3 Ways To Fuel Your
Own Growth
By Nilofer Merchant on May 17, 2013 12:58 pm
There are 3 things that change you: travel, the people you meet,
and the books you read. A few weeks back, at the Foster School of Business Innovation conference,
I heard Doug Plank, a VC, say that. To take in new ideas is to let
yourself be changed. And, there’s probably as many techniques as there are
people as to how to do that. As important as it is, most of us are not that
intentional about it.
So some ways you might:
1. Travel. These days when so much work can be done over skype,
phone and in one’s pajamas, its often unclear why you need to board a jet plane.
But it’s exactly the meta context that makes “live” incredibly important.
Remember that over 50% of the US population doesn’t work for “the man”, by
being either freelancers or solopreneurs. That means that we all need places
and occasions for serendipity to occur. I believe live events take on more
importance in the Social Era because we need places for individuals to find and
connect with others. And, importantly for our careers, we need to budget both
time and monies for this. I allot 20% of my annual budget for what I call
“serendipity creation”. Serendipity is what allows for newness — new ideas, new
people, and new connections. If you’re always hanging with the same tribe,
you’ll always think the same thoughts.
Action item: How will you create more serendipity? And, do you
know how much are you willing to budget for it?
2. People. I spend about 40+ hours organizing and pre-planning a
trip that takes 3 days. Why? Because I’m teeing up the conversation to be a
good one — by sharing what I’m interested in already, why I want to meet,
sometimes sending content ahead of time, and definitely studying up on the
other person’s interests. Doing all that prep work means we can go deeper into
discussion. Drake Baer, a fellow writer, and I met this trip and a few key
nuggets from that conversation fundamentally illuminated the work I’ve done
thus far, and what I’ll work on next. The setup ahead of time was central to
making our time together work. It’s not like we’re starting from scratch of
“who are you”, and “who are we to one another”… Once there, I also make sure to
choose a great place to meet, and then to confirm the night before that we’re
on. All of that sets up the context of a great exchange. I’ll just say that
meeting Drake Baer alone
sparked an inspiration deluge that will fuel several weeks of ideas. I met
about 10 people this trip that filled the brain, aka my journal, with new
things to think about.
Action item: Are you intentional about who you need to meet and to
set up those meetings with good context setting?
3. Books. So I meet a lot of people who say they are lucky if they
read one book a year. On a trip like this, I packed 5 research papers. I read
them each twice, and then took copious notes. Then, I went through all those
notes to create a summary note to myself on what I learned. That step-by-step
process is how I digest information and especially new research in the field of
management. Now you could roll your eyes a bit and think, but… Nilofer, thinking (and the resulting
writing/speaking) is what you do for a living. But to say that is
to miss a key point: in the
social era and our modern day economy, thinking new thoughts and connecting
ideas / people together is what allows everyone to create value.
Reading blogs is all fine and good but most will not enable you to have a
trans-formative idea. By its very nature, most blog posts are skimming or
representing an older idea. Those creating easy lists will motivate or inspire
for a few minutes, maybe even a day. Those creating pithy comments will remind
you of something you already know to be true. All good, and fine. But if you are going to be a
source for value creation… you need to be thinking. And, fersure, you won’t
even be thinking about an idea for long enough time to formulate an opinion,
connect it to another idea, or to have your old opinion changed if you’re not
reading. Long-form reading of research or of books is about letting you
meditate on an idea, to let it ruminate inside you and then to let that shape
you.
Action item: Make a budget of an hour a week or an hour a day to
let yourself grow through books.When will that be? Honor it.
If the industrial era was about building things, the social era is
about connecting things, people and ideas. These three action items will enable
you to do that. And perhaps even create for a you a real problem: an
inspiration deluge.
What will you do to fuel your own ability to connect things,
people, and ideas?
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