It seems like every day there are new headlines and soundbites underscoring the importance of continuous learning.
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“The most fundamental skill: Intentional learning and the career advantage” states a headline from McKinsey’s research.
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The Pew Research Center found 87% of workers think it’s essential to develop new skills throughout their life to keep up with the changing workplace.
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By just 2022, the World Economic Forum estimates 133 million new jobs in major economies will be created to meet the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
How can an individual put into practice intentional learning? How can we develop new skills?
There are many ways. One that I would like to focus on in this article – as well as in follow-up pieces – is the importance of “content learning”. I define this as the process of creating thoughtful content – books, reports, presentations, designs, articles, videos, podcasts or social media posts – with the goal to crystallize our thinking, grow our networks, spark our curiosity and inspire us to innovate.
#1 – Content Creation Can Crystallize our Thinking
There is a good chance that you think much clearer about a topic after you have created a substantive piece of content. Putting words on a document let’s us see potential gaps in our thinking. We can decide whether we need to remove unnecessary language or further research a topic so we can make our points in a more succinct and compelling way.
Amazon executives don’t do PowerPoint (or any other slide-oriented) presentations, CEO Jeff Bezos wrote in a letter to shareholders. Instead, they write narratively structured written memos.
In an email to employees, Bezos wrote: “The reason writing a ‘good’ four page memo is harder than ‘writing’ a 20-page PowerPoint is because the narrative structure of a good memo forces better thought and better understanding of what’s more important than what.”
In the book Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, author Brad Stone explains the rationale for this approach to using memos. “Bezos believes doing so fosters critical thinking. For each new product, they craft their documents in the style of a press release. The goal is to frame a proposed initiative in the way a customer might hear about it for the first time.”
You can apply Bezos’ rationale to any form of content creation.
#2 – Content Creation Can Grow our Networks
I very much enjoyed listening to James Carbury discuss his book Content-Based Networking: How to Instantly Connect with Anyone You Want to Know on the Marketing Book podcast. James shares stories on the value of creating interviews to connect with potential clients and has built an entire agency around this concept.
I am not someone who enjoys going to big conferences and meeting many people in one setting. Rather, I prefer to find one person and have a good conversation with that individual. Hence, I have really enjoyed hosting three different interview podcasts over the years. Anybody who has conducted interviews as part of the content creation process can attest to this powerful form of networking.
#3 – Content Creation Can Spark our Curiosity
Mitch Joel, the influential speaker, author and blogger, was just on my Learning and Development Stories podcast. The Iron Man of podcasting, Joel has published a new episode with many authors and thoughts leaders every Sunday since 2005.
“I was asking questions that I would selfishly ask if I could have coffee with some of these authors,” Mitch said. “It was education for me. I wanted to learn. I wanted to understand. If I felt I had a particular perspective, I wanted to have it challenged. In that journey of a content creator I learned a lot. I found it stimulating and it spoke to my core.”
Noteworthy are his interviews with Nancy Duarte. “Any time I speak to her I feel there are 50 things I should be rethinking and doing.”
#4 – Content Creation Can Inspire Us to Innovate
Back in 2014, I had the pleasure of interviewing marketing communications expert Dorie Clark on my podcast. Dorie wrote an HBR blog post about career reinvention. The article resonated and she was invited to write a full-length piece in the print magazine. Eventually she was approached to write a book on the topic. This led to her discussing the concepts of the book as part of teaching and consulting assignments around the world. All this stemming from a simple blog post.
You don’t have to be someone as accomplished as Dorie to experience how content creation can provide career direction. Yejin Sohn is a senior at Perry High School in Arizona. She went through my Interview an Innovator course and wrote an article based on an interview with an entrepreneur in Seoul, Korea (you can access the story here). “I’ve narrowed down my career interests and am more aware about different opportunities as a result of researching different industries and organizations,” she said about the impact of this experience.
A Call to Action to Be Content Learners
Often, the refrain is to create content to gain attention and monetize it. Nothing wrong with this per se. But very rarely do we come across the message of “create content to learn”. Through this article and subsequent pieces, my goal is to change that narrative.
If you are a leader of an organization, you might be advocating for the importance of instilling a learning culture so that your team can respond to the disruptions in the marketplace. Live this out by creating content online with the lens to learn.
If you work in Learning and Development, consider mobilizing employees to create content both for their own learning and knowledge sharing (see white paper on this topic).
If you feel stalled in your career and don’t know what to do next, create content based on possible interests. Talk to inspirational people who work in fields of interest and offer to create a positive feature about that person through some form of content creation.
If you work in career development at a university or are a guidance counselor at a high school, equip your students with the digital communications skills so that they can learn about careers, enhance their communications skills, network effectively and create a positive digital footprint that makes them more marketable.
The environment on social media stinks. Anybody who has followed politics on social media knows that it is a very toxic environment. Imagine a world in which we all created content online not to prove each other wrong, but to learn?
The prospects of automation decimating industries is real. Imagine countering this reality by equipping workers and students alike to embrace a continuous learning mindset, fueled by content creation?
I intend to put content learning into practice myself around this very topic. I am keen to learn more how content creation plays a role in learning. Stay tuned for a number of articles that explore this idea and join me on the journey.
Kevin Anselmo is the founder of Experiential Communications. As part of his consultancy, Kevin develops and executes communications strategies for L&D departments. He is also the creator of the Global Innovators Academy and course instructor for Interview an Innovator, an experience in which students and young professionals, based on their own interests, interview innovators. They then write articles published online thus enabling them to gain inspiration about careers, learn critical communications skills, enhance professional networks and be more marketable. Contact Kevin if you would like to collaborate with him around his services.