You Want to Stay Relevant? Never Stop Learning

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.

By Rodger Dean Duncan

Continuous learning has become a mantra for everyone from college newbies to seasoned C-suite veterans. Trouble is, most of us are bad at learning. Supremely bad.

That’s the conclusion of Bradley R. Staats, an operations professor whose research examines how individuals, teams, and organizations can learn to improve their performance.

Staats, who teaches at the University of North Carolina’s business school, outlines a framework to help you become more effective as a lifelong learner. The steps include:

• Valuing failure

• Focusing on process, not outcome, and on questions, not answers

• Making time for reflection

• Learning to be true to yourself by playing to your strengths

• Pairing specialization with variety

• Treating others as learning partners

The framework, based on the most recent behavior science, is the core of Staats’ book Never Stop Learning: Stay Relevant, Reinvent Yourself, and Thrive. He explains how to overcome the challenges to our own learning.