05 March 2010 by Matt
The smartest business people I know are always hungry. They've
insatiable appetites to keep consuming knowledge and developing
understanding of the world. Their thirst for knowledge expands
behind their comfort zones and the most astute frequently force
themselves into the unknown or unappealing even it's to simply suck
it and see.
It's no coincidence the same people were early and most
passionate adopters of social media given its power to connect,
consume, share and collaborate. And certainly no surprise to me
they're typically the ones to react quickest to emerging trends or
develop compelling products and services people really want.
Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project, is so passionate about
consuming information and meeting people he otherwise wouldn't, he
only accepts every third invite regardless of what that results in
him attending or missing. He's also introduced a policy at Eden
where all staff frequently read books picked for them by others and
must cook a meal for their colleagues.
Tim passionately believes "all strong leaders should regularly
take their views to the cleaner". Check out what he had to say on
the subject when we interviewed him
If you could do with stepping outside your comfort zone, here
are 10 ways to consume something new:
- Watch a TED talk every day - obvious once you're in the TED
crew, not obvious when you're not.
- Follow more people on Twitter. Forget the ego-flattery of
having a high follower to following ratio and instead benefit from
a wider stream of thoughts and opinions.
- Use YouTube and Flickr as search engines - you should find what
you're looking for AND something valuable you're not.
- Engage in popular culture. Read tabloid newspapers, watch The
Apprentice, X-Factor, Big Brother, Eastenders every now and again.
Use iTunes and Amazon to keep an eye on the music and book
charts.
- Get into audiobooks - even if you can skim read a 300 page book
on the tube, will you? Audiobooks get the job done.
- Speak to children and young people. Ask them what they did
today, what they're and what frustrates them.
- Network erratically. Go to events for industries that have no
relevance to you. You'll go from being the same as everyone else in
the room to being the one who's different and interesting. Network
in different cities.
- Shake up your social scene. Visit your local gallery every
month regardless of the exhibition. Let your friends pick the
movie, play, gig, restaurant. Find out about talks in your area and
go along. Take an evening course in something totally
different.
- Check out and sign-up to Springwise and other sites that give
you regular idea and trend updates.
- Read US magazines and websites. Watch live streams of US
events.