Whitney Johnson: Mastering your learning curves

How do you master the process of changing as a professional and as a person? How do you understand where you are on the S-curve of learning? And when you do, what will you do next? Dig into exploring the possibilities in front of you, shift gear and career, or disrupt yourself once you’ve reached mastery? How to avoid the distractions that impede your progress and focus your attention wisely?

Whitney Johnson, CEO of Disruption Advisors, and the author of a brilliant book called Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company, describes three phases on this S-curve of learning: launch, sweet spot and mastery, and the six roles you play along the way: explorer, collector, accelerator, metamorph, anchor, mountaineer.

It’s clear that our development, our learning, is a strategic exercise. We need to make choices about where we go next, who we serve and how we win. Whitney left me optimistic about the potential of humankind to do this, armed with her insights, stories and tools.

The best bits of these conversations are captured in my newsletter Flashes+Sparks.

Further resources

Whitney Johnson is CEO of the tech-enabled, talent development company Disruption Advisor. Named one of the top 10 business thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, Whitney is an expert at smart growth leadership.

• The book Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company.
• The S-curve insight platform.
• Whitney’s profile.
• The Disrupt Yourself podcast.
• Grow through Disruption newsletter.