Learning From General Business Books (2nd installment)

In the last article about learning and practicing new skills, I wrote about Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers book. He tells a story about how people in remote locations, away from the (accepted) mainstream centers, become accomplished experts and seem to suddenly show up as if discovered by a reality pop music show. Gladwell's is one of the many general business, social science and psychology books describing idea or trend. Many similar books from Seth Godin, Jim Collins, Michael Lewis and others, also tell stories useful to navigate today's changes in media use (especially the internet.) How do we turn a story of the financial failure in the US to something we can use? (see Michael Lewis's The Big Short) We can even go one step further and ask how do turn it into a new skill? If Gladwell explains the phenomena of expertise away from centers of knowledge, can we turn this idea into something we can use? That part is even harder, some general business ideas do not seem relevant to most businesses. Yet, they are and they can make or break a company, your career and maybe even your everyday work satisfaction. Look at these trend and idea books as today's version of the 1970's self-help books.

Learning A Skill In Different Fields

Actually, learning skills in fields different from your main field of expertise is one ingredient for success. This is not only the case today. In the past, when fields of expertise changed, so did the need to learn very different skills. Learning a new skill is also a way to expand your knowledge and ability and gain an edge over competitors. You can become more than a expert in one area, you become This is useful both inside a company and in your field at large (if you are a freelance or independent worker). In the case of Outliers, what Gladwell tells the story of persistence at a skill. How do we master the main skill of our profession? Or in something like sports? or in a hobby like programming for Bill Gates and his high school friends? This idea seems crucial to the top of the field individuals. Yet in today's fast changing world, it seems like what Gladwell saw in specialty groups could by the key to all of us: the ability to learn and practice at a high level but not to change everything in our lives. Essentially not to quit our life completely and "go back to school full time". There are many options to learn new skills, both formal and informal. In the formal category there are independent courses, many in off hours (evenings and weekends), as well as self paced independent study programs. In the informal category, there are options from "how to" books to online video tutorials and certification testing programs. Learning anything complex, usually worth while, like programming, writing and editing, graphic design or network management (i.e. Cisco certification) is not easy. Especially if this is not your field of practice, and even more so, if you are older and more set in your professional ways. Yet, it could change your life in a big way...  NEXT: what the general business (trend/technique) books have to teach about what is useful today...  to learn...  and to practice...