If you tell someone, life is a never-ending learning journey, no one would dispute that.
But there’s no way you can know everything.
Growing up in the US, I didn’t plan on a career in learning and development. I only realised I loved public speaking when I took a communications course at university. Post-graduation, I worked in Chicago and travelled a lot in the States and in Asia for delivering training and consulting, which I really enjoyed. So when the opportunity to work in Leadership & Learning at Baker McKenzie came up five years ago, I decided to take a chance and moved back to Hong Kong, my birthplace. Hong Kong is fun, and dynamic. But there’s still a lot of learning to do.
If we anchor ourselves to a purpose and interest, and then we would naturally learn. Reading and listening to podcasts allows me to familiarise with ideas in thinking, both for myself, and to share with others. The book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith has been tremendously helpful at various points of my career. And Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow helps us navigate the way our brains work, so to guide us to better tackle our daily challenges.
It’s impossible to learn everything, though, especially in the current age of information overload. 200 years ago, there was no technology, no 24/7 media, so it was easy to say, let me learn all of it. To me, learning is about interest, minimising the noise, and about being practical. The key is to learn what you need to know for what you need to do next to make an impact, both in life, and at work. It’s all about having a
growth mindset, versus having a fixed mindset.