Why Leaders Should Put Learning Front And Center

“When you put learning at the center of everything you do, you'll grow your career, boost your leadership skills, enrich your relationships, and increase your joy and fulfillment in life,” explains David Novak, author (with Lari Bishop) of the new book and practical guide, How Leaders Learn.

He adds that, “Learning is the mindset, the differentiating skill, and the approach to life and the world that defines the most successful leaders.”

Novak emphasizes that even for people who are naturally curious and interested in solving problems, being an effective learner – one who can turn learning into action – takes insight and practice.

Through engaging stories of wins and losses, missteps and miracle saves, challenges tackled, and problems solved, Novak shows you all the ways you can become an active learner.

The book includes a collection of wisdom and practical habits from more than 100 of the most successful learners and leaders in the world, deeply researched by Novak. These individuals include CEOs from many industries, military and political leaders, sports greats, subject matter experts, and coaches.

Chapter by chapter, Novak highlights these leaders through candid and entertaining stories while also telling his own life and career journey. Novak’s impressive journey includes being a trailer park kid who lived in twenty-three states before high school, rapidly ascending the ranks at PepsiCo, and then to become cofounder and CEO of one of the largest corporations in the world, the global restaurant icon Yum! Brands (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and The Habit Burger Grill). And he credits active learning with getting him there.

How Leaders Learn helps readers develop three essential behaviors, each described in the book’s three distinct parts:

Learn from anybody and any experience that has something new, interesting, or valuable to offer.
Learn to maintain an open, curious mind and positive relationships (because we learn the most from and with other people).
Learn by doing the things that need doing or that will make the biggest difference.

“An active learner is somebody who seeks out ideas and insights and then pairs them with action and execution. They learn with purpose. The result is greater possibilities – for them and the people around them,” shares Novak.

Finally, some key takeaways for me from the book include:

You cannot learn if you cannot listen.
Active learners know that one of the best tools for learning is a well-aimed question.
Humility is just the recognition that you can’t do it by yourself.
Confidence is simply the expectation that you’ll find a way to win – somehow.
Failure is 100 percent information, only information.
Active learners know that good preparation helps us get the most learning out of any experience. We learn throughout the process of preparing, and we learn more when we’re prepared.
Active leaners understand that we learn by sharing what we know with others.

___

In addition to David Novak being the cofounder and former Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands, he is also the founder of David Novak Leadership, a leadership development organization and platform.

Novak hosts the top-ranked podcast, How Leaders Lead, where he interviews some of the most high-profile leaders in business, sports, healthcare, and government.

Profits from the book sales will go to the Wendy Novak Diabetes Institute to support the family’s ongoing effort to help those inflicted with diabetes.

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

Leading With GRIT

Feelings of being stuck, overwhelmed and frustrated plague too many of our workplaces says Laurie Sudbrink , author of the new book, Leading With GRIT . So, drawing on her over 20 years of coaching a wide range of organizations, colleges and Fortune 500 companies, Sudbrink provides in her book a road map to improve individual and organizational health . That road map includes teaching readers the principles of GRIT : Generosity Respect Integrity Truth Laurie Sudbrink "It is not only the concepts of GRIT, but how they are combined, that make them so effective," shares Sudbrink. Divided into three parts, Part I of the book is geared toward the individual, and is foundational to your success as a leader. Part II focuses on communicating with GRIT -- making communication easier, more enjoyable and more productive. Part III is how, in our role as leaders, we apply and sustain GRIT in the workplace, creating systems that help keep everyone on track....

Nelson Mandela Leadership Quotes

Here are my favorite Nelson Mandela leadership quotes: "Lead from the back--and let others believe they are in front." "The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall." "It always seems impossible until it's done." "I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles." "I've learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." "Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

Daily Intentions For Leaders

Everyone can benefit from the book, Dear Friend , which features bite-sized, daily notes for contemplation, inspiration, connection, and clarity. Busy and stressed business leaders can particularly benefit from the 365 profound, heartfelt reflections from author Michelle Maros , founder of Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life and cohost of the podcast, Life Happens with Barb and Michelle . Dear Friend invites readers to go deep and use the notes as a daily practice that compounds over time, nurturing strength, resilience, and clarity. In just a few minutes each day, this book will offer you a daily reprieve when you feel burned out, beaten down, or overwhelmed by the strains and stresses of modern life. The heart of Dear Friend began in the quiet mornings Michelle shared with her mom, Barb. Every day, they would sit together, reading affirmations or passages from Barb’s beloved books. These small rituals—simple but powerful—set the tone for each day, grounding them in g...

