Harnessing Talent III
Demonstrate and Experience Knowledge
This is the third post in a series that I dedicate to the topic of improving ones skills by changing the way one looks at the world. It is inspired by a book called "How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci" by Michael Gelb, which shows that many principles we try to apply today were already know by the grand master of the Renaissance.
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Having realized that people have enormous potential and having encouraged their curiosity and openness to learn more about the world, the next question is "How do people learn?".
Leonardo Da Vinci wasn't born with the knowledge he applied in his paintings or inventions. One of his most important teachers was Andrea del Verrocchio, who focused on teaching through demonstration and experience. When I was little, my parents always told me that I'd learn the most if I did things myself, rather than hearing about them or seeing them being done. Research shows that most of us can capture 20% of content when we hear it, 30% when we see it, 50% when we hear and see it, and 90% when we actively do something with it. That explains why learning a language is so much easier when we're studying it in-country, being fully immersed in the experience and forced to start using whatever little things we know.
Gaining knowledge through experience is paramount to personal development. That includes testing and re-establishing existing knowledge and assumptions. Not only will this allow to build knowledge first hand, but also has it always been a way to identify weaknesses or gaps in the existing and generally accepted wisdom. If no one had challenged Isaac Newton's laws of motion and gravitation, we wouldn't be working with particle accelerators to detect Higgs bosons and Pentaquarks today (I admit, I do not have any idea what those things are - something worth looking into).
Not all of us are or will be physicists working for CERN. But all of us are able to learn new things throughout our lives. Da Vinci for his part taught himself Latin in his forties. To profit from our own curiosity, we should on the one hand seek ways to gain new experiences based on the questions we have. Have you ever wondered how a TV works? Go to a flea market on a Saturday morning and talk to some older, nerdy guy selling electronics there. Chances are pretty good he will know all about it and show you in a live demonstration what's inside and how it works. Then take one of these old TV's home and muddle through the different pieces with your son or nephew - you'll both learn a ton.
On the other hand, we need to create an environment where people around us can learn through experience. The intern you hired for 6 months is a cheap support for you to get through the boring and repetitive things at work. The analyst assigned to your project is a good way to get rid of some administrative tasks you're asked to perform. But if you invest in those people early on, and give them an opportunity to gain experience, for example by letting them run a meeting with your boss or a client, you will gain much more from them.
However, giving yourself and others an opportunity to learn through experience and demonstration requires something more: taking a risk. When we start trying new things, stuff can and will go wrong. After automating his sponsors kitchen with a conveyor belt for a big dinner event, Leonardo Da Vinci's invention created a fire. Lucky for him, that the sprinkler system he had installed did work - just a bit too well, as it flooded the kitchen and all the food. Mistakes will happen, but that's the experiences we learn the most from.
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Please share your comments and inputs (via comment function, twitter, e-mail, etc.). In my short write-ups I address topics that I am particularly interested in because they align with my values and beliefs. As such, they are always a reflection of my ideas, thoughts, and opinions. The only thing I am positive in that regard is that I do not have all the perspectives, all the knowledge, or all the facts - help me be better tomorrow.
