Think about how many people you came into contact with yesterday. Now ask yourself, “How many of those people did I learn from, and what specific lessons did I take away?” If you can’t recall any substantive lessons, it’s not because they weren’t available. It just means you didn’t search for them. Truth is, all the knowledge we need to be top performers resides in the minds of the people we meet everyday. And the only difference between those that make it to the top and those who aspire to get there is top performers ask more questions in EVERY conversation they have. They realize they don’t get smarter by telling others all about themselves and their “product,” but rather by learning as much as possible from others.

So this week, add more who, what, why, where and whens to every conversation. And when you ask, LISTEN and learn from what is being said. Don’t think of your next question… just listen. And with your newfound interest in others, you will find the world’s most powerful search engine is not GOOGLE. It is YOU!

“I’ve been in this business for over 25 years. I have run out of things to learn,” was one of the saddest comments I have ever heard from one of my recent seminar attendees.

Stop learning?

• Don’t we need to learn from our customers so we can effectively serve them?
• Don’t we need to learn what our competition is doing?
• Don’t we need to learn how our peers and employees feel about working with us?
• Don’t we need to learn how much we DON’T know?

Once you lose your hunger to learn, you lose the ability to positively effect everybody around you. And who would choose that? And it’s not enough to be open to learning, you have to aggressively seek opportunities to learn. Because customers, competition, peers, employees and family members won’t often seek you out to tell you how you can be more valuable to them. You have to ask. And when you ask, you show a willingness to learn. So this week, ask more questions than ever. And by this time next week, you will be just a little smarter…and more valuable.

I think the one lesson I have learned is that
there is no substitute for paying attention
-Diane Sawyer

Imagine how much professional interviewers learn every time they sit down and do nothing but ask questions and pay attention to the responses given. If you believe that the answers to most of your questions reside in the heads of others, you are well on your way to the top. Because once you realize that, you will ask more questions, listen more attentively and pay attention to the knowledge being delivered.

So here is your task over the next seven days:

•    In every conversation, seek to LEARN something new
•    Ask more questions in EVERY conversation
•    Make these questions open-ended like great interviewers (How, What, When, Why, Who)
•    Don’t think about your response until the other person has finished their last word
•    Don’t feel the need to develop a counterpoint to what is being said

By doing this over the next seven days, you WILL be smarter. Keep doing it and you will have developed the skill that separates great interviewers, great leaders, great salespeople, great parents, and great friends from the average. And by doing so, everybody around you will pay attention to how much smarter you have become, how much more you care, and how effective you have become at positively influencing everybody you touch.