Be Known for Driving the Future
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In a fast-moving world, successful people spend time to ensure they keep up to date with changes in their business sector, technology developments, new trends, and ideas and track the competition – old and new! Here are five habits to develop your ability to drive the future.
- Develop your external networks – join forums, networking groups, industry bodies, professional societies and make the effort to attend meetings which address developments in your areas of interest. Don’t worry if you hate making small talk – you don’t have to. Listen carefully to what others have to say; what’s happening in their world, what are their challenges, what initiatives are they trying out? So, listen and share. ‘Feeding’ our network is just as important as what we can take from our network.
- Develop your internal networks – who’s seen as high performing and why? What could you learn from them? Perhaps they are great at influencing – if so, watch them in action, ask them to be your mentor, or interview them about how they developed their influencing skills.
- Reverse mentoring – great for those of us whose 5-year-olds are better with technology than we are! But seriously, would you benefit from spending some time with younger employees discussing the impact of new technology and how it can change the way you do business? What could they tell you about how people at the front line have received communication from the top?
- Research – find a range of papers, journals, or blogs that can deliver short informative updates to your tablet or phone to read on the go. Examples include the Economist, Harvard Business Review, FT, national papers mobile apps, TED talks.
- Develop a ‘growth mind-set’ – in other words, expect to learn something new every day. Admit mistakes and dig out the learning from them, don’t hide them away. This shows confidence! The most successful CEO’s have been found to be disarmingly open about their worst mistakes and what they learned from them – and they share this learning with others. Being open about your own learning journey encourages others to consider theirs, emboldens them to give you feedback and information that you might otherwise be unaware of. How can any of us adapt if we are kept in the dark?
TAKE AWAY
If you want to be seen as a cutting-edge thinker – take the time to sharpen your saw! Think long term – don’t wait for the future to arrive, take the steps above to look for trends and develop strategies to stay ahead. This way you’ll develop a reputation for driving the future.