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Ed Hess – Learn or Die. That is the message this week! In order to stay competitive in today’s fast paced environment, you must continue to learn and grow.  Those that refuse to do so will find that their jobs and skills have been replaced by a cheaper and more efficient technology. So how do you become a better and faster learner? How do you stay ahead of the curve? These are the questions we discuss this week as we talk with author and professor, Edward Hess.

Ed is the author of the brand new best selling book, Learn or Die: Using Science to Build a Leading-Edge Learning Organization.  In this interview, Ed uses his 25 years of research in the fields of behavioral economics, neuroscience and psychology to reveal advances in our understanding of the individual human learner and type of work environment that best enables those capabilities. We talk with Ed about the recent developments in the understanding of how people learn, the role of emotions in the learning process, and the environmental factors that can affect our ability to learn.

Edward Hess is a professor of business administration at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and the author of 11 books, including Smart Growth: Building an Enduring Business by Managing the Risks of Growth and The Physics of Business Growth: Mindsets, System and Processes.

“I firmly believe that in most businesses, learning is the only sustainable competitive advantage.”

– Ed Hess

Quotes from Ed:

[shadowbox]”The educational system penalizes the acknowledgment of ignorance.”

“We need a different definition for what it means to be smart.  Being smart is not about how much you know and how often you are right.  Being smart is about knowing what you don’t know and knowing how to learn it.”

“A good leader takes his people on a learning journey.  It’s a journey full of experimentation and innovation – trying things and working hard.”

“The science of learning doesn’t paint a pretty picture of us as humans.”

“We live in a business environment today that is characterized by volatility, change, and ambiguity.”

“The company of the future is going to be staffed by some combination of smart robots, artificially intelligent smart machines, and humans.  And the humans are going to be doing the things the technology can’t do well, which will be complex critical thinking, innovative thinking, and high emotional engagement with other humans.”[/shadowbox]

What we learn in this episode:

• How can you become a better learner?
• How can organizations foster a learning environment?
• Why are humans lazy thinkers?
• The average tenure of a CEO today is 4.6 years!

Resources:

Learn or Die: Using Science to Build a Leading-Edge Learning Organization

Videos: Ed Hess presents chapters from his book

Darden Ideas to Action

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