Brian Grazer is an American film and television producer, who founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. While you may think him an usual candidate for authoring a book about curiosity, it turns out he is perfect for this task. For the past 35 years, Grazer has been sitting down and having ‘curiosity conversations’ with people who were experts in everything from particle physics to etiquette. Why? Apart from being a naturally curious person, Grazer has found much inspiration for his movies from the broad range of people he has connected with. This book is kind of a weird mix of biography, case studies and research on curiosity, but it works! It’s really entertaining and informative.
I, of course, love the content about the relationship between curiosity and storytelling (which is obviously a fundamental part of making movies). I also found fascinating how some random conversations with people who seemed to be the most unlikely person to be of interest to a film maker later inspired characters or movies Grazer produced. He is a role model for the benefits of broad curiosity as inspirations for creativity.
My favourite quote: “Curiosity has occasionally gotten me into trouble, but it has been interesting trouble”.
This is an interesting book, not least because we learn about all the fascinating people Grazer has spoken with over the years, but also because his life story is very entertaining.
If you’d like to know more about curiosity and its role in conflict, check out Part 1 of our Webinar on Demand on the topic here: https://www.conflictmanagementacademy.com/webinar-on-demand-encouraging-curiosity-in-conflict/
(Part 2 will be released later next month)
