Learning is not the key to success in the future.

 

That title is a misdirection.  Learning is part of the key to the future.  The ability to teach is the key  to success.

In order to progress, we need to adapt our ideas to each of our constituents.  We need to teach them. In order to tell others what your personal and business Unique Value Proposition is you need to teach them more about the value of your skills.  You do that by teaching them more about your chosen industry and development.

Advertising was about telling.  If you buy this, you will feel like that.  If you don’t buy this, you will not be with us.

Marketing in the days of Search (Read: Google/Facebook) is about building value by teaching.  Teach why you do the things the way you do.  Teach the basics of your business, so your value proposition becomes more evident.  Give away some of the easy stuff. Get better at the hard stuff.  If we are doing our best, we all know that an educated client/customer is the best for us.

In order to teach well, you need to listen.  What is your client saying to you?  What do they truly not understand?  Try to learn about the 5 Whys to improve your listening.  Also, there might be a book coming out soon on the topic. (Wink wink, nudge nudge).  the Internet and Social Media provide us ways to listen like never before.

One of the best parts of teaching is you learn.  Not only do you learn about others, but you learn more about your subject, and yourself,  because you begin to explore at a different angle.  So, when you teach you do learn. When you  teach well you listen and you succeed.