
Why Curiosity Is the Ultimate Competitive Advantage | The Covert Code | EP 114
From The Covert Code by Anna Covert
May 22, 2026 · 48 min · Season 1 · Episode 114
About this episode
The episode discusses how curiosity can be a competitive advantage in leadership and innovation, featuring insights from Rodney Adkins.
🎙️ This week on The Covert Code Podcast, the topic is: How Curiosity Is the Secret Sauce to Success My special guest is Rodney Adkins — former Senior Vice President at IBM, chairman of Avnet, engineer, philanthropist, and author of the Forbes bestselling book *Curiosity Redefines the Limits*. After spending 33 years helping shape some of the world’s most important technology innovations at IBM, Rodney joins Anna Covert to discuss curiosity, leadership, lifelong learning, artificial intelligence, innovation, and how humans can thrive during one of the fastest technological shifts in history. This conversation dives deep into the future of AI, critical thinking, trust, creativity, career transformation, and why curiosity may be the single greatest competitive advantage in the modern world. 🔍 WHAT YOU’LL LEARN: • Why curiosity fuels innovation and leadership • The “Curiosity Advantage” and how to develop it • How AI is changing the future of work • Why lifelong learning matters more than ever • Rodney’s perspective on responsible AI • The dangers of losing critical thinking skills • How AI can become a powerful creative partner • Why emotional intelligence still matters • How to…
People in this episode
Host: Anna Covert
Guest: Rodney Adkins
Topics covered
- curiosity
- leadership
- artificial intelligence
- innovation
- lifelong learning
- career transformation
Keywords
- curiosity
- innovation
- leadership
- artificial intelligence
- lifelong learning
- critical thinking
- emotional intelligence
- career transformation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: IBM, Avnet, Forbes
Books & works: Curiosity Redefines the Limits
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