Tweet

The Leader As Learner

Guest post by: Gregg Thompson

Article Overview: There was a time when only the most senior and the most junior organization leaders really made learning a priority. Senior leaders learned because they were responsible for crafting a competitive business strategy, and junior leaders learned because they were seeking to earn their place in the organization. Today, learning is every leader’s business. We are in the early stages of a digital global economy that is completely dismantling and recreating our existing social and financial frameworks. Markets are volatile, talent is in short-supply, information is rapidly and broadly dispersed, and traditional organizations are flattening and losing their boundaries. Leaders can no longer simply rely upon their positional power, domain knowledge, technical expertise and exclusive access to information. Now they need to become great learners too

The Leader As Learner

There was a time when only the most senior and the most junior organization leaders really made learning a priority. Senior leaders learned because they were responsible for crafting a competitive business strategy, and junior leaders learned because they were seeking to earn their place in the organization. Today, learning is every leader's business. We are in the early stages of a digital global economy that is completely dismantling and recreating our existing social and financial frameworks. Markets are volatile, talent is in short-supply, information is rapidly and broadly dispersed, and traditional organizations are flattening and losing their boundaries. Leaders can no longer simply rely upon their positional power, domain knowledge, technical expertise and exclusive access to information. They now need to become great learners as well.

The rapid rate of change means that leaders cannot act solely on what they know. They need to act on what they learn. They need to shift from leading from knowledge to leading from learning. And this is easier said than done. Think of it as the difference between playing a single game of checkers against a well-known opponent and playing several, simultaneous games of three-dimensional chess against opponents that have never been previously encountered. It is that difficult, but it can be done.

Leadership and learning are synonymous today. When you look at highly successfully leaders, you are also looking at highly successful learners. If you want to be one, make note of the practices that set these leaders apart.

1. An Opportunistic Bias - these leaders believe that they can be instrumental in creating a tomorrow that will be better than today. They welcome all relevant information, good or bad, because they believe that the environment will always be brimming with both unknown opportunities and unknown dangers and that they have the ability to lead their organizations safely around the dangers and into the opportunities. They are sponges for knowledge, seeking it out from many sources. They are not threatened by information regardless of how bleak because of the innate sense of confidence they have in themselves and their organization. Intentionally or unintentionally, leaders without this optimistic bias often suppress fresh information, taking comfort in their belief that "No news is good news."

2. Premeditated Agility - these leaders assume that they are wrong! They craft the best plans possible and then set out to execute on these plans with the attitude that they are inherently flawed and that success will depend on their ability to rapidly adapt to surprises, upsets and unexpected good fortune. This is not easy. For leaders to adopt the notion that their best thinking is defective in some way and will need to be corrected requires a lack of ego from the leader and exceptional confidence in their organization and in those whom they lead.

3. Emotional Strength - these leaders can let go and move on! They have the inner strength and maturity to be able to abandon closely-held (and dearly loved) assumptions, beliefs and mental models, and suffer the inevitable pain associated with learning and changing. Again, this is not easy, particularly because the things the leader needs to release are often those things that have been most instrumental in their success to date. It's a lot easier to let go of the things that we know are not working than the things we have relied on to get us here.

4. Reversed Perspective - these leaders see through the eyes of others! They have the capacity and courage to honestly look at themselves, their organizations and their businesses as their staff, customers, suppliers and others do. Leaders who do this well are not simply sensitive to the thinking of others; they are radically empathetic. They get outside of themselves (a very difficult process) and experience life as others do (an even more difficult task).

5. Unfair Intelligence - these leaders hear things others do not! Because they operate with noble intentions, they are able to boldly dive into uncertain, risky dialogues from which they gain highly valuable and often exclusive insights and ideas. These leaders see everyone they meet as an untapped reservoir of information and knowledge and set about to extract the maximum amount of learning from every conversation in which they engage.

The good news is that there is nothing on this list that is beyond the reach of all who seek to lead.

