Learning, unlearning, staying open
Work teaches continuously.
Not only through training programs.
Not only through certifications.
Not only through success.
Work teaches through mistakes.
Through difficult conversations.
Through failed assumptions.
Through changing technology.
Through people who think differently.
Through problems that do not fit into existing knowledge.
After many years in corporate life, I have realised that experience is valuable only when it remains open.
Otherwise, experience becomes a wall.
It begins to say:
I already know.
I have seen this before.
This will not work.
This is how things are done.
But the world keeps changing.
Business changes.
Climate expectations change.
Technology changes.
People change.
Leadership expectations change.
The meaning of work itself changes.
So learning cannot remain separate from working.
Learning has to happen while moving.
This is especially true in areas like sustainability, climate technology, digitalization, energy efficiency, diversity and inclusion. These fields do not allow fixed thinking for too long. They ask for curiosity, humility and the ability to connect many worlds.
Technical understanding matters.
But so does human understanding.
A system may be efficient, but people must use it.
A sustainability goal may be important, but behaviour must support it.
A digital tool may be powerful, but meaning must be created around it.
A diversity initiative may be well designed, but belonging must be felt.
Learning in motion means staying available.
Available to new knowledge.
Available to correction.
Available to people.
Available to complexity.
Available to not knowing.
Perhaps this is why I value curiosity so deeply.
Curiosity keeps leadership human.
It allows work to remain alive.