Scott Shigeoka

Scott Keoni Shigeoka (they/he) is a curiosity expert, storyteller and creative consultant. Scott’s book SEEK: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World was sold to Grand Central Publishing Balance (Hachette Book Group) in a major deal, after a multi-publisher bidding war, and was released November 2023. For the past fifteen years, Scott has worked with creative agencies, social enterprises, nonprofits, philanthropic funders, acclaimed artists and communities. He previously held leadership positions at the design firm IDEO, at a private foundation, and at an edtech startup that was acquired in 2012. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Variety, TIME and other outlets. 

Scott started their storytelling career as a music writer for The Washington Post. He serves as the senior advisor of Good Energy, an initiative in Hollywood amplifying climate stories in mainstream TV and film. Scott is on faculty at The University of Texas at Austin teaching groundbreaking courses on curiosity, creativity and healing. They have also taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of California Berkeley. Born/raised in Hawai‘i, Scott currently lives in the California Mojave Desert. Their favorite word is ‘komorebi’ (木漏れ日), which means the sunlight that washes between the leaves of a tree.

Finish this year's Staff Conference on April 11 with Scott's afternoon keynote:

Creating a curious work culture

It’s tough for “real teams” to think outside the box— especially amid the competing pressures of their everyday lives. Tough, but completely possible.

Curiosity makes companies more creative, collaborative, and reduces fear and anxiety. But how do you make your company culture more curious? In this talk, Scott Shigeoka, internationally-recognized curiosity expert and author of  Seek,  guides you through the cornerstone practices that calls in transformative curiosity into your workplace. 

As one example: Scott’s DIVE model, which he explores in Seek, is backed by his extensive research at UC Berkeley. The four phases, Detach, Intend, Value, and Embrace, are designed to spark deep curiosity in your work culture. The first step, detach, asks that you let go of your assumptions, biases and certainties. The last is to embrace—be ready to welcome the challenging times. In this talk, Scott walks you through each step of his method from start to finish, offering you a new framework for implementing curiosity across your organization.

With cutting-edge research and personal stories, Scott explores his many strategies and leaves you with concrete methods to lead your company to greater curiosity for transformative workplace productivity, innovation, and success.