For seven years, I taught juniors and seniors in the business college at my local university. I was occasionally amused by the things students would say in our after-class discussions especially as the spring semester waned.
“I can’t wait for graduation,” said one burned-out senior, “so I never have to study again.”
I had to smile when I heard that comment. Not wanting to burst her bubble, I said nothing, allowing her to enjoy the excitement of her approaching graduation. It wasn’t the right time to tell her that her education was actually just beginning.
In order to succeed in our rapidly changing business world, learning never ends. You must be a lifelong learner. High-achieving professionals are students until they die or are so incapacitated they are no longer capable of doing much of anything.
Your continual learning is both formal and informal. If you have a deficiency in your formal education, now is the time to correct it. If you’re no longer interested in pursuing degrees, you should still find yourself in a “classroom” periodically just to keep up with the fast-moving, über competitive economy in which you work.
Lifelong learning prepares you for unanticipated happenings. We never know what business or career opportunity might come our way. By learning all you possibly can now, you set yourself up for unforeseen opportunities and increase the likelihood that you will respond appropriately to those opportunities.
We are at the dawn of an epic change in the business world; it’s called “artificial intelligence.” Visionary business leaders are telling us that A.I. could have an impact on the scale of the printing press, air travel and the internet. One of the world’s foremost A.I. experts recently said that 80 percent of 80 percent of all jobs today will be replaced by A.I. within 10 years. There’s no better reason than that to up your learning game.
If you’re in a leadership role, lifelong learning allows you to continually hone your craft. You will become better at operationalizing new innovations. You will be a better manager, more innovative and more likely to be on the cutting edge. You will learn more effective ways to sell your products and services.
Lifelong learning allows you to prepare for a polarized reality of today’s workplace. On one hand, you need to have a specialty – something that you do very well that few others can. On the other hand, you need to be a generalist – someone with a diversity of professional skills and experiences. Shape your educational and intellectual pursuits in such a way as to pursue both of these seemingly dichotomous realities.
Regardless of your line of work, it is healthy to assume that all your competitors are vigorously trying to improve themselves. You need to continue educating yourself just to keep up, let alone to get ahead. Carve out time for your own self development.
Continuing education is like investing. Just as you should set aside investment money before you pay bills and spend on entertainment, you need to set aside time “off the top” for learning. No matter how successful you are or may someday become, you can always go further if you make a commitment to never stop learning.
