Ashley Hastings joins the podcast to talk about what it really means to make curiosity a key performance indicator (KPI).

📐 A note from Evan: The phrase “curiosity as a KPI” contains its own contradiction, and hopefully the irony landed with you, dear listener. Obviously, KPIs are about measurement, control, and predictability—the very things that can kill curiosity when applied too rigidly. True curiosity thrives in open-ended exploration, not quarterly targets. The challenge isn't to meter curiosity like a production metric, but to design systems that protect space for it, reward it when it leads somewhere useful, and to not punish the curious if/when it doesn't. The goal is to make curiosity visible and valued. Not to turn wonder into a dashboard.

We discuss how curiosity can and should be operationalized as a measurable part of firm culture—not so much as something tracked, but rewarded and tied to real outcomes instead of being left to chance. Ashley shares her perspective on aligning incentives for innovation, treating training like a product, and creating feedback loops that actually capture and scale knowledge across teams.

We also talk about the post-GPT reality of context over keywords, and how design technology leadership is increasingly about change management and culture design.

If you’re a digital practice leader, BIM manager, or anyone trying to build a more innovative, adaptive practice, this conversation offers a clear path toward turning curiosity into a strategic advantage.

To learn more about Ashley Hastings, see the full show notes with links at https://trxl.co/212

To get more great conversations with AEC technology leaders on the TRXL podcast please visit https://trxl.co

_____

Episode Sponsors:

TRXL Leadership Edge

TRXL's AEC Leadership Edge newsletter delivers insights on architectural practice and technology for busy professionals. Each edition features analysis of podcast conversations, key takeaways for AEC leaders, and concise episode summaries.

Ready to gain your leadership edge? Join TRXL+ today and never miss an insight that could transform your practice.

TRXL+ Membership

This episode of TRXL is brought to you by TRXL+ members! Join our community of supporters to get exclusive benefits like ad-free episodes and our AEC Leadership Edge newsletter. Your support keeps these valuable conversations going. Click here to learn more and become a member today.

-----

Sign up to become a TRXL member.

• Free members get email notifications when new episodes are released and when new posts are published on TRXL.co
• Paid supporters of TRXL+ get ad-free podcast episodes, full show notes, and exclusive Leadership Edge email newsletters from TRXL

Provide feedback for this episode at https://trxl.co/feedback