by Caroline Leach | Oct 25, 2015 | Careers, Change, Learning, Social Media
The world’s information doubles every 12 months. Americans change careers 7 times over a lifetime. And your toddler or teen still doesn’t come with instructions.
With ever-present change, how can you learn what you need to know in a new situation?
1. Set goals. Decide what you need to learn. Determine what problem you are solving for.
2. Make a plan. Think about how you could best go about learning what you need to know. Identify a few learning sources and draft a brief plan.
3. Talk to people. Ask questions. How did they learn what they know? Would they be willing to sit down with you and walk you through a new task or explain a process?
4. Read. Check out blog posts, articles and books.
On my Kindle reader is What To Do When You’re New. We’re “new” more of then than we think we are. It could be a new job or a new class we’re taking.
If you’re starting a new job, The First 90 Days gives an invaluable road map. It’s worthwhile to do the exercises and answer the question prompts.
5. Stretch. See if there’s a new project you could take on at work that will give you an opportunity to accelerate your learning objectives.
6. Take a class. Go back to school, with MOOCs, your company, local adult education, community college or university extension.
7. Watch a video. Check out TED talks and YouTube videos. Download the apps so you can watch a short video whenever you have a few extra minutes.
8. Make connections. Think about how what you already know relates to what you’re learning. See if there are enough similarities to accelerate your learning.
9. Learn by doing. Put your learning into practice. Adopt the Cal Poly San Luis Obsipo mantra of “learning by doing.”
That’s why I’m on Instagram. I wanted to experiment with communicating through images rather than words.
10. Make your own internship. Take inspiration from Robert De Niro’s character in The Intern. Figure out what needs to be done and go do it.
At my new company, there’s even an app for that. Leaders with projects needing extra help load them into the app. Team members pick a project, learning new skills and getting to know colleagues in the process.
11. Ask for feedback. Ask people what they see that’s going well with your learning plan and where you could do better. Make course corrections based on what they say.
12. Be fearless. A few years ago we introduced social collaboration into our workplace. It represented a new way to work, and it wasn’t one I was familiar – or comfortable – with.
However, I pushed through uncomfortable feelings. I asked questions, even if I thought they might be viewed as stupid. And I was willing to make mistakes.
That’s why I started my first blog, internally, a few years before this one. I needed to “learn by doing” so I could help other leaders do the same.
And a few years later, nearly 90% of employees had adopted a new way to work with social business. That was worth all the awkwardness and the errors along the way.
How are you becoming a lifelong learner?
by Caroline Leach | Sep 20, 2015 | Change, Leadership, Learning, Work/Life
When the world seems full of rejection, look for bright spots. And make the most of the them.
I choose to see rejections simply as milestones along my journey. They aren’t major rejections. A community involvement role here. A professional association board membership there. And some others along the way.
One bright spot is I got the volunteer job I wanted this year in National Charity League. I’m the inspiration chair for the Palos Verdes chapter. I give a short talk each month to inspire my fellow members.
We’re parents serving communities along with our daughters in middle and high school. We’re part of a national organization fostering mother-daughter relationships in a philanthropic organization committed to community service and giving 1 million hands-on volunteer hours annually.
And we’re busy – juggling children, careers and community.
So my inspiration this month began with a collective exhale. We were gathered on a scenic September evening at the seaside cliffs of the Point Vicente Interpretive Center.
And here’s what I said.
By a show of hands, how many of you –
- Have more texts, emails, pings and dings than you can answer?
- Have more calendar commitments than you can ever do?
- Feel like everyone but you leads a charmed life on Facebook and Instagram?
Well, welcome to a new school year!
One mom with two school-aged kids is also the junior senator from New York. Her name is Kirsten Gillibrand. In her book, Off the Sidelines, she says if you ask a mother how it’s going, the universal answer is “Um, barely holding it together.”
So you’re in good company with parents everywhere.
But my job is not to depress you. It’s to inspire you.
Since we often meet at the Palos Verdes Library, my theme this year is good books. And it’s a complement to the theme of this year’s president, Francine Mathieson – Be the Good.
And while you don’t need yet another thing to do, how many of you would like to:
- Increase your concentration and improve your memory?
- Connect better with people on an emotional level?
- Feel happier, calmer and less stressed?
Then reading, as little as six minutes a day, can help you do that.
A study on stress was done at the University of Sussex – yes, it’s in England, so it may or may not be on your daughter’s college list.
It showed reading was better at lowering stress than a number of other activities, such as listening to music, taking a walk, drinking tea or playing a video game.
