“Almost every great CEO whom I’ve met is focused on continual learning.”--Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric
I started reading The Dynamic Path by James M. Citrin last night. I didn’t get very far into the book before I ran into a profile of Jeffrey Immelt from which the quote (above) was drawn. Since I’d been thinking and writing about continuous learning last week, I did a bit more reading on Mr. Immelt.
In 2004, Mr. Immelt contributed his “top ten things leaders do.” Number 5 on his list was “learn constantly” and “learn how to teach.” Immelt says that the foundation for success is not how much knowledge you have. Instead, what counts is how fast can you learn?
Knowledge is great, it’s true, but if you stop with acquiring knowledge, you’ve only fought part of the battle--probably not even half. The keys are staying in gear, continuously applying and polishing that knowledge through more learning. Static knowledge quickly grows stale. But if you keep adding to it, staying current on the changing state of knowledge--then you’ve really got something.
To top it off, leaders--the really great ones, anyway--don’t keep what they know to themselves. They teach. It’s said that to teach is the learn twice. I can tell you from experience that to teach something is to truly learn it. The best understanding arrives if and when you take the time to explain something so that someone else can understand it.
You don’t have to be headed for the CEO’s office to be a great leader. You can be a leader to your kids, your coworkers, and your fellow students. The beginning of great leadership is learning.
What do you want to learn this week? Set your intention now and keep it in front of you all week long. When you have the attitude that there is always something to learn, you can’t be stopped. And no one can take it away from you.
