This article was originally published on Future Point of View.
A college degree, such as a bachelor’s degree, is important. A degree of this kind opens a wide range of doors for any person hoping to break into an enterprise. It also provides invaluable life experiences. If you are looking to maintain a steady career, a college education may be adequate. If you are looking to be a leader in your field, if you want to be on the leading edge of your industry, a college education is just not enough. For these people, continuing education is a valuable weapon.
Leaders are always striving to learn. They work to always stay ahead of their competition by learning new tools, trends, and techniques that can help them gain an advantage. They show co-workers, employees, and clients that they are committed to their own personal progress. They understand that despite their erratic schedules and hectic lifestyles they need to carve out precious time to learn. Efficiency is key: how to maximize the time they devote to education? Here are some strategies to maximize this important time that you as a leader will devote to your own education:
- Understand your deficiencies: Be absolutely honest with yourself; ask what do I most need to work on to be better at my job and to better serve the organization I work for?
- Embrace alternative forms of learning: The internet contains a wealth of tools for entrepreneurs to advance their education from webinars, seminars, podcasts, books and articles. Use these tools with relish and confidence.
- Seek out experts: As noted above, the time you devote to education is valuable. In order to maximize this time, often the best solution is to meet with an expert in the field you are trying to master and study them, learn from them, and seize opportunities to be taught by them.
- Practice Makes Perfect: You can learn all you want; the saddest thing you could do is gain valuable information and then not implement it into your organization or your daily life. As you are learning, make sure you focus on ways that you can apply that information and then do so.
- Patience is a Virtue: Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither in that time will you master a skillset. It’s easy to get discouraged. Don’t. Even the smallest steps forward can make a huge difference. Fully invest in your education, even if the payoff is not immediate.
Carve out the time to learn, use seminars and webinars offered online or in continuing education programs, practice these tools daily, and never give up on your education. It is one of the most overlooked and undervalued facets of successful leadership.
At Future Point of View, we are always continuing our education by staying up to date on the latest in the fields of technology, leadership, infrastructure, and marketing. It is our mission to share this knowledge with our clients and the attendees of our Technology Mastery Institute’s Executive Education Program. To learn more about these programs visit FPOV’s Technology Mastery Institute.
A former CEO of three successful tech startup companies and principal at consulting firm Future Point of View, Scott Klososky specializes in seeing beyond the horizon of how technology is changing the world. His unique perspectives on technology, business culture, and the future allow him to travel the globe as an international speaker, consultant, and author, working with senior execs in organizations ranging from the Fortune 500 to universities, nonprofits, and countless professional associations and coalitions.