Reading focuses your mind and crowds out worries – with no hangover, extra calories or other bad side effects. What could be better?
Thanks to Debra Young-Stearns and her team, you have a reminder bookmark on your chair about keeping calm and reading a good book.
The next time we meet at the library, visit the new releases section. It’s like being in a bookstore and walking out with every new book you want – for free!
(And post-inspiration talk, I took my own advice and found Frank Bruni‘s terrific book, Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be, pictured above).
There’s also a great new book out by Brené Brown called Rising Strong. You may have watched her popular TED talks or read her books. Her new book is about resilience and bouncing back from adversity.
I first heard Brené when I was driving to Lake Arrowhead a year ago to meet our very own Beth Graziano and other friends for a family weekend. And I have a feeling Brené and Beth would be the best of friends.
My life was busy, so I drove up by myself after the rest of the group. And I found the TED talk playlists to keep me company – pick a topic and you’ll be entertained by 18-minute talk after talk for several hours.
The last one as I wound my way up the mountain was called The Power of Vulnerability. With more than 21 million views, it has struck a universal chord.
I closed with a few words from Brené’s talk. About our children being wired and ready for struggle and being worthy of love and belonging. And about believing that “we are enough.”
Because, as Brown says, “when we work from a place that says, ‘I am enough,’ we’re kinder and gentler to the people around us, and we’re kinder and gentler to ourselves.”
I am enough. You are enough. Enjoy this beautiful season.
by Caroline Leach | Sep 7, 2015 | Corporate Communications, Learning, Social Media
It’s hard to tell who’s more excited about the start of a new school year – my children or me.
While every new season and every new day bring a fresh start, there’s something extra special about the fall.
Maybe it’s the combination of a new school year, a new football season (full disclosure: I work for the company that brings you NFL Sunday Ticket) and a new world of possibilities.
You get the benefit of a new start, without the pressure to make resolutions that a new year brings.
Fall is the perfect time for kids of all ages to recommit to learning. Here are my favorite ideas for learning something new this season.
Go online. Your professional association probably offers a myriad of on-demand webinars. I’ve been working on my APR recertification through the PRSA website, with sessions like Digital News Releases, Twitter PR Secrets and Media Pitching for 2015.
One of my favorite bloggers, Penelope Trunk, has amazing career courses at Quistic. I can’t wait until the end of this month when her series of Myers-Briggs sessions delves into the ENTJ type.
And one of the exciting things about the company that acquired my employer this summer is the access to hundreds of online courses through AT&T University.
Go the library. My neighborhood library has a great section of new releases when you walk in the door. I can stock up on all the latest books with a swipe of my library card.
I just finished Daniel Levitin’s The Organized Mind, with strategies for “thinking straight in the age of information overload.” Because our brains can’t keep track of all the stimuli that bombard us, it helps to set up systems to get information out of our heads and into external storage systems. This premise also reminded me to read the refreshed version of David Allen’s Getting Things Done.
And when my brain really needs a break, there’s nothing like the charming reading room at the Malaga Cove Library. Reading, reflecting, thinking or just chilling out are the perfect activities in this historical landmark built in 1929.
Go back to school. Whether it’s a MOOC or a university extension class or a local community college, there are lots of options. This may be my next strategy for learning Spanish, especially because I need an accountability mechanism!
And going back to school doesn’t necessarily mean doing so as a student. You can learn just as much by teaching a course – the process of distilling your thoughts into a structured framework can be an invaluable learning experience.
Mix up your exercise routine. My evening walks and treadmill sessions just earned me a New Zealand badge, according to a congratulatory email from Fitbit. But besides actually wanting to travel there sometime this decade, I’d like to experiment with some new forms of exercise.
This seemed like the perfect weekend to try Cardio Barre and stand up paddle boarding. And I loved them both. My mind recalled my years of ballet training much better than my body did, so I’ll have get up to speed on the barre over a bit more time.
The mind/body connection between exercise and the brain is fascinating, as Gretchen Reynold explores in her “Phys Ed” column in the New York Times.
Be a tourist in your own town. It’s easy to get complacent and not take advantage of all your city or town has to offer. My husband and I started the holiday weekend with a favorite walk around the Lake Hollywood reservoir.
Our reward afterwards was the Urth Caffe, where we talked about fun things we could do this fall and winter, like go to a few college football games and finally see the Rose Parade in person.
