start assuming.

Curiosity changes that dynamic. It’s what turns a requirements meeting into a real conversation. It’s what shifts us from “what do you need the platform to do?” to “what outcome are you trying to achieve?” When we stay curious, we notice the things that don’t make it into process diagrams, the handoffs that always take too long, the steps everyone skips, the definitions no one fully agrees on.

Some of my favorite workshop moments weren’t the ones where I had the perfect answer. They were the ones where a question made the room go quiet for a second, when someone realized there was more to uncover. Questions like:

• What does success look like for you six months from now?

• When was the last time this process actually worked the way it was designed?

• What parts of this process rely on someone’s memory?

Confidence earns you credibility. But curiosity earns you insight. And in advisory work, insight is everything. It’s what keeps us learning, connecting, and designing solutions that actually fit the people who will use them.

So yes, confidence matters. It gets you in the room.
But curiosity? That’s what keeps you invited back.

(Inspired by Ted Lasso’s advice to “be curious, not judgmental.”)