Leadership Power Tip : Learn, Share, Learn

Embracing self development and professional education with renewed interest fueled my leadership growth. I became a voracious reader. I listened to motivational tapes whenever I was driving. I filled notebooks with ideas, journaling and observations. I sought out recommendations on my areas of interest from others.

One basic thing l realized early in my management years is that I could learn a lot from my peers and employees. It is impossible for any one person to know everything that there is to know about their business, their customers, their competitors and their chosen field. And I am no different. When you take the time to learn from your peers and employees, you take advantage their areas of expertise. Be open to learning from others.

Author Stephen Covey, who in his book, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, writes “The best way to get people to learn is to turn them into teachers... When you teach you simply learn better. Every student becomes a teacher, and teacher a student.” Sharing your knowledge with others as well as learning from them will enhance your own leadership power. You also get the pleasure of watching others grow, which is what a true leader is all about.

One of my favorite modes of learning is attending conferences or workshops. I love conferences because these events focus your attention on a particular subject. You also have the chance to meet other people with the same interest. It is amazing how much information I walk away with not only from the leader of the workshop and materials presented but also from the conversations that happen during the breaks and the evening networking. Sharing information opens up the opportunity for you to learn something new.

As I continue my learning as an Entrepreneur, I am actively engaged in broadening my experiences, applying my knowledge in new ways and meeting many new experts beyond those I had in Corporate America. There are many areas of learning for me that at times make me uncomfortable. Now I am learning and experimenting with how best to spend my marketing dollars. Spending a greater percentage of my revenues, trying new modes of marketing – internet and direct mail, and relying on what my new marketing experts tell me works is a whole new world of learning. My own learning curve continues to curve up. I love it. To me it means that a whole new world of opportunity is opening up. And I know I am learning more and will have the opportunity to share my learnings with others.

As you may recall one of my leadership values is Sharing Knowledge Creating Power in Others. My request of you is to learn something new this week. Take a Teleseminar, read a book, meet with an expert. Learn, Share, Learn and Unleash Your Leadership Power.

Adopted from Neil McPherron - "Your" Master Marketer