There is really no mystery to becoming a true learner, just a big commitment and hard work. But the price you pay will pale in comparison to that paid by those who do not follow you on this road. Look around you. Leaders who fail often do so because they base their actions on outdated knowledge and irrelevant models. They lead by looking behind rather than ahead. Where are you looking? What are you learning?

A good leadership litmus test lies in the answers to three simple questions:

• What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself recently?

• What is the most important thing you have learned about your organization recently?

• What is the most important thing you have learned about your environment recently?

What have you learned from your answers?

Related Articles
  From Transactional To Transformational Leadership
  Are You Stuck in Your Comfort Zone
  Are You A Knower Or A Learner When Selling?
  Good Enough Isn't
  Does industrial theatre really help learning?
  industrial theatre can help adult and workplace learning
  How Self Brand Marketing Online Can Make You Rich! ~SECRET TO A FORTUNE!
  Leadership – Is Everyone Trainable?
  Increase Motivation by Using Questions to Lead Your Team
  Leadership Is Influence
  How to choose your executive coach -1
  Critical Qualities To Achieve Credibility, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  LEADERSHIP: AUTOGRAPH YOUR WORK WITH EXCELLENCE
  Job Myths (Part One)
  INVENTORIES CAN BE MANAGE BUT PEOPLE SHOULD BE LEAD.
  The Greatest Leaders in Life Are Those Who Know How to Learn
  The Qualities that Hire Leaders
  Memorable Advice
  Important "Lessons Learned” For Leaders, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  LEADERS AUTOGRAPH WORK WITH EXCELLENCE.

Article Tags: leaders as learners, leadership development, learners, organization leaders



Related Forum Posts
Re: My 200 post - Well GT, You done it again, The Leader and now you have 1003 post, wow. Michelle and Trent, you are a winners too. WTG friends, you are an inspiration.
Blank text field might be better - Hi TheAnonymousMan, I like your idea! I'm assuming it would be similar to the status feature on Facebook where it might say "Kevin is ... " So I think having a blank text field in the profile box (and even "Leader" boxes on the left and top side of the forums if possible) might be more fun than just choosing from pre-set options from a drop down menu:D
Re: Business Women Peer Mentoring Spotlight - Hi Everyone, Gosh, I REALLY appreciate your concrete feedback. This was far more than I expected and I'm glad you said what you thought straight out. Each of you have shared something of value and I want to take some more time to think and really go over what each of you have said. However, I can see there are some things I need to change right away. What an interesting point about a NEW program perhaps making people think they are guinea pigs! This is NOT what I want to convey! It's funny how we can see some things so clearly in others while not always seeing it for ourselves! I must admit there are a few things I've been meaning to change (like my bio which is very outdated). Obviously, these things need to be higher on my priority list. You caught me like the plumber who puts his clients first and doesn't get around to fixing his own tap! As far as my target market, I do feel quite strongly about working with Women Leaders and doing Leadership Coaching with them. It's non-negotiable in my books. In my Executive Coaching training, the terms "Leaders" and "Executives" are interchangable. To me, an Executive is a Leader and so is the Business Woman or Entrepreneur who is CEO of her own business. I love working with decision makers! What I did learn is that I need to avoid opening up the Leadership term beyond what I described above. I'm also wondering if there is a misunderstanding with the general public as to what Leadership Coaching really is. Leadership Coaching is all about developing your leadership skills, both as a people manager and in more effectively running and growing the business. There is ALWAYS room for growth in some way. As well, sometimes, we just need a sounding board to clarify what our next BEST step is. In fact, if a woman thinks she has nothing to work on, then we aren't a good Client/Coach fit anyway. How can she grow if she doesn't see the value of expressing ALL of the great ability within her? How can her company grow if she doesn't see the value of strategic planning for the next best level? Thanks again to you all! I will go back to my website and really question whether I am conveying the right message. I got more than I bargained for in this Spotlight... you generously offered way more than I was asking. I think we could be on to something great for the Forum. Now it's time to let someone else have the spotlight. It would be great if everyone took a turn! In gratitude, Tami


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Is the iPad useful? One CEO tells all ....

How to choose your executive coach -1

Environment and productivity at the office

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.