Why Learning Beats Knowing

I had the pleasure of working with 300 MBA students in the Warwick Business School Distance Learning Program on 11th April. WBS recently retained the #1MBA title, and their students were super engaged.

Delivering virtually, despite all the technology, is never as engaging as in person, but rather than giving less, these participants seemed to amp up their involvement and gave more.

I was lucky to be sharing my favourite leadership concept, Multipliers, How the best leaders make everyone smarter, by Liz Wiseman. I have been delivering this content for 11 years now, so I know it resonates and often hits a nerve with the participants. But this time, I felt something was different with the WBS participants. Despite it being a Sunday, 300 learners from across the globe invested their precious time. They made every minute count - considered ideas, challenged concepts, shared experiences to learn from, and added value to each other. 

 I reflected and realized that everyone attending this Warwick Week event, with seven full days of intense content, turned up as an intentional learner. They weren’t told to be there or vaguely looking to improve themselves or just to earn a certificate. They have decided to invest their time and money in a stretching learning experience, and they wanted to push their own boundaries.  

The Currency of The Future

The intent to learn, or “Growth Mindset”, as Carol Dweck called, is, I believe, the currency of the future. Your team members that are open to and seek opportunities to learn are your most valuable employees. It might not be an MBA; it could just mean that they are curious, observers, readers or reflectors. They recognize that what they know now might be good, but it is not enough. As the world moves faster than ever, what we know now, will not be enough. We need to build learners. 

In Liz Wisemans’ second book, Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work, she explored practical tools to help leaders get out of the rut of knowing.  The book talks about tangible ways to shift our approach to thinking and tackle hard things with a fresh perspective. 

 At Biz, we love the concept of building learners so much, we have curated this content into a short virtual workshop.  

 It was a joy for me to learn from and facilitate learning with the WBS MBA students because they were open-minded, intellectually curious, hungry to learn and explore how they could apply the concepts in their lives. If every learner in corporate training was like that, the return on investment would be so much greater. 

 If your employees are either resisting upskilling or reskilling or jaded when it comes to new concepts, perhaps they need a shot in the arm of the Why Learning Beats Knowing concept!

Reach out to us to for more information on how this Corporate Training program can help you tackle the upskilling and reskilling needs of your business. Contact us here.