Something else I’m learning from the Leading Change Institute from CLIR/EDUCAUSE? That a lot of people keep track of a lot of trends, articles, and ideas, all the time.
“Have you read that article from X?”
“I was thinking about the writings of Y and how they apply to what you are saying”
“Well, if you consider the ideas put forth by Z then you can really understand your point better about topic ‘something I don’t even understand yet'”
All of this makes me wonder if I just need to spend more time reading things, need to spend less time worrying about the “weeds” and day-to-day (those first two go hand-in-hand of course) or, perhaps, if I just don’t have the brainspace for all of this. I have not even heard of the things people are referencing, much less unaware of the specific article being cited.
This is humbling more than anything else. And instructive. To be an effective leader and one recognized as being knowledgeable, I do need to read more. I need to track trends but, more importantly, I need to keep track of who is saying what. If I know what one author has been saying about a topic, then I can more effectively track other ideas coming out of that field. I’ve always been a pretty prolific reader, but I need to take it up a notch in sophistication.
Here’s to all those other attendees with me in this room with their incredible pool of knowledge. I am truly impressed.