Successful People Never Stop Learning

Successful people never stop learning.  Yet many employees think their education ended with a high school diploma, or college degree.  NOT.   Competing in a global marketplace requires continuous learning.  Even though this CEO Blogger has various university degrees and credentials,  it is rare that I don't spend some time reading every day and that has been true since I learned to read.  Natural curiosity is a very valuable attribute.   And, now with the ability to Google almost anything, how great. 

Employees often hit a glass ceiling related to promotions because they are stuck in a time warp.   Their job skills are outdated and they have done nothing to either retrain, or gain additional learning to make them more valuable to a company.  It is these people that are often laid off in a down turn.   It is unfortunate when it happens; but it is self inflicted and completely preventable.  Really valuable employees rarely lose their jobs and or if they do lose a job because a company has gone under, they are snapped up quickly.

Developing talent is all about learning.   Great companies provide training; but smart employees take responsibility for their own development.   Those that only have a high school degree, if they didn't go to university right after high school, go back to school to get a university degree, while working.   Those that have university degrees, often get graduate degrees, or other types of learning to make themselves more valuable.   Travel to learn; not just for fun.  Forget about bowling on Wednesday nights, use the time to learn another language, or additional job skills, if you want a better job. 

We live in a very competitive global business environment.  Many jobs can be off shored today to lower cost countries.  Employees working in the first world, primarily Western industrialized countries and some countries in Asia Pacific, are now competing with smart, hard working employees in the second and third world, whether they like it or not.  It is what it is.  The only way to compete is to have job skills and new learning that are uniquely valuable to a company.   Get with the program, or stop complaining when you get passed over for a promotion.   You hold your future in your hands. 

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