Learning with peers

03.04.2006
If you want to grow as a leader or help others to become leaders, it's important to think carefully about the process of learning.

Have you ever been in a great conversation and been surprised by something you said -- whether it was your own insight, your own language or the source of your comment?

These events happen to me every once in a while and are the source of some of my most cherished learning. And the things I learn in these conversations often become the bedrock of my understanding of a range of ideas. They tend to be things that reorder my thinking, make connections between ideas I previously considered discrete or unearth values that are held dear but were previously unarticulated.

Such epiphanies are often followed by a quick reaction. "Who said that?" or "Where did that come from?" or "I didn't know that I believed that."

These conversations are usually followed by exhaustion, satisfaction and reflection. It's almost as if mental energy were converted into the matter of ideas and everyone involved was drained in the process. The Promethean moment passes into admiration of a new thought.

I've noticed a few things about these conversations. Most of them share some common characteristics.