I attended a seminar at the Mansion House recently with keynote speaker Craig Barrett who is a former chairman of Intel. The context of his presentation centred around moving Ireland forward and becoming a much more competitive nation. At the heart of the presentation was the importance of knowledge, the importance of education, and the importance of research and development in ensuring the future competitiveness of the Irish economy.
He made ten separate recommendations in total to the government to improve Ireland and to improve Ireland’s skill base and at the centre of those ten was the recurring theme of improvement in our education system; improvement in our knowledge base; the improvement in our skills. As I listened I was struck by the parallels between what the country needs to do and also what I believe many businesses and business owners should consider.
I do think it is so important in the environment in which we are working today, a particularly competitive environment, that businesses recognise the need to re-education, upgrade their skills and re-train their staff.
Now obviously you may say I have a vested interest in this particular point of view and yes that’s probably true, but you know I too spend at least 3 to 5% of my annual income on training and personal development because I think its absolutely critical to keep in tune with my industry and the ever changing requirements of my clients.
From a business point of view, in such a dynamic and changing environment such as we have just seen in Ireland over the last couple of years it’s become a critical issue, and one that should be a strategic part of every business’s plans for the future.
Peter Drucker coined the phrase “knowledge worker” and never is this more relevant than now. Companies that maximise their human capital through constant education and training will win out over those that simply don’t change.
So make a decision to explore the huge potential gains to be had by investing in yourself and your team’s development. Aside from the commercial logic of doing this it is a tremendous motivating influence on people, as learning is inherently a really enjoyable experience.
You are spoiled for choice but treat it as you would any serious investment. It must be a fit for your business needs and ultimately it must yield a return for your business.
Keep on learning and remember 50% of what you now know will be redundant 3 to 5 years!!!
