I was watching a video from TED Talks the other day and I particularly remembered a funny joke the speaker made. Daniel Wolpert, a neuroscientist, mentioned that a sea squirt spends its early life as a free-swimming form. It swims around, looking for a rock it could attach itself to. As soon as it does that, what do you think is the first thing it does?
It digests its brain!
The thing that made me laugh was that he likened this phenomenon to university professors getting their tenure.
You may ask what this has to do with business. The answer is: everything!
In business, whether you are the owner, the manager, or an employee, it is vital to never stop learning. As organizations grow bigger, there is a tendency to be complacent as soon as profits come in and a routine is established. Processes that work are set in stone since this decreases the effort required to accomplish a company objective. Not much thinking is required. However, this could lead to stagnation and downplay the need for innovation. After all, if something works, why fix it?
Pretty soon, you have to accept the fact that others will learn to do something better than you. In order to stay competitive and maintain that edge, learning should be an important part of your company culture. Without learning, there could be no innovation. And without innovation, improvement may slow to a standstill.
The resources I generally go to are 800ceoread.com and knowledge-blocks.com. They have listings of the latest business books and discussion forums to help you gain more business knowledge. (These are not affiliate links so I will not get something out of it; I just want to share=)
The human mind is always a work in progress. Treat your business the same way. Never stop using your brain! Never be a sea squirt!
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