Rookie Smarts

Rookie Smarts

Liz Wiseman

When we are stretched to reach beyond our current capabilities, we can open ourselves to learning from everyone and tap into a different mindset-this is what I call rookie smarts.

The total information in the world doubles every 18 months now.

Truth is eternal, knowledge is fleeting, as the pace of discovery quickens, what we learned yesterday is no longer relevant today.

Knowledge becomes obsolete at the rate of 15 % per year. In tech industry that’s as high as 30 %.

Those who cling to the mastery model are doomed to fail in today’s world. Many will feel overwhelmed and exhausted as work expands to fill available space.

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but it is the illusion of knowledge.

Rookie smarts is also for leaders who must ensure their workforce remains vital and competitive.

The most important quality leaders can infuse into their organizations is the ability to learn.

In an environment of learning, the most valuable currency is influence and not power.

Rookies inside your company maybe the most valuable players. We gravitate towards experts because they represent safety, comfort and certainty.

Several researchers have shown a link between experience and greater powers of intuition.

A 2007 study in Europe showed that the ability to mobilize the skills and competencies of people has a bigger impact on performance versus experience.

A company culture is created by the everyday choices that people make.

The best innovators display the following: Questioning,Observing,Networking and experimenting. Rookies are natural at this.

Bill gates said “ success is a lousy teacher, it seduces smart people into thinking that they cannot lose”

Experience creates blind spots, with experience people stop seeing new perspectives.

As we build success, we come face to face with a dilemma – to stand secure in the certain zone or to venture outside into an uncertain, hostile world.

How many more victories would be ours if we didn’t overprescribe the plays? Should leaders simply describe the goal and turn their people loose?

Act boldly and recover quickly

Here are three ways to increase your mental capacity to see : 1. Ask naïve questions, 2. Get a fresh start, 3.Release your resources.

If we become humble about how little we now, we may be eager to learn.

People are pattern seekers, we form beliefs about the world based on our experience.

In complex environments, winning organizations tap into the greatest number of brains.

Curiosity grows from a deep seated belief that what you don’t know is more interesting than what you know.

Clinical psychologist Henry Cloud said “ Certainty is one of the weakest positions in life , curiosity the most powerful. Certainty prohibits learning curiosity fuels change.

Humility allows for the development of coachability and teachability.

Effective leadership is like holding the strings of a kite, the leaders steadies the string, providing just enough tension to guide the talent as it soars.

Leaders give people space to fail.

Leaders must let people strike a balance between letting people learn and protecting them from their mistakes when they fail in the learning process.

The following are three strategies for leading a learning revival in your organization: 1. rethink talent management, 2. Give rookies a voice, 3.Lead with veteran executives.

As education levels go up, curiosity levels go down!!

Too many people are stuck trying to climb the corporate ladder, when they would be much happier climbing up new learning curves.