Leadership U

CHAPTER 5LEARN

Fail fast, learn faster

LEARN ALWAYS

There's nothing like a crisis or a complex problem to accelerate learning. This is learning agility to the “Nth” degree.

Officially, that's defined as the ability and willingness to apply past experiences to new challenges. Or, as I like to say, it's knowing what to do when you don't know what to do.

In a crisis, the need for learning agility is profound. Amid great uncertainty, you need to be hyper-focused on past experiences and synthesize and apply them to real-time, fluid conditions. But there's an important caveat. What you knew yesterday got you to where you are today. However, today is only the starting point for tomorrow.

Achievements fade, progress inspires, but learning must endure.

The distance between your company and its competitors is not absolute; it's relative. If you want to transform your organization, you must grow your organization through learning.

When you're knee-deep in a crisis—such as one as unique and pervasive as the pandemic—it's hard to find clarity. The best source of clarity is finding a close comparison. How does it compare with historic events such as the Great Depression or the financial crisis? How did you face major challenges in the past?

By running the “unknown” of what you're currently facing against the “known” of previous crises, you gain perspective. You identify patterns to ...