There’s healthy professional curiosity.  And then there’s motive disguised as curiosity.

Asking thoughtful questions about methodology? Productive.  Asking about someone’s compensation or past transactions that don’t involve you? Not so much.

Experience teaches you to recognize the difference quickly.  Professionals don’t probe into matters that aren’t theirs.  They build their own path.

When someone spends more energy analyzing your position than strengthening their own — that tells you everything.