Q&A: Brian Grazer, author of A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life

Brian Grazer is best known for having produced dozens of films, including Apollo 13 (1995) and A Beautiful Mind (2001), as well as television series such as Arrested Development , 24 and this year's Empire. Since the beginning of his career, Grazer has let his inquisitiveness run wild by pursuing what he refers to as a "curiosity conversation" with hundreds of movers and shakers. The secret to Grazer's chats? He says it's in letting the subjects know he has no agenda, allowing the conversation to flow freely. In his new book, A Curious Mind: The Secret to a Bigger Life , Grazer chronicles a lifetime of talking to strangers in an attempt to expand his own capabilities. 

The methodology is really to create trust immediately. That's usually at the first point of contact with who you're talking to, you want to say something that is either arresting or curious or interesting or usually make a statement that is of value to the person you are talking to. You bring something to the table immediately that creates value and the beginning of the conversation. And then you just try to shut up and listen … And then, what happens is, it becomes kind of molecular - combustible thoughts transpire. That's how breakthroughs with human beings actually happen.

Your blood sugar changes when you have food. You can be really up, and then you have peaks and valleys. I mean, I know I can do two really intense, good, concentrated, focused hours without food.