In his delightful memoir, "A Curious Mind," famed Hollywood producer Brian Grazer describes his commitment to what he calls "curiosity conversations," his lifelong pursuit of conversation partners who can shape and challenge his understanding of the world. It's such an important part of his life that he has a full-time employee dedicated to scheduling these conversations.

As I've reflected on the notion of the idea quota as a way to address premature declarations of victory, it has struck me that you've got to feed ideas. If you want to hit an output quota, it's probably wise to have an input quota, too! Grazer's curiosity conversations struck me as one way of accomplishing such a quota. In the book, he talks about how early in his career, he made it a goal to talk to one new person in the industry every single day.

It challenged me to think about having an explicit goal for the inputs I'm seeking.

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