There are many traits it takes to be successful. Adaptability is one, according to Harvard Business School professor Joseph Fuller. Successful people are “open to unexpected opportunities and embrace change instead of fearing it,” he previously told Make It.
Conscientiousness is another, according to workplace psychologist Benjamin Granger, or being organized, responsible and hard working. That “predicts performance across many jobs,” he says.
Former DoorDash and Google recruiter Nolan Church swears by another trait: continual learning. No other trait compares in terms of importance, he says, “everything levels up to this.” Here’s why Church, currently the CEO of salary data company FairComp, thinks constant learning is key.
‘The world is a dynamic place’
To begin with, life, technology, people’s needs — none of these are stagnant.
“The world is a dynamic place that is always changing,” he says, “And the best people know that strategies that worked two years ago are, like, already stale.” Strategies that worked even longer ago might very well be irrelevant. If you work in social media marketing, for example, and are looking to target certain users with your posts, you’ll have to pay attention to how various platforms’ user bases have changed over time.
People who are constantly learning are “able to adapt as the rules of the game are constantly changing,” he says.
‘Filling skills gaps’ is key
Similarly, as the way businesses and customers function is changing, so are the skills that you need to serve them.
Constantly learning enables you to continue “filling skill gaps,” says Church. Nearly half, 46% of companies are encouraging their employees to use AI, according to a recent Upwork survey of 2,500 global workers. If workers in those companies want to stay relevant, they must learn to use these tools.
Gaining these new skills helps you “to ascend faster in your career,” says Church.
‘Making connections to innovate’ helps to propel you
Finally, constantly learning helps you come up with new ideas.
Church calls it “making connections to innovate.” By accruing and aggregating new information, “what continuous learners do is they connect old ideas in new ways,” he says. “And that is, in my mind, the definition of innovation.”
He gives the example of Steve Jobs and the iPhone, a combination of preexisting cell phones and Apple’s iPods. “They were two separate products,” says Church. “Steve put them together.”
When it comes to how to become a continuous learner, it’s all about accruing information by reading, for example, says Church. If the act of picking up a book about your job seems daunting, “just go down rabbit holes that interest you and start there,” he says.
A book about something you’re naturally interested in could make it easier to get into the habit of picking up all sorts of reads, and you might even find natural tie-ins to your job in your hobbies. Leadership tips for your dodgeball team, for example, could end up being applicable even at work.
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