“Some will never learn anything because they understand everything too soon.” – Thomas Blount
Viewing entries tagged
Learning Styles
You paid the tuition, you might as well get the learning.
Life is an amazing teacher and in business, I have learned more richly from our customers than any other single group. Here are some of the lessons I have learned.
- “If something is hard for you to explain, it will be hard for others to understand.”
- “Understand how the customer makes money and how you help them make money and then the sale is yours.”
- “Leadership is as leadership does in front of a customer.”
- “Leadership is about making and keeping promises.”
- “Success in life and in business is about managing expectations.”
- “The customer is always right, according to their perspective. You won’t be successful convincing a customer they are wrong. You will only be successful changing their perspective…or having yours changed.”
- “Customer empathy is the start of any great innovation.”
- “No one cares about your program, product, or policy. They just want their problems solved.”
I read with interest an article in the Huffington Post that recounted the 1500 meter race at the Rio Paraolympic games. The top four finishers in the visually impaired category would have beat the Olympic Gold metalist, a very talented Matthew Centrowitz Jr. Abdellatif Baka, Tamiru Demisse, Henry Kirwa, and Fouad Baka all ran faster than Centrowitz.
The 1500 meter race at the Olympics was very strategic and not necessarily fast. In fact, Centrowitz was way off his best time and in fact, there are over a dozen high school kids in the US that have ran faster than the time he posted at the Rio Games, but still the achievements of these blind or nearly-blind running is remarkable.
It leaves me with some “what if” questions.
What if these runners had been on the field at the regular Olympic games? How would they have done? They certainly were capable of finishing the distance in time. But without their sight, could they have known their position in the strategic race that left people guessing until the end who would emerge victorious.
How does a blind or visually-impaired runner judge his position on the track? How does he know if he is in the leading pack or one further back? How does he pace himself (or herself) in the field that is running that day?
And what does this have to teach us about the vision and insight we have today about our businesses, products, and projects? Does having more information make us a better finisher? Not in all cases.
I am inclined to agree with Tim Washer speaking at ContentMarketing World who recently concluded “analysis is good, but don’t let it kill a good idea.” At least not all the time.
"We are often told we need to know how to learn. But how do we learn to unlearn." - Chris Dede, Harvard
To build new habits. To change our approach, to find a new path.
Elephants are known for being smart and for having great memories. They earn this reputation in many ways, but I read recently a factoid about elephants that fascinated me. Elephants leave the way they came in. If they enter a valley from the north, they will leave through the same pass. Perhaps it is because of their great memory or exceptional sense of direction, or it could be because they are smart enough to know what they can expect from that direction. Or perhaps they are very risk adverse.
In any case, I think we are a lot like elephants. We tend to come and go via well-worn paths, take the safe routes, and cover the same ground over and over before venturing a new way. Memories make us nostalgic and nostalgia leads up to repeat history.
This could be great. Or it could lead to missed opportunities and chances never taken.
"A person who won't read has not advantage over one who can't read." - Mark Twain
Stay curious, my friends.
Some can visualize words. Some need to be shown pictures. And some need to experience things before they can learn. In any case, one style of communication doesn't work for everything. This affects not only formal education, but advertising and branding experiences as well.