"The ability to rapidly learn, apply and execute is a common trait among high achievers," Jerry Bernhart summarized ina recently LinkedIn post. Amazon's Jeff Bezos has said that speed is the only sustainable competitive advantage of businesses, so why wouldn't this also be true of leaders?
If this is true, how do you demonstrate learning agility in your career? I contend that it might be best demonstrated by unconventional (and traditionally under-valued) career paths that spanned industries, roles and responsibilities, company sizes and types, locations, and different capital structures. When you see variety like this coupled with success, you see the results of learning agility.
I have wondered how my career might have progressed if I had stayed in one industry segment, one customer segment, one functional discipline, one company type (VC-baked growth companies or big enterprises), or even one city. But considering that it is impossible to A/B test, what I have concluded is that my diversity of background provides me:
- a more holistic strategic perspective to decision making and implementation,
- makes me a better business person, and
- has taught me to how to ramp up fast to make an impact.
Hopefully, it has also helped me create opportunities for others to grow as well as I strive to be a hospitable leader.
Thinking about your own career, where have you best seen your own learning agility develop?
Viewing entries tagged
learning
I work for AWS Training and Certification and we offer digital badges for those who successfully pass our rigorous technical exams to achieve AWS Certification. As of late, I have become a student of these badging programs and the wealth of training opportunities that exist for professionals and aspiring professionals on a wide range of topics.
I often learn about new programs by checking out the LinkedIn profiles of my contacts . Here are a few that caught my eye recently that might be of interest to you. Because of recent events and a concern for health and safety and getting people productive in the economy, so many training opportunities and many of the related certifications are available for free. These are in addition to the large catalogs of academic and continuing education offerings from companies like Coursera, edX, Udemy, Udacity, LinkedIn Learning, Salesforce Trailhead, and more.
What others would you recommend? Put them in comments or message me on LinkedIn or Twitter and I’ll add them here!
MARKETING
Google Ads, Analytics Academy, and Google Marketing Platform by Google (free)
Bing Ads Certification by Microsoft (free)
The Conversational Marketing Certification by Drift (free)
Video Badge from Twitter Flight School (Free)
HubSpot Academy with topics for individual certs range from content marketing, email, inbound, social media, and sales (free)
Social Media Analytics by Quintly (free)
Email marketing by MailChimp Academy (available to members of their MailChimp & Co partner program for freelancers and agencies)
Pragmatic Institute with topics including marketing, launch, and pricing (classes run $1,195)
Adobe Analytics and Adobe Marketo Engage from Adobe (prices range from $95 to $225)
Social Media Certification from Hootsuite Academy ($199)
Facebook BluePrint Certification ($150)
Digital Marketing Certification from American Marketing Association ($249 for Members)
EVENTS
Event Professional Certification including Virtual and Hybrid Events by Cvent (free)
Virtual Events Institute Certified (rates vary from $975 standard to discounts for students, freelancers, and open to work)
Certified Meeting Planner by the Events Industry Council (requires 3 years of event industry experience; $250)
Fundraising Event Management Certificate by Event Leadership Institute ($636 member course cost)
Inclusive Event Strategist Certificate by Meeting Professionals International ($299 for members for class)
Certified Event Designer by Event Design Collective (on-site 3 day class, 6 months of coaching; cost of 2750 euros)
DESIGN THINKING
Enterprise Design Thinking by IBM (5 tiers; free)
Foundations in Design Thinking Certificate by IDEO ($1200)
As you might imagine, there are a number of outstanding academic programs, beginning with Stanford University who helped pioneer the category.
MACHINE LEARNING
AWS Certified Machine Learning - Specialty by AWS ($300)
Machine Learning by Stanford University on Coursera, taught by professor and Coursera founder, Andrew Ng (audit for free or purchase course with sharable certificate for $79)
You paid the tuition, you might as well get the learning.
