For the past four years in the spring, I've taught a class to college students about to graduate called Professional Practices. One of the assignments that I have them do is to identify and research leaders in their field of study or in the industry they are wanting to work in. It's an interesting assignment because it's less to do with passively consuming other people's content, or even comparing oneself to them, and more about paying attention to the people you are connecting with and why. If you were to do this assignment for yourself, would you be able to come up with a list of 5-10 people? Who would be on that list? These are great questions, but here is the kicker: What do you actually learn from the people you are paying attention to? And do you actually act upon that information?