Why you loose, thinking you need to know it all...... Start picking brains

When did you the last time pick another persons brain?

Getting ahead of your game is using the ressources in your private and professional environment. Bring them into your thoughts, reflections and dilemmas and reach out....

Have you thought about that many of the solutions are just around you, and can save you for a lot of distress and sleepless hours? Then consider the possibility to reach out when you need:

• Ideas to a challenge or problem
• Are in a gridlock, and seem to be lost in the same endless stream of hopelessness, frustration and despair
• Sparring from outsiders, who would not know the answers as such, but can positive disturb your thinking and mindset, so new insights arise

Picking another persons brain can give you the unique access to best practice of solving a challenge, task, project or opportunity. In this case you can take the picking to the next level and ask:

"I have this challenge, I know that you have experienced something similar.......

• What did you do? (helicopter view)
• How did you go about it or approached this challenge? (skills and competencies used)
• What did you learn, the reminder and insight you use when meeting tis again? (new practice)

A person in my professional network is a management consultant and work as a subcontractor, always looking for the next opportunity and business case to solve.

He said: "Christian I need to find a least one or two opportunities before July"

I answered "Did you you pick your last clients brain and ask him, what he did to go from project start up (business ideas) to project set and match (making the project into black numbers and valid for further investment)?

I suggested:

• Ask your client to take your through the entire project and note every single step and outcome from this, to learn what worked and what did not (new learning)
• Have him to share the best lessons learned from this project... what worked, what did not and how he will use this in project version 2.
• Use this insight, knowledge and own reflections, and present it in a 5-7 page slidedeck and use it as a presentation for potential clients, using this case of your client as leverage for inspiring new clients to come onboard....

Summary:

Picking another persons brain bring you the advantage of:

• Fast and valid information and insights to leverage your next challenge or opportunity
• A work flow chart of the steps taken by this person from idea to win, which you can adapt to your own game plan
• Do's and dont's, learnings and Aha's achieved in the process.
• Create an agile approach to a sprint and quickly present and test your project and business case for a potential customer and audience, receiving valuable feedback
• Build and strengthen the relation from whom you learn this, as we all want to share, feel important and valuable to others, and thereby to you... the more you do this the more people around you will confide in you, offer their insights, learnings and opinions.

Knowing it all is a loose loose mindset, because no-one ever do know it all or need to know it all. Picking another persons brain and experience "learning is in the doing" will help you out of your comfort zone, strengthen your wings and take advantage of other peoples advise, insights and valuable learnings and lessons on their journey.

So with this, I hope you let go of control, reach out to others, pick somebody's brain and have successful outcome with it.