Editorial
The best leaders aren’t born. They’re developed — sometimes at a kitchen table, long after everyone else has gone to bed.
When people ask me about leadership philosophy, my mind drifts back to my childhood kitchen table, where my mom would spread out computer manuals like other parents might lay out cookbooks or novels. While juggling her roles as a part-time phlebotomist, lab tech and mother of five, she quietly became our small family business’ secret weapon. She was always learning, whether it was taking accounting classes at the local community college or reading computer hardware manuals cover-to-cover until she earned her Microsoft Systems Engineer certification.
Watching her transform from someone who might have described herself simply as "a mom" into the unofficial CTO of our family company taught me one of the most valuable lessons of my career: Leadership isn't something you're born with. It's something you build, skill by skill, challenge by challenge and mistake by mistake.
Learning Never Stops — Even the Second Time Around
This philosophy of continuous growth isn't just theoretical for me; it's deeply personal and ongoing. Five years into my second tenure as a CEO, I found myself in a Dale Carnegie facilitation training course, learning alongside professionals from different industries.
One question I often ask in various settings is, “When was the last time you learned a completely new skill?” It’s a question that can be met with silence, particularly in environments where people are less accustomed to stepping out of their comfort zones or routine. However, in a setting like this training course I’m in, where everyone is actively engaged in learning, I always get a quick answer.
That moment reinforced something I've observed throughout my career: The willingness to continuously acquire new capabilities isn't universal, but it's what separates leaders who adapt and thrive from those who plateau. Whether it's working with an executive coach, joining CEO peer groups, getting hands-on-keyboard to create a custom GPT or sitting in a training room learning facilitation fundamentals (all of which I’ve done in the last two months), it’s important to approach each role, even familiar ones, with the mindset that there's always more to master.
The Myth of the Natural-Born Leader
Too many people (perhaps convinced of their own natural leadership) still operate under the outdated belief that great leaders are destined to be that way — that some people simply "have it" while others don't. This thinking not only limits individual potential but also keeps companies from developing the adaptive leadership they need to thrive.
The reality is that leadership, like any other skill, can be developed through deliberate practice and continuous learning. Neuroscience research on neuroplasticity confirms what my mom intuitively understood decades ago: Our brains remain capable of forming new neural pathways throughout our entire lives. It's never too late to learn, grow or fundamentally change how we approach challenges.
This mindset shift isn't just a feel-good philosophy, but also a competitive advantage. Organizations that cultivate learning-oriented leaders consistently outperform those that rely on static hierarchies and fixed mindsets.
Building Your Forever Learner Foundation
Once you’ve decided to become a forever learner, how do you start? Here are some ways.
Start with Intellectual Humility
The moment we believe we've figured it all out is the moment we stop growing. The most effective leaders I know share a common trait: They're comfortable saying "I don't know,” and even more comfortable doing something about it. They ask questions that reveal gaps in their understanding rather than questions designed to demonstrate their expertise.
Embrace Productive Failure
My mom didn't become a systems engineer by avoiding technical challenges. She became one by working through them, often late into the night, learning from each error message and system crash. Create psychological safety for yourself and your team to experiment, fail fast and iterate. Every failure contains valuable data if you're willing to examine it honestly.
Listen to Learn, not to Respond
The most successful leaders I know have mastered the art of active listening—not the kind where you're formulating your response while someone else speaks, but genuine listening with curiosity and openness. Create space in conversations for people to share their real thoughts, then resist the urge to immediately offer solutions or corrections. Ask follow-up questions that demonstrate you're processing what they've shared: "Help me understand what led to that conclusion" or "What would need to change for this to work better?"
Some of my most valuable insights have come from listening to employees who see problems I never would from the executive level; customers who use our products in ways we never anticipated or even team members who challenge conventional thinking. The goal isn't just to gather information. It's to understand different perspectives and let them influence your thinking.
Cultivating Learning Culture in Your Organization
Now that you know how to become a forever learner yourself, how do you expand it to your organization?
Create Space for Honest Dialogue
Some of the most powerful decisions our company has made have come from listening to employee feedback and concerns. As leaders, we need to welcome open dialogue and ensure our teams can share their perspectives, even when—especially when—they disagree with us. The best learning often comes from the most uncomfortable conversations.
Understand Learning’s Compounding Effect
The beautiful thing about adopting a forever learner mindset is its compound nature. Each new skill, perspective or capability builds upon the last, creating exponential rather than linear growth. My mom didn't just learn accounting and then stop. She used that financial understanding to make better technology investment decisions, which helped things run better, which freed resources for further learning and growth.
The same principle applies to leadership. Technical skills you develop make you a better strategic thinker. Emotional intelligence you cultivate makes you more effective at driving technical change. Ddiverse perspectives you seek out help you identify blind spots in both areas.
Make Learning Visible and Valued
Celebrate team members who take on new challenges, acquire new skills or bring fresh perspectives to old problems. Share stories of your own learning journey, including struggles and setbacks. When leaders model vulnerability and growth, it gives others permission to do the same.
Invest in Experiential Learning
While formal training has its place, the most profound learning often happens through hands-on experience. Create opportunities for your team to stretch beyond their comfort zones through cross-functional projects, mentoring relationships or problem-solving challenges that require them to develop new capabilities.
Build Reflection Into Your Rhythm
Learning without reflection is just experience. Institute regular practices — whether through one-on-ones, team retrospectives or even journaling for teammates who process better on a personal level — that help you and your team extract insights from daily experiences and apply them moving forward.
How Learning Helps You Lead Through Uncertainty
Perhaps most important, continued learning is essential for navigating uncertainty. Let's be honest: Uncertainty is the only constant in today's business environment. Leaders who view each challenge as a learning opportunity rather than as a test of their existing knowledge are better equipped to guide their organizations through ambiguity and change.
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When faced with unprecedented situations — whether it's a global pandemic, emerging technology or shifting market dynamics — forever learners don't panic if they don't have all the answers. Instead, they get curious. They ask better questions, seek diverse input and remain open to solutions that might challenge their initial assumptions.
Your Learning Journey Starts Now
The path forward doesn't require a personality overhaul or years of formal education. It starts with a simple shift in perspective: viewing every interaction, challenge and even setback as an opportunity to grow.
Begin by identifying one area where you've been operating on autopilot. Maybe it's how you run meetings, how you provide feedback or how you make strategic decisions. Approach it with fresh eyes. Ask your team what they observe. Experiment with new approaches. Pay attention to what works and what doesn't, and then pick up the pace. Your leadership edge isn’t what you know, it is how fast you can learn.
Remember, the goal isn't perfection, but continuous progress. My mom didn't become our family technology expert overnight, and you won't transform your leadership approach in a single quarter. But with consistent commitment to learning and growth, you'll be amazed at what becomes possible.
Editor's Note: Read more on how to be a lifelong learner:
- Ready, Set, Grow: How to Build a Culture of Learning at Your Organization — By cultivating a learning culture within your team, you're not just investing in individual development.
- Employees Aren't Responsible for Their Own Learning (Not Entirely) — Research found online learning is driving mixed results, due to lack of workplace support, time constraints and the lecture-heavy format of the learning itself.
- Why Today's Leaders Need to Rethink Their Own Learning — Upskilling is the name of the game for everyone today — but especially for leaders.
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