Several
weeks ago I received a text giving me grief for not posting an article in over 2
months. I started to think about why
that was? (I’m still a product manager
at heart – I always use the 5 why’s) It’s
because I hadn’t been learning. All of my
prior posts were inspired by something that happened during the week. Many were littered with typos because I was
writing at midnight buzzing on adrenaline from a night of Improv and I wanted to write down everything I learned while it was still fresh.
Becky
Blalock’s book Dare, Dares you to learn at every age. Learning new things helps give you credibility, gives you
confidence and gets you to the next level…and apparently it inspires me to
write a blog post.
One way that I learn is local networking events. I love to talk with others in the product
management community. I’ve made
connections that have turned into friendships.
We go to lunch, out for drinks and talk about common challenges we all
face and learn from each other on how to solve them. We bring best practices back into our organizations.
I learn
by doing things outside my work context.
Taking Improv classes helped me with listening, teamwork and confidence. Even more valuable, I connected to people
that I would have not met in my regular circles who have allowed me to grow as
well. I need to continue to
look for these opportunities.
And of
course I learn by reading. There are
traditional leadership/business books (currently reading The Alliance: ManagingTalent in the Networked Age) – and than again picking up books outside of your
domain is crucial as well (try Brene
Brown’s Daring Greatly). There is so
much you can learn outside your domain that is applicable and can give you new insight and generate ideas into your work and personal life.
So I’m echoing Blalock’s challenge to dare you to learn.