Leaders Who Are Voracious Learners

In this Harvard Business Review article, consultant/author Erika Anderson says that effective leaders need to constantly scan the horizon for new ideas, resist their natural reluctance to change, and push themselves to acquire radically different capabilities. “That requires a willingness to experiment and become a novice again and again,” she says, “– an extremely discomforting notion for most of us.” Most people’s reaction to new initiatives and changed procedures is negative: The old way works just fine for me. I bet it’s just a flash in the pan. It will take too long. “Generally, when we’re trying something new and doing badly at it, we think terrible thoughts,” says Anderson. “I hate this. I’m such an idiot. I’ll never get this right. This is so frustrating!” That static in our brains leaves little bandwidth for learning.” 

In the decades that Anderson has spent coaching leaders, she’s noticed there are four attributes they either have or can acquire to adapt successfully to change and become sponges for new learning:

• Mindset – “Researchers have found that shifting your focus from challenges to benefits is a good way to increase your aspiration to do initially unappealing things,” she reports. Sometimes leaders need to be prodded and coaxed to envision how things might be better if they take the plunge, or they may adopt a new practice after a little introspection.

• Self-awareness – Most people’s sense of what they know and don’t know and what they do well and do poorly is “woefully inaccurate,” says Anderson. In one study, 94 percent of college professors said they were doing “above average work” – a statistical impossibility – and only 6 percent thought they had a lot to learn about being effective teachers. Clearly an overly rosy self-perception diminishes a person’s appetite for new learning. A brutally honest “self-talk” is the only way out of this trap, often stimulated by some negative feedback or data from the outside. It’s also helpful to accept that one’s own self-assessment is often biased and listen carefully to others’ opinions.

• Curiosity – Children are explore-and-learn omnivores, says Anderson, but not all adults maintain this child-like drive. Most of us need to push ourselves to ask, How? Why? I wonder… Could this make my job easier? and then search the Web, read an article, query an expert, join a group. 

• Vulnerability – It’s tough for adults to feel incompetent or mediocre at something and have to ask “dumb” questions during step-by-step guidance, says Anderson. A good approach is to accept one’s novice status, which makes one feel less foolish and relax a little. “Great learners allow themselves to be vulnerable enough to accept that beginner state,” she says. “The ideal mindset for a beginner is both vulnerable and balanced: “I’m going to be bad at this to start with, because I’ve never done it before, AND I know I can learn to do it over time.” 

“Managing Yourself – Learning to Learn” by Erika Anderson in Harvard Business Review, Mach 2016 (Vol. 94, #3, p. 98-101), no e-link available

From the Marshall Memo #626