Unlearning 101

Own the White Space

As humans we like to believe we're good at seeing the whole picture. But, as I suggested in this piece, most of us are not.

This is particularly true in business. Most managers focus relentlessly on serving the customer, making incremental improvements to core product or services, or finding yet another margin-saving efficiency.

There is nothing wrong with any of these things (in fact they are important) but who in your company is responsible for seeing "new market spaces"? Who owns the "white space" -- the space where your company isn't yet operating but, with a little foresight or imagination, could be?

As Gary Hamel recounts in his excellent book, The Future of Management, in the late 1990s, IBM did exactly this and by unlearning many of its core management principles, it has been able "to identify disruptive technologies, industry trends, and embryonic markets, and transform them into billion-dollar opportunities." (Over $25 billion and counting to be precise.)

More is Not Always Best

If you are a manager and want to position your company or organization to succeed in the future, I'd suggest changing the normal managerial question of "How do I get more out of my employees?" to "How do I get the best out of my employees?"

Why? because passion, energy, creativity and innovation aren't easily reflected in quarterly earnings statements but they do show up in the long-run.

Don't Close Your Mind: Always Question Your Assumptions

“We’re going to have to make a lot of different assumptions,” says the head of one large publishing house in this article discussing the imminent demise of Border’s — one of the world’s large bookstores.

The individual is, of course, correct but the real question is why he (or she) didn’t begin questioning his assumptions years ago.

One of the critical skills of the future will be unlearning and an integral component of unlearning is the willingness and ability to always question your assumptions. (If you’re interested in how to unlearn I encourage you to pick up a copy of my new book, Higher Unlearning: 39 Post-Requisite Lessons for Achieving a Successful Future.)

Related Posts

If It Goes Without Saying, Question It

 

Tell Me Something I Don't Know!

"When I come back, I want you to explain to me something complicated that I don't already know."

This is the question that Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, would routinely ask people he was interviewing in the early day's of Google's existence.

It is an excellent question--and one I have recommended before--but, as this article points out, there is an additional positive side-effect of asking this in an interview setting. Even if you don't end up hiring the person, your time will not have been wasted if you learned something that you didn't know--or, better yet, unlearned something you thought you knew.

Interested in some other questions that might help you unlearn? Try these on for size:

A Powerful Question: What Don't I Know?

What Haven't I Heard Before?

 

 

Permission to Become Your Own Authority Figure

Does no one in a position of authority like your business proposal, your manuscript or your idea?

Stop listening to others "no" and say "yes" to yourself. Give yourself permission to become your own authority figure.

The Yin and Yang of Learning & Unlearning

The yin and yang symbol is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contradictory ideas are not only interconnected but how they can also give rise to each other. The concepts of learning and unlearning fit this mold.

If you are going to learn new things, it stands to reason that at some point in the future some of that knowledge (as it becomes obsolete) will need to be unlearned. After the unlearning takes place, there will then be room for new learning to take place. The two concepts are complimentary and yet most people only reference “the learning curve” or, more commonly, the “steep learning curve.”

Why never an unlearning curve?

The answer is because the former is about acquiring new knowledge, while the latter is about letting go of old knowledge. If you possess a closet full of old clothes; a basement stuffed with toys or paintings; or an attic (or perhaps even an off-site storage facility) brimming with material acquisitions from yesteryear, I think you’ll agree the real difficulty comes not in acquiring new possessions but, rather, in getting rid of old ones.

The same is true of knowledge.

Therefore, of the two curves, the steeper—and the more difficult to navigate—is the unlearning curve.

My forthcoming book, Higher Unlearning: 39 Post-Requisite Lessons for Achieving a Successful Future is designed to help leaders, executives, managers and change agents unclutter their minds from obsolete knowledge and mental processes so they can take themselves and their organization to the next level.

To better understand the potential of descending the steep unlearning curve I invite you to read this short parable:

 The boy looked at the mountain in front of him. "How will I ever get over it?"

"Use a rope," replied the traveler.

"I’ve never used a rope before and I don't know if my arms are strong enough."

"You have a steep learning curve, then," said the traveler.

"Will I be rewarded when I reach the top?"

"Yes," replied the traveler, "but it is the next summit that should concern you."

"Why? Because it will be an even steeper learning curve and I will need a longer rope and stronger arms?"

"No, because it will require you to drop the rope." 

 

Creativity and Unlearning

August Turak has written an insightful post entitled Can Creativity Be Taught. I have also written about unlearning and the creativity process before but I'd like to just highlight a few key points from his article:

1. "Asking radically different questions in a non-linear way is the key to creativity." (If you're looking for some new questions you might try these, and if you're looking to think in a non-linear way you might recall the lesson of the lily pad).

2. "Becoming creative is an unlearning rather than a learning process ... because it upends existing assumptions." (This is why "If something goes without saying, you should question it.)

3. "Creativity is highly correlated with self-knowledge but it is impossible to overcome biases if we don't know they are there."

4. "You should seek a mentor that infuriates your ego rather than soothes it." 

Related Posts

Never Let Your Ego Stop You From Unlearning

Unlearning: The Essential Element of Creativity

Creativity Isn't All in Your Head

Unlearning Profit and Embracing "Enough"

I miss the mob from Derek Sivers on Vimeo.

Malcolm Gladwell on Unlearning the Need for Order

The Benefit of Sticking with Questions

A while back I wrote this short post entitled The Secret to Unlearning in Seven Words. The seven words are "Give up on answers. Stay with questions."

I just finished reading a wonderful article from Clayton Christensen, How Will You Measure Your Life? In it, he writes this: 

"When people ask what I think they should do, I rarely answer their question directly. Instead, I run the question aloud through one of my models. I’ll describe how the process in the model worked its way through an industry quite different from their own. And then, more often than not, they’ll say, “OK, I get it.” And they’ll answer their own question more insightfully than I could have."

My take-a-way is this: Instead of trying to supply people the answers, people (and this is especially true of business consultants) would be better-off sticking with questions.

Why?

Because the right questions can -- and will -- help people come up with the best answer(s) themselves.

Stay with questions!

Related Posts

What Haven't I Heard Before?

Questions, Questions ... Always with the Questions

A Turn-a-Round Question

What Questions Aren't You Asking?