During the twenty-five years of building businesses, I’ve learned one crucial truth: the moment you think you know everything is when you become irrelevant.
I call myself a lifelong learner, not out of false modesty, but because it’s the only way I know how to lead. The business landscape changes faster than ever before. Technologies that didn’t exist five years ago now define entire industries. Customer expectations shift overnight. The strategies that made you successful yesterday can become your biggest liabilities tomorrow.
The Trap of Experience
Here’s the paradox: experience is both your greatest asset and your most risky liability. After decades in business, you gain wisdom that can’t be learned in any classroom. You develop instincts that help you make complex decisions. You build pattern recognition that saves time and money.
But experience can also blind you. It whispers that you’ve seen it all before, that this new challenge is just like the last one. It tempts you to rely on old playbooks in a game where the rules have changed fundamentally. I’ve watched brilliant leaders fall into this trap, dismissing innovations as fads or refusing to question their long-held assumptions.
The answer isn’t to dismiss experience, it’s to combine it with a beginner’s mindset.
My Approach to Continuous Growth
I schedule learning time just like I schedule board meetings. Every week, I set aside hours specifically for learning. This isn’t passive consumption; it’s active engagement with new ideas. I read books outside my industry. I take online courses on emerging technologies. I attend workshops where I am the least experienced person in the room. These sessions are non-negotiable and are treated with the same importance as closing a major deal.
I seek out people who disagree with me. I’ve intentionally built a network of advisors, mentors, and colleagues who challenge my thinking. Young entrepreneurs teach me about new platforms and cultural shifts. Leaders from different industries show me alternative approaches to common problems. I’ve learned more from people who pushed back on my ideas than from those who nodded along.
I invest in reverse mentorship. Some of the smartest people I know are in their twenties. They’re digital natives who understand platforms, tools, and consumer behaviors that I’m still learning about. I’ve established relationships in which younger team members teach me about their world—not just the technology, but also how they think, communicate, and solve problems.
I practice intentional discomfort. Growth occurs outside your comfort zone, so I regularly put myself in situations where I feel like a beginner again, learning a new language, picking up a technical skill, and exploring an unfamiliar market. That uneasy feeling of not knowing? That’s where the learning happens.
I treat failure as part of the learning process. Every mistake is costly tuition in the school of business. Instead of sweeping failures under the rug, I analyze them. What assumptions was I making? What signals did I miss? What would I do differently next time? I keep a journal of lessons learned, not just from my failures, but from observing others.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
The half-life of skills is getting shorter. What you learned five years ago might already be outdated. The companies that led industries a decade ago are now struggling or have disappeared. The only lasting competitive advantage is the ability to learn faster than your rivals.
But there’s another reason why this is important: your team is watching. When you demonstrate curiosity and humility, you encourage others to do the same. You foster a culture where it’s safe to admit what you don’t know, ask questions, and try new things. Organizations that learn are the ones that innovate.
The ROI of Being a Perpetual Student
People sometimes ask if I have time for all this learning. My answer: I don’t have time not to. Every hour I invest in education has paid off exponentially, leading to better decisions, fewer mistakes, and new opportunities I would have otherwise missed.
Learning isn’t something you do only when you have free time. It’s not a luxury reserved for after you’ve “made it.” It’s the essential discipline that decides whether you grow or stagnate, whether you lead or follow.
After twenty-five years, I’m more of a student now than I was on day one. The questions are tougher. The challenges are greater. The need to learn is more urgent. And that’s precisely where I want to be.
Stay curious. Stay humble. Stay hungry to learn. That’s not just sound advice, it’s survival.