Do you fear becoming obsolete? Liz Wiseman offers a solution. Rather than run from challenging roles, seek them out. In fact, in a world where 85 percent of your knowledge could be irrelevant in as little as 5 years, this strategy may be the key to maintaining and advancing a successful career.

Liz is the bestselling author of Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work. She helps us see how taking on a new challenge, especially when it feels like a stretch, gives us the best chance of staying relevant in an ever-changing world. She also points out the immense value of rookies for our organizations, particularly in leadership and mentoring roles traditionally reserved for more experienced workers.

A frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Inc. and Time, Liz has been named one of the top 10 leadership thinkers in the world, and her firm has worked with organizations like Apple, Disney, eBay and Google.

In this conversation, we talk about:

Why what we know is less important than how fast we can learn

Why we should take jobs that we are not qualified for

How experience may get in the way of what we most need to learn

How experience can actually decrease our relevance and performance over time

How choosing jobs that involve inquiry and discovery will keep us relevant

Why one of the most valuable aspects of learning something new is the struggle involved

Why rookies bring in 5 times the expertise of experts

Why we need to watch out for mediocre thinking to stay relevant

The link between surfing with the rookies and testing your assumptions

What effective reverse mentoring looks like

Why the word leadership may not mean what you think

Anti-perfectionism and the power of keeping things small

Liz is curious about what distinguishes between a rookie and a novice with rookie smarts. She wonders why some people persist while others give up. She is equally curious about why so many senior leaders look and feel so broken and what we can do about it.

Episode Links

@LizWiseman

The Wiseman Group

Oracle and Oracle University and Larry Ellison

Fortran

Growth Mindset and Carol Dweck

Stretch by Karie Willyerd

Herminia Ibarra and Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader

Bob Hurley of Hurley International

Wayne Bartholomew

C K Prahalad of the University of Michigan

Pareto Principle

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