How to Be a Leader – 9 Principles from Dale Carnegie

Today, I welcome thought-leader Nathan Magnuson as guest blogger... Nathan writes : This is it, your first day in a formal leadership role. You’ve worked hard as an individual contributor at one or possibly several organizations. Now management has finally seen fit to promote you into a position as one of their own: a supervisor. You don’t care if your new team is only one person or ten, you’re just excited that now – finally – you will be in charge! Unfortunately the euphoria is short-lived. Almost immediately, you are not only overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a team, but you quickly find that your team members are not as experienced or adroit as you. Some aren’t even as committed. You find yourself having to repeat yourself, send their work back for corrections, and staying late to fill the gap. If something doesn’t change soon, you might just run yourself into the ground. How did something that looked so easy ...

Your 2026 New Year's Resolutions Check-in

Yikes. It's nearly August. Hopefully, you've mastered or are achieving good progress with your New Year's resolution(s) for 2026. If you need another resolution to tackle this year or haven't yet selected one, now is a good time to review this list below. New Year's Resolutions for leaders : Don't micromanage Don't be a bottleneck Focus on outcomes, not minutiae Build trust with your colleagues before a crisis comes Assess your company's strengths and weaknesses at all times Conduct annual risk reviews Be courageous, quick and fair Talk more about values more than rules Reward how a performance is achieved and not only the performance Constantly challenge your team to do better Celebrate your employees' successes, not your own Err on the side of taking action Communicate clearly and often Be visible Eliminate the cause of a mistake View every problem as an opportunity to grow Summarize group consensus after each decision point during a meeting Pr...

Six Leadership Actions To Leverage Employees' Differences To Strengthen Teams

The new book, All The Difference: Six Leadership Actions To Bridge Perspectives, Strengthen Teams, and Create Value , teaches how leaders can turn their team's individual differences into deeper trust, greater creativity, and winning results. “The greatest risk of unmanaged difference isn’t conflict: it lies in the ideas, insights, and opportunities that may never surface,” explain the book’s authors, Susan MacKenty Brady , Stuart D. Kliman , and Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith . They suggest that you look around your team to fully see people with different communication styles, perspectives, cultural norms, and capabilities. These differences are expressed in all kinds of ways, such as casual gestures in a meeting, a colleague's opinion on a current event, or an intense work style. Often, those differences can lead to friction, even conflict. You may try to manage around them. But, for you and your organization to fully leverage the strengths of your team’s diffe...

Change Is Inevitable. Change Is Good. Embrace Change.

Change is inevitable. Change is good. Help your employees and team learn to embrace change. Here are some solid insights from Dr. Rodger Dean Duncan 's (Liberty, Missouri) book, Change-friendly Leadership -- How to Transform Good Intentions into Great Performance : The kind of behavior change that results in lasting (sustainable) change must accommodate people's feelings--feelings that involve trust, confidence, passion, and all those other intangible but very real things that make us human. It's often the stress that people resist, not the change itself. Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights ( Pauline R. Kezer ). A transformational leader focuses primarily on initiating and "managing" change. He/she influences people to improve, to stretch, and to redefine what's possible. It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive t...

How To Step Up During Six Critical Leadership Moments

The book, Step Up , shows readers how to step up to the plate during six critical leadership moments . Readers learn how to: Use anger intelligently in the workplace. Recognize and deal with terminal politeness. Make decisions when no one else is making them. Take ownership when others are externalizing a problem. Identify and leverage pessimism. Inspire others to take action. And, before you start to read the book, you can take (via a QR code in the book) a fifteen-minute online Step Up Leadership Assessment , which will give you instant feedback on your leadership readiness and point you to the most relevant chapters in the book. The book's two authors recently shared these insights with me: A Conversation with Henry Evans and Colm Foster, authors of Step Up What is a “leadership moment”? These are moments when leadership is required in order to see a problem solved, opportunity seized, momentum changed, rela...

Use TIPS When Providing Feedback

Eric Harvey and Al Lucia wrote a booklet called, 144 Ways To Walk The Talk . They provide the following great advice about giving feedback: 1. Make it timely -- give your feedback as soon as possible to the performance. 2. Make it individualized -- tailor your feedback to the feedback receiver. 3. Make it productive -- focus your feedback on the performance and not the performer . 4. Make is specific -- pinpoint for the receiver observable actions and behaviors.

How To Talk About Poor Performance With An Employee

As a leader, the time will come when you will have to speak with an employee about his or her poor performance. Perhaps that time is now as you conduct year-end performance reviews. So, here are six steps that will guide you through that process : 1. Tell him what performance is in need of change and be specific. 2. Tell him how his actions negatively affect the team. 3. Let the discussion sink in. 4. Set expectations of performance improvement and timeframe, and get his agreement on the desired outcome. 5. Remind him that he is a valuable part of the team and that you have confidence his performance will improve. 6. Don't rehash the discussion later. You made your point. Give him time to make his improvement.

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog