Lifelong Learning

One of my favorite inspirational leaders is Peter Drucker. I first learned about him, during my very first class in college. Decades later, I am still gathering his leadership insights. Peter Drucker lived during multiple wars, economic up and down turns, the industrial and digital age, always staying relevant.

On a recent vacation, I came across this quote from Peter Drucker, "We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn."

In my career, I had the advantage of working closely with consumer product trainers. I leaned a lot about learning styles. I, myself, am a lifelong learner. This is evident by reinventing my own career, transferring my marketing agency operations to the financial tech industry. In both industries, I mentor Project Managers.

This century requires a lot of soft skills, in addition to the required position hard skill sets, including technical acumen. I believe lifelong learning is required to be relevant, just as Peter Drucker demonstrates.

There are four steps of learning, I have developed, applicable to any type of learning - academic, life, the workplace, seminars, online, anywhere.

• Receive – read or listen, gathering the lesson’s content
• Absorb – processing and understanding the information
• Retain – know the information for the relevant time
• Apply – provide the knowledge/skill where beneficial

The last step may not come immediate. Some lessons provide a foundation for future lessons or teaching others.

Lifelong learning should be in people’s DNA that want to grow and/or succeed. The more you grow, the more value you possess, in any situation.