Main Idea
How many times have you asked someone what’s new and they have said “Nothing”? Yet how often do you look at the news on television or the internet and you are surprised by some new world event? (Notice I did not include your morning newspaper.) How fast is the world changing? How fast are your customers changing?
Expansion of Idea
The world and our lives are a constant source of new information and dynamics. Time does not stand still. Yet very often, in our work lives, we think it stands still. We react to changes and take care of our customers or employees. And we do this day in and day out. I would propose that if we are standing still, we are probably losing ground. Have you seen a kid going the wrong way on an escalator? They do it to prove that they can. (I have seen two.) Life is a lot like going up the down escalator. We have to keep moving to get to the top. Otherwise we are going to keep getting moved back down.
How do we move forward?
I think one of the surest ways is to keep learning new things. This could be learning a new system at work, or learning more about a customer, or a fellow employee, or about a product or service. Depending on your job, it could be anything. Where would you be if you learned one little thing each day for a year? It could be that the best time to call a customer is Wednesday at 10:45. Or, it could be someone’s birthday. Or, it could be that your boss likes the reports a certain way. It doesn’t matter what it is. The point is that if you focus on learning something new every day, you will continue to improve. And that adds value to you and to your business. That is the competitive edge that all organizations need. One of my favorite characters growing up was Sherlock Holmes. He says in one of the books, “My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.” What do you know that others don’t?
Start by Asking Yourself these Questions:
What should I know more about?
What would benefit my customers, my business and me?