The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Workplaces around the globe are changing. And employees have to change with the times to remain relevant. The World Economic Forum says you need 10 skills to thrive in 2020 and in 2022. The New Year, 2020 is almost here. As a professional, how will you respond to the changing landscape of work? And how will you respond in such as way to give yourself a step up from your peers. Even if you're a small business owner, you'll still need those skills to operate your business. Would you like to learn how to read like Elon Musk to unlock hidden potential?
I can't guarantee that you'll disrupt many industries, but you'll be able to see what others miss when you read books.
The Skills World Economic Forum Says You Need to Thrive in 2020 and Beyond
Do you have a plan to learn the skills the World Economic Forum says you need to thrive as well as unlock your hidden potential?
The Future of Women at Work
And on top of that, McKinsey Global Institute released the report, The future of women at work: Transitions in the age of automation. Artificial intelligence technologies will have a devastating impact on women. Many will have to up-skill if they want to take home a paycheque.
“Between 40 million and 160 million women globally may need to transition between occupations by 2030, often into higher-skilled roles. To weather this disruption, women (and men) need to be skilled, mobile, and tech-savvy, but women face pervasive barriers on each, and will need targeted support to move forward in the world of work.”
When you think about it though, with every introduction of new technology, there are winners and losers. That means you can capitalize on the new opportunities the new technology presents to ensure that you are a member of the winning team. One of the ways to do this, is not to place yourself in a silo of specialization. Spend time to master a few disciplines.
Have you read?
3 Simple Ways to Read Broadly and Deeply to Grow Your Career
How to Read Like Elon Musk to Unlock Hidden Potential for Breakthrough Success
Take Elon Musk as an example. He has built multiple businesses in sectors such as space exploration, energy, and telecommunications, to name a few.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqGWEk7bxZ0
His organizations include, SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company, OpenAI and Neuralink. How does Elon Musk do it? Does he know something you don't know that has allow him to achieve breakthrough success. Musk has stated time and time again that his primary way of learning is by reading books.
A common trait among the most accomplished people is that they are voracious readers. They build reading into their day. Michael Simmons, the founder of Empact, has coined the phrase the 5-hour rule. Simmons, who has studied the busiest and most successful people extensively, discovered that they dedicate at least an hour a day to learning – mostly by reading books.
Have you read?
5-Hour Rule: If you’re not spending 5 hours per week learning, you’re being irresponsible
Read Like Elon Musk: Evaluate and Synthesize Texts from the Book You Read
Out of all the most well-known readers, although they will share their reading lists, what they do not do is share their reading and learning process. Except for Elon Musk. Many describe him as an expert generalist, a term coined by Orit Gadiesh, Bain & Company Chairman, London. Dadiesh defines expert generalist as:
“Someone who has the ability and curiosity to master and collect expertise in many different disciplines, industries, skills, capabilities, countries and topics.”
That is an apt description of Elon Musk. However, I think that there is more going on. Musk does much more than master and collect expertise in many areas. He applies and monetizes that knowledge. Look at what he has accomplished so far. He engages in what I have been calling profit reading. And on top of that, he is an intersection thinker.
Read like Elon Musk: Practice Intersection Thinking
According to Rohit Bhargava, author of Non-Obvious 2019: How To Predict Trends And Win The Future:
“Intersection thinking is a method for creating overlap between seemingly disconnected ideas in order to generate new ideas, directions, and strategies for powering your own success. It can create a crossover gamechanger. It allows you to think in a way your competitors aren’t.”
Have you read?
Profit Reading: Reading the Right Books is $$$$$ in Your Pocket!
Read Like Elon Musk: Intersection Thinking Has Allowed Musk to Disrupt Industries
This type of thinking has allowed Elon Musk to disrupt many industries. The good news is that you can learn to become an intersection thinker. I have created a short reading challenge, Read 5 Non-fiction Books in 5 Different Disciplines in 4 Weeks, to help you get started on your journey to become an intersection thinker like Elon Musk. You'll be reading a book every 5.6 days. That is very doable if you schedule time for reading every day. Remember the 5-hour rule that successful people follow?
You'll be reading books that will teach you the skills that the World Economic Forum says you need to thrive in 2020 and 2022. Create the habit of reading more books in 2020 starting now. Which five books will you choose to read? Which of the skills, if you learned them, will have the biggest impact on your career? Learn those skills first.
Learn Skills Together
Complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and decision making are related skills, so you can learn them together. If you decide to learn these skills together, there are many good books that cover the four skills. Skills are always changing, so mastering learning strategies will serve you well throughout your life. But it is entirely up to you which skills you choose to learn. Make a choice and start the mini reading challenge today.
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Get a couple of friends or colleagues to join you on your learning journey to become an intersection thinker. You can discuss the books you read. Join the Facebook Group, Strategic Reading Challenge to Learn Key Skills, to share your thoughts about the books you read. Let us get the conversation started.
As part of the process, you will learn how to pick out the big ideas from each of the five books you read. You will also use elements of Rohit Bhargava’s Haystack Method to learn how to practice intersection thinking. If you are deliberate when choosing your five books to read, you will be able to see what others miss when you synthesize the information from the books. If you need help in choosing books to read, ask for recommendations in the group, Strategic Reading Challenge to Learn Key Skills.
5 Components of the Haystack Method
- Gathering: Every well-written book has a core idea, as well as secondary ideas. What is the underlying theme of each of the five books? Save interesting ideas from the books you read. Take notes when reading. You often make the best connections when you are looking back, while reviewing your notes.
- Aggregating: Curate information clusters. Take the ideas from each of the five books and group them together based on bigger ideas. What insights can you glean? Are the ideas impacting or have the potential to impact more than one industry? Can you tie any of the ideas to a human need?
- Elevating: Identify broader themes. Look at your information clusters, how can you combine multiple groupings? How can you relate themes and ideas from one discipline to another? Make connections across disciplines.
- Naming: Create pithy descriptions. If you want to, in two to four words describe your elevated ideas. You can use an analogy to quickly communicate your idea.
- Proving: Validate without bias. If you think this step is important when reading across disciplines, and synthesizing the information, then seek supporting documentation.
Practice Intersection Thinking
For Read 5 Non-fiction Books in 5 Different Disciplines in 4 Weeks, you will focus primarily on the first three stages of the Haystack Method. Rohit Bhargava curates trends for the annual publication of Non-Obvious. So for him, Naming and to a greater extent, Proving the trend are important. If you read across disciplines like Elon Musk, you are reading actively. And when you invest the time to synthesize the newly acquired information, you have the potential to disrupt and not be disrupted.
Please choose your five books to read during the reading challenge, Read 5 Non-fiction Books in Different Disciplines in 4 Weeks. After you finish reading each book, create a table like the one above, then record your five big ideas from the books. Read my article, These Two Essential Books Will Skyrocket Your Career Success, to get tips on how to effectively read a book.
Take the time to play around with your big ideas. Trying combining ideas from the different books you read. What elevated ideas might you notice. When you synthesize and process text from different books, you get to see what your peers miss. Most people do not read this way because they read sequentially.
What to Do Next
- Decide which five books you'll read.
- Get four friends to join you on Read 5 Non-fiction Books in Different Disciplines in 4 Weeks.
- Join the Facebook Group, Strategic Reading Challenge to Learn Key Skills. We'll learn from each others' ideas.
- After you've complete this mini challenge, join the Performance Accelerator Plan.
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