As a business leader, there’s often a lot of pressure on you to be an expert at many things. After all, dozens or hundreds of people might be looking to you for answers. Naturally, you can’t know everything: that’s why you employ people. But it does help if you have a strategy in place to become an expert (at least to some degree), in most topics your colleagues might bring up.
But what do you need to do to get to this stage? How can you know more about your business or any area?
An Expert Creates A System
The first step is to create a system. You need some sort of method for getting ideas from textbooks and white papers into your head. How you do this depends on your learning style. But most people benefit from timetables, digital organizers, maps, and journals.
You should ensure that you always have time in the day to learn new things. Even as little as 60 minutes can make a tremendous difference if applied consistently and done when you’re at your best (usually in the morning). Business titans such as Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are well known for devoting their mornings to simply learning new subject matter before jumping into their day.
An Expert Stays Curious
You also want to stay curious. Try not to get into the habit of thinking you know everything if you don’t. The more you can ask questions and challenge assumptions, the more valuable you will become to your business.
Being curious means reading the latest trends in your industry and keeping up to date with technology that might affect you. It also means looking for new best practices and trying to work out what’s going to benefit you the most. Don’t take our word for it, the late great basketball icon Kobe Bryant was famous for admitting that he would simply cold call his network of business friends, colleagues and other players he admired to ask lost of questions, pick their brains and see how they succeeded.
An Expert Immerses Themself In The Subject Matter
When it comes to learning something new, you always want to immerse yourself in the subject. For instance, if you’re learning about payment systems, this guide to credit card readers could be useful. Make sure you supplement your learning with workshops, webinars, seminars, and anything else you can think of.
Also, stay up to date with thought leaders on social media. Find out what they are focusing on and use that as pointers in the right direction.
An Expert is Deliberate When Practicing
Of course, when it comes to learning effectively, you want to be deliberate in your practices. Hands-on learning in real-world scenarios is the best approach.
Always work with peers and mentors where possible to refine your skills. Look for ways to get help from the best in the business to learn what it is that they’re doing right. Sometimes, they can provide shortcuts to success that save you massive amounts of time.
They Teach Others
To take your learning to the next level, you might also consider teaching others. Guiding other people forces you to learn the content inside out and provides you with the motivation you need to get the work done.
They Set Goals
Lastly, you want to set goals around the specific areas or topics you want to master. Ideally, these should align with your personal objectives and business requirements, allowing you to become more successful over time.
So there you have it: a quick guide on how to become an expert in anything as a business leader
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