This weekend I went on a four-hour advanced defensive driving course. I have been driving for a long time, but I still learnt new things that I hope will improve my driving, especially about looking ahead and anticipating situations, using road signs, street lights and even marks on a wall where somebody had hit it, to predict and avoid problems.
Also this weekend one of the greatest tennis players I have ever seen, Roger Federer, won his twentieth grand slam title in Melbourne, Australia at the age of 36. Frighteningly for his rivals he still seems to be improving his tennis and has, for example, developed an even stronger backhand.
It is this continuous development attitude and approach that I suggest should be one of the cornerstones of professional practice. We are never too old or too experienced or too knowledgeable not to improve. Somebody once said that a true expert is a person who understands how little they truly know and how there is always more to find out.
As Winston Churchill said: To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
In addition to having an attitude that welcomes and embraces personal professional development, it is also something that can be consciously promoted. Here, for example, is a paper from the State University of New Jersey which suggests that Information and communication technology, together with globalization, have made it more possible than ever to choose from a wide array of learning resources. While increased choice is welcome, it is also problematic in that it makes it harder to select the most appropriate options. Taking a systematic approach, such as designing a personal professional development plan, offers a solution to the dilemma.
This blog from Harvard University says in the context of PR professionals (not a profession you normally associate with earning CPD points) that Communications professions are more dynamic today than they have ever been. And with the shifting media landscape, the plethora of channels and digital tools, and the influence of audience preferences and expectations, public relations practitioners in the field must continuously evolve or face antiquation.
I personally continue to try to learn more, not only about the law as my professional field, but its practical application in activities such as negotiation. By way of example, I have become more and more aware over the last few years of the benefits of trying to create a consensual approach, where even fundamental differences can be discussed by the parties without causing a potentially damaging breakdown in the discussions.
And whilst we cannot all aspire to win the Australian Open tennis tournament, there is much we can strive to do to continually get better at our work – and it’s much more exciting than assuming we already know everything. As Mark Twain suggests Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Also this weekend one of the greatest tennis players I have ever seen, Roger Federer, won his twentieth grand slam title in Melbourne, Australia at the age of 36. Frighteningly for his rivals he still seems to be improving his tennis and has, for example, developed an even stronger backhand.
It is this continuous development attitude and approach that I suggest should be one of the cornerstones of professional practice. We are never too old or too experienced or too knowledgeable not to improve. Somebody once said that a true expert is a person who understands how little they truly know and how there is always more to find out.
As Winston Churchill said: To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
In addition to having an attitude that welcomes and embraces personal professional development, it is also something that can be consciously promoted. Here, for example, is a paper from the State University of New Jersey which suggests that Information and communication technology, together with globalization, have made it more possible than ever to choose from a wide array of learning resources. While increased choice is welcome, it is also problematic in that it makes it harder to select the most appropriate options. Taking a systematic approach, such as designing a personal professional development plan, offers a solution to the dilemma.
This blog from Harvard University says in the context of PR professionals (not a profession you normally associate with earning CPD points) that Communications professions are more dynamic today than they have ever been. And with the shifting media landscape, the plethora of channels and digital tools, and the influence of audience preferences and expectations, public relations practitioners in the field must continuously evolve or face antiquation.
I personally continue to try to learn more, not only about the law as my professional field, but its practical application in activities such as negotiation. By way of example, I have become more and more aware over the last few years of the benefits of trying to create a consensual approach, where even fundamental differences can be discussed by the parties without causing a potentially damaging breakdown in the discussions.
And whilst we cannot all aspire to win the Australian Open tennis tournament, there is much we can strive to do to continually get better at our work – and it’s much more exciting than assuming we already know everything. As Mark Twain suggests Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
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