Leading Change

One of the books that I have read on leadership is called "Leading Change" by John P. Kotter. John Kotter is an expert on business leadership and is a frequent speaker at top management meetings around the world.

One of the parts of the book that I find interesting is how he talks about the importance of lifelong learning. He states " lifelong learners take risks. Much more than others, these men and women push themselves out of their comfort zones and try new ideas. While most of us become set in our ways, they keep experimenting" (Kotter, Leading Change, pg 182).

He talks about five mental habits that support lifelong learning. These traits are 1. Risk taking 2. Humble Self-reflection 3. Solicitation of opinions 4. Careful listening 5. Openness to new ideas. In his descriptions of lifelong learners it not only seems to be people that never stop learning, but people that actively seek out opinions and ideas from others, to keep growing. I think that the trait that I think is the most important to a lifelong learner, and a leader is Openness to new ideas. I think that not only do they seek out new ideas, they are OPEN to new ideas, which i feel is a big component in being a leader and seeing outside of the box. He also talks about how lifelong learners have the mental habit of being a risk taker, and also being humble with self reflection. When he talks about risk taking, I don't believe he means jumping out of a plane, but he means more they have to be willing to push themselves to do something that they normal wouldn't feel comfortable doing. When he says Humble self-reflection he is talking about the ability to realize when not only they succeed, but they realize when they fail and they Can honestly review that situation and learn from it. Another trait he says that lifelong learners have that make them good leaders is they Solicit opinion, they get information from others. They see what their followers want, and use this information, they don't just lead blindly. A final trait that he talked about was careful listening. We talked about this in class, and how to be a good listener. I definitely see how this is a trait that a leader would need to have.

After looking at the five traits that he described as habits of the lifelong learner, I see how these do relate to being a good leader and how they are important traits to have. Do you agree ? What of the five traits do you think is the most important?