5

EVOLUTION ON STEROIDS

The web and social tools are all about learning. Learning about ourselves, learning about the world around us and learning from each other. In amongst the trivia there are very real opportunities to learn more – and faster – than we have ever had available to us before. It is like evolution on steroids.

Research has consistently shown that people prefer to learn from each other. In fact it is also showing nowadays that we are more likely to trust information from peers than we are from authorities. So what does this mean for how we learn at work? How do you tap into the accumulated knowledge of the people you work for, or indeed the companies you buy from, so that you learn faster and make better decisions? How do you make the most of this shift in trust from authorities to individuals and networks?

The trouble with much corporate training is that it is still very focused around delivering “content” to people who then “consume” it rather than about informed conversations between people learning from each other and passing on the latest knowledge. Even universities and management colleges are struggling to know what to do with our ever increasing ability to learn from each other. What is the role of a lecturer or a teacher when we have more facts than we know what to do with but risk understanding less and less? In the world of commerce, communication with customers is still focused on selling to them and maintaining a brand image rather than helping them ...

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