Open or Closed to Learning?

Open or Closed to Learning?

I’ve found that some people are far better learners than others simply because they allow themselves to be open to it.

I received an email a few hours ago from someone who read Million Dollar Consulting, and wanted to tell me his key learning point, which he thought I should include in future editions.

“It’s about projectors,” he wrote, “and how you can choose the exact right one for your presentation. You haven’t really included that point.”

He’s right—I didn’t include that point. To read an iconic book on boutique consulting, on the shelves for 20 years through four editions, and come away with an insight about projectors, well, that’s actually pretty depressing.

Yet I encounter people all the time who have deliberately stoked their own learning dysfunctions:

• They read a book with an agenda, trying only to find support for their agenda, not the ideas in the book.

• Their intake of new ideas is through a strong filter of “Why this won’t work for me.” They know this, somehow, without trying it and despite the thousands it has worked for.

• They want to show you “their way” as a viable alternative (which it seldom ever is). This happens to me on Twitter on a regular basis. I’ll publish a valuable technique and someone will respond to me with, “But this works better for me.” (I routinely respond, “Good for you, this isn’t a debate.”)

• They are abjectly afraid of trying something new because of the blow to their ego when they may be forced to realize that they’ve been in error for a decade (and/or leaving a lot of money on the table). Better to be solipsist than to face an empirical truth endangering a carefully crafted self-image.

When I hear something new and relevant (or often questionably relevant, who can be sure?) I immediately try to use it or apply it. I want to see if it will work. If so, I can adapt it for my particular circumstances and be happier, more successful, and better looking!

I think back on consulting society meetings where some guy (seldom a woman, since women I find more open to new ideas and learning) is always pontificating, “I can make more charging by the hour that with value based fees,” or “My industry is different,” or “I have a unique approach.” I don’t want to take the time or energy to try to refute this nonsense, because these guys are closed to learning, and the door is locked and barricaded.

It’s not my job to change, them, though I’d certainly be open to learning how….

© Alan Weiss 2012. All rights reserved.