And my good colleague Katie Jenks gave me a great lead on a comedy club. A good laugh is just the thing to put life into perspective and making the living much more fun!
by Caroline Leach | Aug 30, 2015 | Careers, Change, Corporate Communications, Learning
A colleague recently asked me about the top three qualifications in public relations, today and in 2025.
It was for a curriculum review at a university’s journalism and mass communications school.
My first thought was about the tsunami of change we’ll see in the next 10 years. It would be easier to predict what the next three to five years will bring.
The Future Work Skills 2020 report by the Institute for the Future came to mind. Smart machines, new media and global connectivity are just some of the trends reported that will shape the future of PR and corporate communications.
For today, Tell Me About A Train Wreck, my blog post on what I’m looking for in a new hire, led me to the top qualifications for 2015:
- Critical thinking. Using reasoning and and systems thinking to make decisions and solve problems is the foundation for this field (and many others). This is a key skill in the framework for 21st century learning.
- Writing – for a social, mobile, global and video-based world. Writing reflects sound thinking. And in a world suffering from information overload, writing today has to be clear, concise and compelling.
- Business acumen. A thorough understanding of the business, the competition and the industry is key to successful PR and corp comms. Give equal weight to learning about PR and the business world.
As I started projecting future qualifications, I ended up with the same three. Yet, those will hardly be sufficient for what the world will look like a decade from now. So to those foundational skills, I would add:
- Tech savvy. This encompasses everything from video production to learning to code. As the Wall Street Journal reported, it’s about gaining “procedural literacy” and thinking about how processes work in the world. In the PR realm, it will become increasingly important to bring art (writing) and science (technology) together to engage and influence people in the future.
- Data analysis. With the explosion in data creation, it will become increasingly important to analyze data, see patterns, choose an appropriate course of action, and know how to ethically and appropriately present data to change behaviors. This is also vital to consider on a personal branding level through Michael Fertik’s The Reputation Economy.
- Creativity. This is another 21st century skill. And it’s one that’s closely linked with innovation. With data, technology and information, a creative ability enables connections and something new and fresh from considering and combining seemingly disparate ideas and concepts.
With so much to learn, where’s a good place to start?
Often, it’s by doing one new thing and taking just one step.
As a new school year kicks off, I’m recommitting to learning a new language with my Spanish studies. My husband is brushing up on his Italian, and our children are heading back for the first day of school.
What are you learning this fall?
by Caroline Leach | Aug 23, 2015 | Change, Learning
How do you ride a tsunami of information?
As Moore’s Law fades into oblivion (maybe), email has eclipsed it, doubling seemingly every season, rather than every two years.
With pings and dings every second, how do you know what’s important? What to pay attention to? And how to allocate your time?
In trying to answer to those questions, I wonder if they’re the right ones.
It’s really a matter of knowing your most important priorities and focusing your time on those. You can then crowd out the noise and distractions with benign neglect.
And there’s one more ingredient to add to the mix – scanning the environment few new ideas and opportunities. Learning where to dig deep and what to ignore.
And setting up systems to make that happen for you. Silencing pings. Blocking spam. Automating filing.
In the GTD model by David Allen, you get everything out of your head and into your organizing system. That way you don’t waste precious brainpower trying to remember an appointment or a deadline.
He calls this having a mind like water. It means your mind is free to work at its highest and best level – thinking, synthesizing and ideating.
In addition, try reading, writing and coloring. Yes, coloring.
I’m a little late to the coloring craze for adults. Apparently it launched in 2013 with the publication of Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden.
And I have Julia Cameron and The Artist’s Way to thank for it. I’ve long been a fan of her practice of morning pages. It’s three verbatim pages of longhand writing that clear your mind and prepare you for your day. And it’s another great way to achieve a “mind like water.”
But I’d never really embraced the related concept of an artist’s date – an hour for yourself each week to do something fun and engaging. The purpose? To “restock the well” and generate new ideas.
Until earlier this month. With no real agenda, I went to one of my favorite places – Barnes & Noble. Usually when I go, I have a list and a deadline. But I decided I’d wander through some new sections of the store and see what caught my eye.
It ended up being creative coloring books, for relaxation and mindfulness. The next stop was Staples for pencils, pens and crayons.
Coloring envelops your mind, focusing and freeing it. It’s somewhat like coming up with good ideas while walking or showering. It puts your brain in neutral while you create something of beauty. And even more beautiful is the ideas that flow in the process.
When you’re looking everywhere else for answers, it’s worth remembering that you already have them in yourself. Because you’ve always had the ruby slippers. You just have to click your heels.
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