How to Participate in Intense Knowledge Sharing

Brandon Hall - 7/16/12

Leaders must continually seek new ideas, view the larger picture and explore other venues beyond the boundaries of their business.

It can be stimulating to sit down for a conversation with luminaries. John Seely Brown might discuss his book, A New Culture of Learning, or Nobel laureate Eric Kandel could talk about brain plasticity. Charles Duhigg might offer a nugget from his The Power of Habit, which describes new research on exactly how individuals and organizations can change.

Is this an imperative for the busy senior leader? Yes. He or she must occasionally leave the many logistical nuts-and-bolts issues and embrace the broader consideration of how technology, economics, culture and other macro issues will affect his or her profession and organization.

CLOs are not just managers, they are also leaders. Leaders must continually seek new ideas, view the larger picture and explore other venues beyond the boundaries of their business.

Here are five easy, flexible and mobile ways people can participate in powerful, unique and intense knowledge sharing from some of today’s noteworthy leaders.

Charlie Rose: Rose is one of the best interviewers and draws top thinkers to his table five days a week on PBS. Meet Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, discussing key ideas in his book The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. Check out Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, on doing business in China, or James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley.

Pick one of the eight talks since 1996 with Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point and Blink, or Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg on Facebook’s work culture, or Ibrahim Kalin, Islamic scholar.

These people should be on your list if you want to expand your thinking and perspective. Set your TiVo, then choose what to watch based on Rose’s one-minute overview of that day’s topics. Prefer the PC to the TV? Go to the Charlie Rose website or YouTube for 4,000 hours of episodes and segments. Click a button to email a talk to a colleague.

TED: TED global conferences showcase fascinating thinkers “to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less.” There are 78 expert talks on how we learn, 66 views on the rise of collaboration, 149 diverse, global predictions and warnings, 105 talks on worldwide health care trends, 109 presentations on the impact of design and 58 speeches on women in powerful roles around the world.