The Why of Leadership: Part 3 – Success Requires Positive Growth!

“The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” – Alvin Toffler

Everything that is successful requires positive growth. I have found that there are three kinds of people:

1. People who do not know they do not know.
2. People who know they do not know.
3. People who know they need to know more.

Here are some factoids that point to the importance of personal growth.

1. Buckminster Fuller created the “Knowledge Doubling Curve.” He noticed that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. Today, nanotechnology knowledge is doubling every two years and clinical knowledge every 18 months. But on average human knowledge is doubling every 13 months.
2. The World Future Society states that human knowledge will double every 73 days by 2020.
3. Business researchers conclude that half of what you learn today as a skill or way of doing something, will change or be irrelevant in 5 to 7 years.

Change and growth run hand-in-hand. Leaders who are not growing are not going anywhere. What is your learning agenda? Do you have a personal growth and development plan? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

My next blog entry will share with you a system for personal and professional growth and two effectiveness questions every leader should ask him/herself.