An Impact podcast with Steven Nishida created for the Impact leadership playbook.
To quote Alvin Toffler, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” And a learning mindset is the key for this. But what is a learning mindset? And how do you develop one?
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In this mini podcast (30 mins), created exclusively for the Impact leadership playbook, Dan chats to Steven Nishida about a learning mindset. Having lived and work across the US and Japan, Steven is now based in Los Angeles. With a diverse career spanning academia, languages, and learning and development, he is Global Practice Lead and Senior Consultant for Impact US. Steven is known for his intellect, empathy, ability to assure everyone’s voice is heard, and for always role modelling curiosity and a commitment to continuous learning.
"The only way to future proof ourselves against disruption is to make sure that we have a learning mindset and that we are able to act adeptly with learning agility."
What is a learning mindset?
"A learning mindset is an orientation towards curiosity, exploration and future possibility. It means staying grounded in these general concepts and ideas, and letting them lead you in a direction at any given time. So that means you don't always know where you're going to go, but as we say at Impact, you let the learning lead. That sometimes means that you're moving into uncharted territory, which can be quite uncomfortable for people, but you know in your heart and mind that the journey is going to be worth it, ultimately.
And part of this requires an openness to not knowing, to not having the answers, which can feel, not just uncomfortable, but quite counterintuitive to us. We've been educated and grown up in our workplaces to want to demonstrate our knowledge or our ability, so letting go of that takes a little practise and some getting used to. Getting comfortable being uncomfortable, right? [...]
What I love about this is it goes right down to the most, basic fundamental human level. We can all nurture and follow our curiosity, and allow it to lead us. Now, it can't be willy nilly, right. We can't be only following our curiosity at all times. We still need to get the work done and meet the expectations that we've set with others. But I think that being able to hold that orientation towards producing results alongside an orientation towards learning and following your curiosity is really important."
What role does a learning mindset have in the leadership toolkit?
"There are two levels of this: First it's individual. Leaders are put in this unenviable position where in order to be successful, you really have to recognise and meet new and emerging challenges, which requires new knowledge, new skills and new capabilities. So as an individual you have to be prepared to learn with agility, and that requires a learning mindset.
At the same time, because you're a leader it's really important that you have the ability to identify what gaps in knowledge, skill and capability there may be, and really think about how to close those gaps quickly and intentionally. And that all has to happen in the flow of work, because nobody has time to go for an offsite to discuss the strategy for it all; you really have to develop it into your practice of how you lead and how you work.
So it's a really important competency that all successful leaders will need to rely on – and currently even now do need to rely on – but I believe it's increasingly true as we move into moments that are just riddled with disruption. The only way to future proof ourselves against disruption is to make sure that we have a learning mindset and that we are able to act adeptly with learning agility."
Steven’s top tips for developing a learning mindset
- Listen more, talk less
- Seek reasons and rationale
- Let go of your ego and distance yourself from the need to be right
- Surround yourself with people who are ferocious in their pursuit of curiosity
Listen to the podcast on Spotify
This mini podcast was created for our leadership playbook, an interactive resource capturing 45 years of learning about leadership.