I’ve spent over 15 years navigating the high-stakes world of e-commerce, digital transformations, and enterprise software implementations. From optimizing email campaigns at Lululemon to leading Salesforce Marketing Cloud projects at Arc’teryx, my career has been a whirlwind of tight deadlines, shifting priorities, and high-impact decisions. But if there’s one lesson I’ve learned—one undeniable truth about career growth—it’s this: curiosity is your most valuable skill.
Curiosity: The Leadership Litmus Test
A recent article by Dr. Diane Hamilton in Forbes titled How to Get Promoted Faster at Work — The One Skill Leaders Notice Most reinforces this truth. Hamilton argues that while technical expertise and hard work get your foot in the door, it’s curiosity that sets you apart for leadership opportunities. She highlights how employees who challenge assumptions, proactively seek knowledge, and explore new ways of improving processes are often seen as the next wave of leaders.
I couldn’t agree more. Reflecting on my career, I’ve seen this play out time and time again. When I was leading a Salesforce Marketing Cloud Personalization (MCP) implementation at Arc’teryx, my official responsibility was roadmap execution and catalog optimization. But rather than just executing the assigned tasks, I dove deeper—engaging with stakeholders across Marketing, Guest Services, and E-commerce to understand gaps in our data and workflows. This curiosity led me to identify inefficiencies in our middleware integration, which resulted in a custom-built solution that significantly improved personalization accuracy.
That project wasn’t in my job description. No one asked me to do it. But by expanding my scope and focusing on how different systems connected, I positioned myself as someone who wasn’t just executing a project but actively improving the business.
Thinking Bigger Than Your Job Description
At Lululemon, I applied a similar approach. My role was focused on managing email marketing initiatives, but I didn’t limit myself to just optimizing campaigns. Instead, I started exploring data pipelines—how customer behavior insights were flowing into our CRM, and whether we could improve segmentation accuracy. I worked closely with data scientists and engineers, an area well outside my direct responsibilities, to refine our targeting mechanisms. The result? A 30% year-over-year revenue increase and a more data-driven approach to customer engagement.
Again, no one asked me to do this. But curiosity—combined with action—enabled me to see beyond my lane and contribute in a way that made me indispensable.
The Power of Cross-Disciplinary Experience
One of the most career-defining moves I made was stepping outside of e-commerce and into utility management with Corix. At first glance, this might seem like a completely different world, but it turned out to be a masterclass in operational efficiency and process automation. Leading workflow optimizations for metering and billing systems forced me to understand compliance, large-scale infrastructure, and how systems integrate at an enterprise level.
That experience gave me a competitive edge when I transitioned back into retail. I wasn’t just thinking about how to execute personalization campaigns—I was thinking about how the data moved across the organization. The technical depth I gained in utilities positioned me to drive meaningful system integrations at Arc’teryx and Lululemon.
How to Leverage Curiosity for Faster Career Growth
If you want to accelerate your career, start implementing these strategies today:
- Challenge the Status Quo – Don’t just accept the way things are done. Ask why. Ask if there’s a better way.
- Seek Feedback and Act on It – The best employees don’t just accept criticism—they actively show how they’ve improved based on it.
- Expand Beyond Your Job Description – Promotions don’t go to the best executors; they go to the people who redefine their roles before leadership does.
- Take On High-Visibility Projects – If your work is behind the scenes, you’ll stay there. Volunteer for projects that put you in front of key decision-makers.
- Think Like a Business Owner – Understand how your work impacts the company’s bottom line. Leaders promote those who think beyond their immediate tasks.
Final Thoughts
People love the idea of shortcuts. But here’s the truth: the fastest way to get promoted isn’t by working yourself into exhaustion—it’s by thinking like a leader before you have the title. It’s by being the person in the room who doesn’t just execute but who asks the questions others aren’t asking.
Curiosity isn’t just about learning—it’s about leading. And if you can harness it, you won’t just move up the career ladder faster—you’ll redefine it altogether.
Sources
- How to Get Promoted Faster at Work — The One Skill Leaders Notice Most, Hamilton, D. Forbes, Feb 11, 2025.
Josh Nash 
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