The Hungry Leader: Cultivating And Habituating A Love For Learning By consciously choosing to learn, grow, and develop, we expand our ways of thinking and doing, creating pathways to achieve excellence.

I once heard a speaker say: "Your emptiness determines your filling."

What he meant was that the hungrier you are, the more you can eat.

When it comes to self-leadership and leadership as a whole, I firmly believe that the greatest leaders on this planet are those who are the greatest learners. It is this love for learning–those who are "hungry" to learn–that differentiates good leaders from great ones.

By consciously choosing to learn, grow, and develop, we expand our ways of thinking and doing, creating pathways to achieve excellence. This approach not only benefits us, but also enables those around us to learn and grow. In essence, we grow and evolve together.

I sat down with Pam August, President of Connecting Potential, to take a deep dive into the concept that the more we learn, the more effectively we lead.

Why do you believe the greatest leaders are the greatest learners?

Learning is critical for great leadership, because we live and work in a complicated, complex, uncertain, and ever-changing world. The half-life of knowledge–the length of time before half of what we know is superseded by something new or found to be untrue–is continually shrinking, while the pace of change is rapidly accelerating, necessitating the need for continuous learning. Great learners are great leaders not only because they are continually developing and transforming their knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors, but also because they are modelling the way for those they lead to do the same. "Going first" with a learning mindset is a critical leadership action to build a culture of learning around you.

How do we become lifelong learners? Do we ever reach a point where we don't want to learn anymore?

Learning happens both consciously and unconsciously, and becoming a lifelong learner starts with the conscious intention to be one and to learn. When we intend, it causes brain activity in two critical learning areas: the prefrontal cortex (PFC), the area of higher reasoning, and the parietal lobe, the area of sensory integration and how we make sense of the world around us. With this learning intention, which American psychologist Carol Dweck also calls a growth mindset, we next need to pay attention and notice opportunities to learn, because they exist in every problem, change, and challenge.

Pam August, President, Connecting Potential. Source: Connecting Potential

The act of noticing is a superpower, particularly in today's highly distracted world, because when we notice something, we again engage the PFC, resulting in conscious action and response, rather than unconscious reaction. It's also essential to notice and normalize the discomfort of learning too, because this is a crucial ingredient and indicator that learning is happening. Finally, we need to take action, and move in these learning moments. According to Dr. Amanda Blake, author of Your Body is Your Brain, for learning to be transformational and sustained, it needs to be experienced and embodied. Seeking out interviews, books, podcasts, and videos provide us with conceptual learning. It is not until we experience it concretely and put it into action that it becomes lasting. This pattern or dynamic of "Intend, Notice, Move" is one I teach in my book, Potential – How to Connect What's Already There for Exponential Impact. Once practiced and hardwired, it becomes a dynamic way of learning for life.

My answer to the second part of the question is highly biased, because my business and my life are about "connecting potential"–bringing together the capacity to develop and become–i.e., lifelong learning. Of course, there are days where a good Netflix binge is needed more than developing a new learning muscle, and in times of significant stress, just getting through the moment is enough. However, I don't think there is a point where we stop learning. I think it has different rhythms at different times for different people, and those rhythms include rest, which is also essential for learning to be sustainable.

Related: How Self-Leadership Can Help Move The Needle Forward On Your Vision And Goals

What evidence exists to support the idea that the more a person learns, the better they can lead and influence others?

I am unsure if it is about "how much" a person learns, as much as how often they are in a learning mindset or mode. We are attuned and present in a learning mode–two critical conditions for effective leadership and influence. Too often, however, we are distracted or absent–physically there, but mentally and emotionally somewhere else. Tuning in and being present lets others know they matter, building connection and trust. Two other qualities that come with a learning mindset are curiosity and openness. They invite others to engage and "do with." The most compelling evidence for the power of "doing with" came from my learning through raising two sons. When you "do to" others, you get compliance. When you "do for" them, you get complacency. When you "do with" them, you build commitment. Learning with others promotes learning within them and builds learning between you, thus the saying, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."

How can learning become a habitual and enjoyable part of our daily routine in life?

I think it needs to be simple to stick, so I recommend asking this simple question: "What's one thing?" This simple yet powerful question hardwires in a learning mindset each time you ask it, and it can be used in several different ways. For example, at the start of the day, ask, "What's one thing I want to learn today?" and at the end, "What's one thing that I learned?" They may be the same thing and often are not, as our most powerful learning often shows up in ways we didn't anticipate. When working with others, ask, "What's one thing you are learning through this?" "What's one thing you want to learn?" When approaching a or challenge, ask, "What's one thing I most want/need to learn to be successful with this?" When things get tough, ask, "What's one thing I am learning through this challenge?"

These are somewhat redundant questions on purpose, because practice makes perfect permanent. I am sure you can think of a bad habit that is automatic, because you practice it repeatedly. It is the same with this question. Every time you ask it, you activate a learning mindset, and create a pathway in your brain that becomes hardwired and automatic over time.

In what ways do lifelong learners inspire their teams and encourage a culture of growth and innovation within their organizations?

I have learned by working with thousands of individuals, hundreds of teams, and scores of organizations worldwide, that our potential (capacity to learn, develop, and become) lives simultaneously in three dimensions of organizational performance–within us as individuals, between us in relationships and teams, and around us in cultures. And, because those dimensions are connected, when we influence any one of them, we influence every one of them for exponential impact. In Potential, I share several stories of this impact in action, and I will finish with a quick example here.

I am crafting my response to this question on a cross-country flight with WestJet Airlines, where I also worked for 14 years in people and culture development. An airport customer service leader that I had worked with was on the flight, and we had an opportunity to catch up. Nine years ago, I facilitated a team development for their airport focused on "owning your development." This leader let me know that the approach and framework that I now codify as "Intend, Notice, Move" went with them to every base they led, and they continue nine years later to complete each shift debriefing with the question: "What's one thing we learned as a team on this shift?" The number is significant when I think of how many agents, teams, and cultures they impacted–all with one hardwired practice, "Intend, Notice, Move," and one simple question, "What's one thing?"

My final question to you, the reader, is (no surprise): what's one thing you learned from this article? And a bonus question, because learning needs to be experienced and embodied to be sustained, what's one thing you are going to do with your learning?

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