One of my all-time
favourite books is "The Final Diagnosis" by Arthur Hailey. The two
main characters are the protagonist Joe Pearson - an aging, cranky pathologist
with very rigid views - and David Coleman, the young head of the hospital. It results in a
classic conflict between experience and youth. In the climax, Joe
Pearson makes a wrong diagnosis which results in the death of a newborn baby -
and has to resign. This excerpt from the book, which is the final conversation
between Joe and David - gives me the goosebumps every time, because it is a
passionate plea for lifelong learning. (The highlighting in bold is mine)
_________________________________________________________________________________
“You’re young,” Pearson said. “You’re full of
spice and vinegar—that’s good. You know your stuff too. You’re up to
date—you know things that I never did, never will now. Take my advice and try
to keep it that way. It’ll be tough to do; make no mistake about it.”
He waved toward the desk he had just vacated. “You’ll sit in that chair and the
phone will ring, and it’ll be the administrator—talking about budgets. Next
minute one of the lab staff will want to quit; and you’ll have to smooth that
out. Then someone wanting some piece of information. And when you’re
through seeing him there’ll be another and another and another. Until at the
end of a day you’ll wonder what happened to it and what you’ve accomplished,
what you’ve achieved.”
Pearson stopped and Coleman waited. He
went on, “That’s the way the next day can go, and the next, and the one
after that. Until you find a year has slipped by, and another, and another. And
while you’re doing all this you’ll send other people on courses to hear about
the new things in medicine—because you can’t take time out to go yourself. And
you’ll quit investigation and research; and because you work so hard, you’ll be
tired at night, and you won’t feel like reading textbooks. And then suddenly,
one day, you’ll find everything you knew is out of date. That’s when it’s too
late to change.”
Emotion-charged, the voice faltered. He said imploringly, “ Don’t let it happen to you! Lock yourself in a closet if you have to! Get away from the phone and the files and paper, and read and learn and listen and keep up to date! Then they can never touch you, never say, ‘He’s finished, all washed up; he belongs to yesterday.’ Because you’ll know as much as they do—and more. Because you’ll have experience to go with it . . .”
Emotion-charged, the voice faltered. He said imploringly, “ Don’t let it happen to you! Lock yourself in a closet if you have to! Get away from the phone and the files and paper, and read and learn and listen and keep up to date! Then they can never touch you, never say, ‘He’s finished, all washed up; he belongs to yesterday.’ Because you’ll know as much as they do—and more. Because you’ll have experience to go with it . . .”
_________________________________________________________________________________
If you are a manager with more than 10 years experience in the IT services
industry, I am sure the above would have struck a possibly disturbing chord in you.
In
today's world of digital disruption, the most vulnerable lot are the so-called
"experienced" managers who have not kept up-to-date with the changes
in technology. The realisation that you are outdated and unemployable, and your
job can be done by a junior person or worse, automated away - is deeply scary. However there is no need to despair - the solution is to go back and learn to stay relevant!
Here are
some guidelines if you are preparing on this learning journey.
- Have a growth mindset. Don't say "I don't know", but "I don't know - YET" and prepare to learn.
- Be ready to start from scratch on the new field - it is a lot like going back to school and also involves a lot of unlearning. Difficult but not impossible!
- Shed your ego and be ready to be reverse-mentored by your team members. Accept the fact that they do know more than you in many of the emerging areas.
- Be ruthless in finding time to learn - as Joe says "Lock yourself in a closet if you have to!"
