Be Hungry, stay foolish – How to develop a ‘teachable’ attitude

Whenever I get to talk to people in leadership positions, one thing I am always curious about and ask them is – how do you make hiring decisions? Given two candidates are equal in knowledge and experience, who do you hire? There is one quality that almost all of them mention – Teachability.

Early in my career I used to fret about not having enough technical knowledge for a certain job and would be scared to appear for interviews or even apply. Over time and with experience, I have come to realize it’s not the technical knowledge that matters, no one is born with technical skills, they can be acquired. But what leaders really look for is the attitude and desire to learn.

Good leaders know technical skills that are in demand today will be obsolete tomorrow. What is going to matter is how teachable their team is. How fast can they learn, unlearn and relearn.

The more philosophy, psychology and behavioral economics books I delve into, this is one theme that I keep encountering- the person who thinks he knows everything can learn nothing. If you are able to develop a lifelong love and hunger to keep learning, there is no stopping you. Constant and consistent improvement, every day is the key to becoming amazing.

How do you do that? The first step is to acknowledge you have a lot to learn. Never consider yourself an ‘expert’ at anything. That’s the most destructive attitude you can have.

Some pointers to make yourself more teachable:

• Listen more than you talk – We have been conditioned to believe we need to speak up in every meeting to impress others. We need to make a show of how much we know. If you just start listening, really listening, to others, you would be amazed at how much more you can learn and at the same time make an impact on the other person by letting them express themselves freely. Listening is a highly under-rated skill.
• Read more – How many people do you know who are avid readers in their adulthood? I can assure you, not many. If you read 1-2 hours every day, that puts you in the top percentile already. It doesn’t matter what you read as long as you keep doing it. Any book that you read will surely open up new avenues, new schools of thought for you. Writers almost always start out as readers and are compelled to write after they have been gathering ideas from their reading for a long time. So any book you pick up, you are getting the essence of the writer’s readings. here is my post with some pointers on how to get into a reading habit.
• Change your mind, often – Never be ashamed to change your mind or opinion about something. No one knows anything for sure. Even the brightest scientists have ‘theories’. Once you find out more about something, be open to changing your mind and opinion. Accepting your errors of judgement and learning from them takes courage and humility. These traits are forever in short supply.
• Never shy away from asking for directions – Don’t be afraid to ask questions just because you think it might make you appear ignorant. The only thing you should fear is missing an opportunity to learn more. Some psychologists have argued that asking someone for help might actually make you more endearing to other people. I can’t tell you how many times other people have come and thanked me for out rightly asking something during meetings that they were embarrassed to ask themselves.
• Actively seek feedback and criticism – Don’t sit around waiting for feedback, actively seek it. Providing feedback does not come naturally because of our social conditioning. We find it difficult to criticize someone to their face so if you actively and openly seek feedback, the people around you will be more at ease and you would get more honest responses. What’s even more important is to not take negative feedback personally but rather as an opportunity to improve. If you get defensive when criticized, other people are going to hesitate to provide useful criticism. This takes a lot of mental effort but you can train yourself with time and patience. Just making a conscious effort helps.

Develop a love for learning and you will be rewarded with wisdom and knowledge.

So my friends, Be hungry and Stay foolish!