Rule #1: Share what you know and learn from others
Some background: I've been asked many times on how I keep myself creatively fresh. I've never document them before but thought it might be useful to share some of the things I do to stay sharp. The best format I can think of is to share them in the form of rules. I'm not sure how many I will come up with but stay tuned and we'll see how far I get ....
Rule #1: Share what you know and learn from others
I have found that best way for me to learn is to teach. Take my podcast as an example. I started it about three years ago with the mission to use it as a platform to mentor others in what I had learned/discovered over my career. My original mentor (Bob Davis) gave me the foundation, guidance, feedback, tools, skills and direction I needed. In return all he asked was that I mentor others later in my career. To pay it forward.
What I have gotten back from the podcast is much more than I have given. The listeners have reached out and shared their ideas, their frustrations, what they have done to bring innovation to their organization and as a result I have learned from them. The mentor becomes the mentee.
Never become over confident and believe that you are "the" expert that everyone else should come to. When that happens - stop what you are doing and go into a business you know nothing about. Only then will you challenge your creativity muscle.
Are you following rule #1?
Comments
Hi Phil,
Great blog and post! I think the need for sharing ideas is more important than ever! One of Google's top 9 values for innovation (as shared by Marissa Mayer, VP at Google)is "ideas come from everywhere." Your suggestion to not be "the expert that everyone else should come to," is right on target. I think people, staff and executives alike, try to be "resident experts" hoping to be indispensible to their employer. The times have changed - creativity, idea generation and harvesting are the new skills in demand. Thank you for your insights!
Posted by: Kathy Mast | March 20, 2008 01:13 PM