Dare to Learn

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.