Curiosity > Expertise. How to be a better learner.

One of the first things I noticed when I started working at the d.school at Stanford was the way in which my colleagues asked for my take on teaching design and innovation techniques to our students.

These people, who had been teaching way longer than me and had a much deeper understanding of design, were asking how I did it!

They were clearly the expert in the room, and yet they had the humility to seek understanding other than their own.

AND they were willing to take what they learned from me and apply it as we iterated our programs!

I was blown away. Mostly because I never saw that kind of behavior in corporate America where the expert ruled and no one questioned their authority.

Humility is a critical component for learning.

Without it, we block so much new information.

We spend most of our lives accumulating mastery in different areas. Our chosen careers, cooking, athletics, parenting, etc.

These are all worthy pursuits and well worth the time and energy we devote to them.

But gaining expertise in an area can also make it really hard to stay open minded and teachable.

Intellectually, we understand that we don’t know everything. So in situations where we’re supposed to be the expert, how can we show up with a degree of humility that allows us to be open to new learnings and understanding?

• Listen more than you talk.

  • Oftentimes as experts we feel like it’s our responsibility to dominate the air time. It’s not. Shut up and listen. You might learn something.

• Ask questions instead of just giving answers.

  • If you’ve got more experience in a given field, there can be a tendency to want to provide all the answers. But asking questions of people who come from different backgrounds and cultures (even if they are less experienced than you) can be extremely valuable!

• Remain curious!

  • Remember that even though you may have years of experience in a certain area, that is only YOUR experience. You likely have no idea what that same field is like for anyone else. The more you can stay curious and question others about how they experience the thing you’re an expert in, the more you’ll know