The Learning Principle

Each person we meet has the potential to teach us something. All of us can learn things in unlikely places and from unlikely people. But that’s only true if we have the right attitude. If you have a teachable attitude, you will be positioned well to learn from others. Then all you will need to do is to take the following five steps:

1. Make Learning Your Passion. Management expert Philip Crosby notes, “There is a theory of human behavior that says people subconsciously retard their own intellectual growth. They come to rely on cliches and habits. Once they reach the age of their own personal comfort with the world, they stop learning and their mind runs on idle for the rest of their days. They may progress organizationally, they may be ambitious and eager, and they may even work night and day. But they learn no more.” If you desire to keep growing, you cannot sit back in a comfort zone.

2. Value People. People don’t learn from people they don’t value.

3. Develop Relationships With Growth Potential. Find people who are especially likely to help you grow: experts in your field, creative thinkers who stretch you mentally, and achievers who inspire you to go to the next level.

4. Identify People’s Uniqueness and Strengths. Philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson remarked, “I have never met a man who was not my superior in some particular.” People grow best in their areas of strength — and can learn the most from another person’s area of strength. For that reason, you can’t be indiscriminate in choosing the people you seek out to teach you.

5. Ask Questions. Learning begins with listening. The best way to learn is to watch others and ask questions.

Soundview Executive Book Summaries John C. Maxwell "Winning with People"