Does your business/employer transfer any new information that comes into your business from update sources, into new or improved products and services?

For example, as the evidence that we are heading towards a possible no-deal exit from the EU increases, have you researched and integrated a risk-assessment policy for your business?

There is a tendency, especially amongst smaller businesses, to avoid this process of assessing risk – there are simply not enough hours in the day, and yet what are the likely negative consequences of ignoring the writing on the wall?

It would seem that learning is just the ingredients from which we extract the useful stuff. Perhaps we need to redefine what is and what is not effective learning?

Another relevant topic that will determine future risks is climate change and the ability of human-kind to adapt to and integrate new “green” technologies that are based on sustainability rather than short-term financial gains.

Whilst there are differences in opinion on all issues, we would all be wise to keep ourselves informed and to use this learning to advise our future actions. Learning needs to become linked to action and not merely the acquisition of facts.

We could congratulate ourselves as good learners if we successfully acquire knowledge but the acid-test in the future will be at a new level – what have we done to improve sustainability with the new knowledge we have acquired?

Time to reflect. How difficult would it be to set up working groups in our own businesses to speed up the process of transforming the acquisition of relevant information into sustainable service and product delivery to customers?

In the future, to be a good learner may be much more about what we do with our learning rather than the simple acquisition of facts.