As a precursor to our next Leader 2020 Blog on Learning Agility, Andy O’Connor reflects on learning through the eyes of a new grandfather watching his grandson learn.
By Andy O’Connor – President, A.J. O’Connor Associates
As a new grandfather I have had the pleasure to spend a great deal of time with our new love Taylor John. Lots of things change when bringing a new baby into the family - schedules, eating and sleeping habits and where you spend your time. Oh, and yes there is the stuff! I believe there is more stuff for one little baby than my parents had for all seven (yes that’s right, seven) of us!!
Something occurred to me recently, as I was reflecting on how this new family member has captured our hearts and upended the lives of his parents and grandparents. Taylor was born two months early at a bruising 3.7lbs leaving the hospital at a whopping 4lbs after a nervous couple of weeks. So, seeing how much he has grown physically in the first six months has been a continuing fascination.
What I have noticed more recently is that every new day presents an opportunity for learning something new and exciting. Right now they are little things like a bigger smile each day or the first spoonful of cereal followed by lots of funny facial expressions. Then there is the attempt at sitting up or rolling over for the first time. Then trying to figure out “how did I do that”? Of course, I am only touching on a few things in the first six months but as kids get older they have a natural inquisitiveness and great passion for learning, sometimes driving adults crazy with their questions.
But think about this; asking questions is a way to learn immediately and kids want answers right away. They challenge everything they see as they ask what is that? Why that way? Who is? Where did it go? How come?
It occurs to me that the older we get we often start to lose some of our natural inquisitiveness and we stop asking questions. It is interesting because the thing we believe is most impressive in an executive is the ability to ask good questions. It is one of the most critical skills taught and developed in each of our executive coaching engagements. What I have learned over the years from our coaches is reflection and asking good questions are two keys to executive learning and development. 
So, as I think about learning I am inclined to stop by and see Taylor and ask what he is reflecting on and see just what he has learned over the past 24 hours. Who knows what I will learn from him today?
In our next blog, we’ll focus on learning agility as it relates to leadership, understanding why this is critical and exploring how to make learning agility part of a leader’s repertoire.