Experts agree that sixty-seven percent of statistics are made up on the spot.   George Orwell

 I often tell people in my presentation workshops not to use MSU’s (Making Shit Up ) as a persuasive teaching tool. Nonetheless, many smart people and professionals resort to this behavior.  Why do they do this? They feel the pressure to look good, they want to be perceived as the expert, they panic and are afraid to admit they don’t know, they want to remain in control and they experience not knowing as failure. Professionals don’t like to fail because they have a history of being right and successful.

 Success in life requires hard work, luck and life-long learning. The problem for most people is the inability to “learn how to learn.”  Many people especially professionals can get set in their successful ways and keep using old methods. They get locked into to doing things over and over again expecting them to always work. Although they espouse continuous learning and in most professions they are required to take continuing education courses. The question remains do they apply this new knowledge in practice. 

A classic article in the Harvard Business Review ( May-June 1991) by Dr. Chris Argyris, “Teaching Smart People How to Learn” attempts to explain some of the complex issues involved in “learning how to learn.”  Dr Argyris argues that most professionals and organizations define learning in a restrictive and narrow way as mere problem solving, and not knowledge acquisition. This focus on problem solving leads to a focus on the external environment and ignoring the need to reflect inwardly on their behavior. The question becomes –How do leaders contribute to the organization’s issues and problems? Argyris argues that professionals and leaders must learn to be aware of how the very way they set the vision, strategy or imperatives for change can actually be the cause and root of problems. They suffer from the halo effective of success.  They have been successful at education and academic endeavors. They become masters of a certain set subject matter tools and disciplines and over apply this learning know how no matter what the situation or problem.   Your path for learning how to learn more effectively is through knowing:

• Your strengths and weaknesses– the old “know yourself” philosophy
• the process you have successfully used in the past that approximates present situation
• your capacity to admit and learn from mistakes
• how to to be open to new ideas and different points of view.
• your interest in, and curioity about, the subject you wish to learn
• and increasing your capacity to be self-disclosing; fro example, I don’t have an answer to that question but let me research it and get back to you

It may be easy for you to learn Spanish but difficult to learn tennis, or vice versa. Yet it is important to remember that all learning is a process which requires certain Smart-Steps. Check out Dr. Argyris article to learn more info on becoming a life-long learner and by all means stop using MSU’’s you are not only risking your credibility but diminishing your integrity.