Curiosity is a practice.

“I truly believe that not raising your hand is one of the costliest decisions you can make,” revealed Monica Holt, CEO and President of Des Moines Performing Arts and the host of Arts Unscripted.  

At the 2026 Tessitura Learning and Community Conference in Washington, D.C., Monica shared that she’s always been inquisitive. However, she discovered that curiosity isn’t solely a personality trait. It’s a healthy habit. 

“I developed a practice of asking questions, even in discomfort, until it became second nature,” Monica said. “Asking questions is a practice, and it’s one that compounds.”    

Throughout her professional career, Monica has held several titles. To an outside observer, they may read as an expected progression. To Monica, she was charting a map of fields she wanted to understand.

“I was moving towards parts of the building I understood the least,” she explained. “Every one of those moves came with a moment where I was walking into a room full of people who had no particular reason to trust me yet.”

In moments of uncertainty, it’s a gift to ask people what they know.

Establishing that trust doesn’t always look like providing all the answers. Rather, it entails acknowledging what is not known and finding a path forward together. Being curious, Monica learned, must come first. 

“Leaders still often default to tropes of projected confidence and absolute certainty in order to establish their credibility and assert themselves in a role,” she observed. “I think the fastest way to lose a room is to march in with assumptions, particularly about a place you don’t know.”

Monica discovered that in moments of uncertainty, it’s a gift to ask people what they know. When someone raises their hand and seeks more information, it gives everyone permission to do the same. 

And when leaders express that they don’t know, they can make the room safe enough for everyone to wonder together. “Asking means admitting in front of an audience that you don’t know everything. Do it anyway,” Monica encouraged. 

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Monica Holt presented this talk live as part of Tessitura’s Innovator Series at the Tessitura Learning & Community Conference in Washington, D.C., in August 2026.