Savage Lessons

Adrian Savage hits a home run on the importance of continual learning:

If educational institutions are slightly out-of-date, most organizations are a great deal worse. Many of the top managers haven’t done any formal management learning (or any other kind) since they graduated, maybe 25 years ago. Sure, they’ve been on training courses, but these are usually about application and implementation skills, not new ideas. In my experience, trainers and consultants aren’t up-to-date in their thinking either; plus they fear “getting ahead of the client” and producing a backlash when what they teach contradicts what senior managers still believe. For these reasons, the basis of “fact” and theory behind most thinking at the top can be up to 25–30 years out of date. Essentially, these leaders are working on what they were taught at college. New entrants are more up-to-date, but they’re still in junior positions where they have little influence on policy; and, like the external consultants, they know the penalty for contradicting the “wisdom” of powerful people can be a permanent blight on your career.

Read the whole essay.