Future-proof your career : "Learning" vs. just "Knowing"
I listened to a great podcast today on my normal morning walk. It was by Liz Wiseman. Liz Wiseman teaches leadership to executives and emerging leaders around the world. More info about her here.
**I must note that all ideas in this blog post came from listening to her podcast, so all credit of these concepts definitely goes to her. I am writing it down here because that's how I remember and internalize things.
She spoke about her book Rookie Smarts. And as I was listening to her, it just daunted on me that I went through exact same things in my career but was never able to pinpoint "why" and she articulated it so well.
"...Changing careers can feel daunting, especially the notion of trading in our hard-won competence for that feeling of re-found incompetence. While it’s easy to stick to jobs where we have mastery, is it possible that we can be at our best when we know the very least?
Surely you remember that feeling of being in over your head, tasked with something important and hard, and doing it for the first time. For me, I was just 24 years old when I was told I would be managing the training department for Oracle and asked to build Oracle University. I knew that my only real qualification for the job was that I had recently been at a university. I was occasionally teased by the execs for being young for the job. When a client noticeably flinched upon hearing that I ran the corporate university, my boss smiled and responded, “Oh, Liz isn’t particularly qualified for the job, but she’s bright.” Attempting to defend myself, I responded, “Who wants a job they’re qualified for? There’d be nothing to learn.”
Is it possible to have a successful career as a perpetual rookie? My research has shown that there is a distinct benefit to working in this learning mode. When you’re new to something—whether you’re 25 or 65 years old—a learner’s advantage kicks in. In the process of wondering, asking, and discovering, you do your best thinking, often outperforming those with experience, particularly in knowledge work that involves innovation and speed...."
Here are my take-a-ways from the talk.
1. Be a backpacker - A risk taking attitude, which is coupled with getting started quickly with things (travel lite mode) without doing analysis paralysis. The more "experienced" we get, the more knowledge we have, the easier it becomes to apply that past knowledge to "not do" things that are difficult and/or will stretch our skill-limits.
She gave an example of book writing. The first one she said "yes" too so easily, but now's that she knows what is involved, it is harder for her to convince to take on another book writing project.
2. Be a hunter and gatherer - A way of doing things when you know who the expert is and you go to them first to collect all the right information. A good skill to have, rather to re-invent the wheel all the time. Start from a platform and tweak and adjust.
3. Be a fire-walker - Make quick decisions and fail fast or fail forward.
4. Reverse Mentoring - Don't hesitate to learn from someone who is 15 years younger than you on the topic that you are very comfortable with. Example: Leadership. You will learn something the way new generation thinks about such concepts and it will avoid you "anchoring" to your old ideas in the new times.
I loved when she says - get the job that is "over-sized for you" rather than the one that you are fully qualified and know everything about. That's the easiest way to expand your learning in a most disciplined way.
I am a lazy person when it comes to just learning something new, I will admit it, but if that becomes a job I will be the most disciplined person to get it accomplished. I think Liz really shed some great light on how our brain thinks as we grow old.
Keep learning folks! don't just rely on what you already know. This is invaluable advice in today's ever changing technological world.
Author Bio: My name is Mandar Pathak and I run the website www.optimizeprodux.com and its associated blog. Optimize-ProdUX is my consulting adventure advising clients about better User Experience (UX) and Digital Strategy. The office is located in St. Louis, MO.
You can subscribe on this website or follow me on Twitter @optimizeprodux to get the latest updates. if you prefer email give me a shout at mandar@optimizeprodux.com
