My holiday break has already been a great success as a result of an excellent book I just read called, “The Curious Advantage” by authors Paul Ashcroft, Simon Brown, and Garrick Jones.

As a learning professional specializing in developing leadership competencies through the use of experiential digital business simulations, I found this book to be extremely satisfying because it provides thoughtful ideas, insights, and solutions to Talent Development pain points our clients have been experiencing for the past several years.

Curious about Curiosity

In the world of leadership development, everything revolves around competencies. A competency is the ability to do something successfully or efficiently. For example,

• having a strategic mindset to make the best business decisions
• possessing an integrative thinking capacity to understand the systems of business
• giving in-the-moment feedback to people you are working with, so they can execute their jobs and tasks flawlessly

Many experts in the field of Leadership Development believe that “being curious” is a behavior or trait, rather than a specific, refined skill. In the world of sports, some believe it’s impossible to teach speed. That is incorrect. You can teach people to be faster by providing frameworks, context, and specific techniques. In the world of leadership development, some believe that it is impossible to teach the competency of curiosity. This entire book successfully counters that belief through very practical tools and examples. The book makes a strong case that one of the most important things leaders can do to develop talent to reach their business goals and objectives is to create a culture of curiosity where employees are encouraged to seek out new ideas and experiment as part of a learning process strategy.

The following blog is an introduction to Advantexe’s free virtual business simulation called “Santa’s Workshop.” Feel free to read the story and then play the simulation! The simulation is designed to introduce learners to the drivers of business acumen in a fun and risk-free environment. 

Way up at the North Pole, the Chief Operating Officer of Santa’s Workshop, Incorporated, a not-for-profit organization that distributes toys to the good kids around the world is struggling with the execution of the organization’s business strategy.

Last July, after a virtual business acumen training session, the CEO (Santa) and the senior leadership team all agreed to shift toward a more Customer-Centric model moving away from Operational Excellence. Customer centricity is a strategy that is focused on the needs of the customers while Operational Excellence is a strategy that is focused on driving costs out of the system to create more efficiencies. As a side note, when Santa first stared the business centuries ago, the strategy was Product Leadership where all the presents made in the workshop were the most innovative on the planet. Over the years, that strategy became unaffordable as the population of the planet grew.

As the most tumultuous year in our memories comes to a close, many of the business leaders I work with are feeling very positive about the future of their businesses and the future of the employees executing the strategies of the businesses. Over the past few days, I have been traveling around the world (virtually) delivering many different types of learning programs in the areas of Business Acumen, Business Leadership, and Strategic Business Selling. As part of the dialogues, I capture notes and thoughts to share with the readers of this blog. I am very pleased to share 10 quick reasons why most business leaders should be feeling happy going into 2021:

Gone are the days of five-day, in-person learning events at a fancy resort full of great food and even more great drinks. Here to stay are virtual learning events much smaller in size and nestled into a typical business day where employees are figuring out the best “work-learning-life” balance.

In those “old days” of longer in-person learning events, every possible content area was thrown into the week. Topics could range from new product training, to Business Acumen, to Business Leadership, to tips on Time Management. One of the primary reasons why everything and the kitchen sink was added to the agenda was because the meeting planners HAD TO! Because dozens, if not hundreds, of participants spent money on airfare, hotels, food, cars, golf, and so many other things not directly related to the actual training itself. Most experienced learning leaders knew the “dirty little secret” that the travel and lodging budget was typically double the budget of the learning content! The idea of focusing and isolating on one specific topic would have never entered anyone’s mind as the mantra of every learning event around the world (pre-pandemic) was, “the more the merrier.”

There is a new Nissan Commercial featuring Tim Tebow and Kyler Murray called “Heisman House Anticipation” where Kyler Murray seemingly anticipates everything that is going to happen ahead of time and is speaking to, or answering before it actually happens. In the opening, Tim Tebow asks Kyler Murray if he’s looking forward to the upcoming football season and Murray answers that he’s been “working on his anticipation”. Tebow agrees that having anticipation as a skill is important and says, “Anticipation is key.” From that moment on, Murray is always one step ahead knowing exactly what is going to happen next.

It’s very cleverly done and makes a strong impression as part of a memorable campaign Nissan has been running for years around all the former Heisman Trophy winners living together in a mythical “Heisman House.”

As I was watching the commercial, it reminded me of the type of Sales professional I’ve seen and have had in too many Sales training programs recently. The type of Sales Professional that always has the answer and cuts off the customer before they ever speak or share their needs. That’s not anticipation, it’s rudeness.