Lesson 1.4 | Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning
TRANSCRIPT
In 1970, in Alvin Toffler’s landmark book, Future Shock, he writes that “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Little did we know how important those words were to become.
Each of these learn, unlearn, and relearn are individually and collectively critical. Learning is essential in a world of ever-accelerating change, new business models, technologies, industries, and the like; one must continually learn to keep up.
It is just as important to unlearn to let go of models, approaches, tools, and assumptions that were once true and felt to be valuable, which are now false, irrelevant, and even obsolete. While these things made us successful in the past, today, they hinder us and pull us back. It makes no sense to double down on what doesn't work. We need to let these things go. When we do, we open space for learning, trying new things, experimenting, and innovating. We need to come up with better solutions.
Lastly, it is important to relearn those lessons from the past that still hold true to stay at the top of our game. Many of these have been updated over time. It’s valuable to review these lessons to keep them top of mind and fresh.
I have four questions that you should ponder as you take this course. What have you learned recently? What do you need to learn? What do you need to unlearn because it's no longer relevant or useful? And what do you need to relearn?
These are not questions you ask just once. You need to ask yourself periodically in discussions with other leaders and members of your team. Keep that in mind as we go through the rest of this class.