Sharpen the Saw to Keep Your Leadership Edge

August 27, 2018

Staying Mentally Fit

With the approach of a new school year, I wanted to explore the importance of continual learning in order to maintain your leadership edge. This is about sharpening the saw to stay mentally fit.

In Stephen Covey’s classic leadership book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, habit number seven is Sharpen the Saw. The analogy he describes is that of the woodcutter who is sawing for several days straight and becoming less and less productive. The process of cutting dulls the blade, and the solution is to periodically sharpen the saw.

In this particular habit, Covey discusses renewing the four dimensions of our nature that include, the physical, social/emotional, spiritual and mental. All of them are important, of course, but it is this last one where I want to focus.

Keeping mentally sharp means staying on top of not only important daily news and information, but also studying thought leaders on any subject relevant to your business in order to continue growing your leadership capacity.

Learning Should be a Way of Life

All too often people choose to stop investing the time and energy to further their learning once they’ve finished formal education. It’s as if now that they’ve acquired the degree and found a job, there is no longer the need to continue the process of learning. But learning should be a way of life not a goal one can expect to ever complete.

Successful leaders stay on top because they keep learning. This is an intentional act, which requires discipline, curiosity and the humility of the “beginner’s mind.”

What I’ve found in my study of leadership is that the best leaders are those who are driven to learn throughout their careers. This can be found in many ways, such as:

  • Read lots of books. The best CEOs read on average four to five books a month while the average person reads only two to three each year. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Elon Musk, Mark Cuban are all voracious leaders who make time to read every day.
  • Get training or coaching. There isn’t any leader who couldn’t become a better communicator, presenter, motivator or listener. Those who want to improve these and other skills are the ones who seek out training or coaching.
  • Hold back opinions. When leaders have an idea before a meeting, the best are able to hold back on presenting them until everyone else has had a chance to weigh in. They are more interested in bringing the best ideas forward regardless of whether it is their own.
  • Ask the right questions. In the course of trying to determine the right decision, it is not so much talking about the challenges and the opportunities as it is asking the right questions of the right people to learn how best to move forward. The best leaders recognize their role is asking the right questions at the right time.
  • Listen really well. The best leaders don’t just ask the right questions, they also take the time to hear what is spoken and continue probing for what is not yet said. At a time when people are expected to get to the point quickly, sometimes simply asking “and what else?” can bring forth the most important things to consider.
  • Remain open to new ideas. The older I get the more I realize how little I really know. There is an overwhelming amount of information out there and this requires a certain humility for continued intellectual growth. The best leaders are those who are open to what they do not know and remain curious to know more.

Learning began with your first breadth as a newborn and it should remain your mindset throughout life. This is because only through lifelong learning can you continually sharpen the saw to attain and keep your intellectual edge.

Workplace Engagement Through Continual Learning

May 8, 2014

Maximizing your investment in today’s economy should be a no-brainer. However, when it comes to the selection of higher education, there seems to be way too much emphasis on which university to attend rather than the quality of the professors and a passion for a particular field of study.

Having a prestigious university name to list on your resume may get you the job interview, but finding inspirational mentors and holding a passion for a particular subject matter that engages you to continue learning throughout life may be much more important to thriving in your career and life.

The college years are undoubtedly the most optimal time to learn, however, they should serve merely as a launching pad for a lifetime of continual learning. To best compete in the 21st century job market, it is vital that you can demonstrate active learning as an integral part of living.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal described a Gallup survey of 30,000 college graduates of all ages and all 50 states, which found that elite universities don’t necessarily produce better workers or overall happiness. Instead, it was the inspiring professors—wherever they may have taught—who made the biggest difference.

“Individual traits matter more than where you went,” says Stacy Dale, an economist at Mathematica, a New Jersey research firm. “It’s a lot more important what you learn later in life than where you got your undergraduate degree.”

The WSJ poll didn’t measure graduates’ earnings or earning potential. Instead Gallup’s research was based upon their 30 years of data that demonstrates the people who are most happy and engaged at work are also the most productive.

Gallup found that success for the people who are most engaged and happy was determined by “meaningful connections with professors or mentors” and the significant investments these people made in long-term academic projects and extracurricular activities.

Among other findings, the poll found that only 39% of graduates said they felt engaged at work and just 11% stated they were “thriving” in aspects of life such as financial stability, strong social network and a sense of purpose.

The strongest correlation for well being emerged with graduates described as thriving in that they were three times as likely to have described feelings of being emotionally supported by a professor or mentor while in school. Those people who described “experiential and deep learning” while in school, were twice as likely to be engaged in their work.

We should all recognize the importance of continued learning in our field of study, and that following passionate leaders and mentors who can inspire us will keep us engaged in the work and perhaps increase our overall happiness.

Keeping our brains active in the work we do enables us to continually exercise our creativity and ingenuity in solving problems and innovating. This also keeps us more fully engaged and it is what companies need most in their workers.

Employers should recognize that hiring based on the prestigious name recognition of universities should not out-weigh the overall candidate’s suitability for a job based on his or her abilities to engage in the work and continual learning on the job.

Getting a potential candidate to speak about a professor or mentor who inspired them may reveal more about their productivity potential than anything else.

I have learned that as my children approach their high school completion, the college campus tours we take will now require a better analysis of individual professors in particular subject areas and perhaps trying to sit in on their classes. And the elite universities will have to do more to convince us that we should spend our money with them based on their reputation alone.