What if the very playbook we’ve been handed for success – grit, passion, specialization – isn’t just incomplete, but entirely counterproductive to a fulfilling life?

✓ A no-bullshit blueprint for a more meaningful life—by Finland’s most curious export that has taught leaders at Harvard, Columbia and NYU Stern

✓ In 2024, dr. Puutio reached 1,5 million readers with his columns on Forbes, Fast Company and Psychology Today, and speaking invitations from Adobe to Thomson Reuters,

✓ Bold Nordic take on reinvention and permission: you don’t need approval to change paths – you just need curiosity

For decades, we’ve been told that specialization, grit, and mastering a single craft are the keys to success. However, success stories like Warren Buffet, Jack Ma, and Marc Benioff suggest a different formula: breadth over specialization, questions over certainty. And most important of all, an insatiable sense of curiosity that leads from one rabbit hole to another.

In The Curiosity Code, Ph.D. Alexander Puutio draws on his research at Harvard spanning 550+ assessments of global CEOs, a colorful career lived across disciplines (including three PhDs) to uncover what truly drives fulfilling lives. The answer isn’t found in the grind. Instead, it stems from weaponized curiosity: the courage to question, to pivot, and to explore without apology. Blending business insight, behavioral science, and lessons from Finland’s quietly radical “permission culture,” this book redefines success for an age where reinvention is not an exception, but the norm.

This book is a guide for anyone who’s ever been told they are too scattered, too unfocused, or too unconventional to succeed, and is ready for the validation they deserve. And for those who have bought into the cult of grit and the 10,000 hours, this book offers an invitation: to join a more rangeful, curious exploration of life.