The ever-increasing pace of change in today’s organizations requires
that executives understand and then quickly respond to constant shifts
in how their businesses operate and how work must get done. That means
you must resist your innate biases against doing new things in new ways,
scan the horizon for growth opportunities, and push yourself to acquire
drastically different capabilities—while still doing your existing job.
To succeed, you must be willing to experiment and become a novice over
and over again, which for most of us is an extremely discomforting
proposition. Over decades of work with managers, the author has found
that people who do succeed at this kind of learning have four
well-developed attributes: aspiration, self-awareness, curiosity, and
vulnerability. They have a deep desire to understand and master new
skills; they see themselves very clearly; they’re constantly thinking of
and asking good questions; and they tolerate their own mistakes as they
move up the curve. Andersen has identified some fairly simple mental
strategies that anyone can use to boost these attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM
AUTHOR]