As many of you already know, Verne Harnish is a progressive thinker when it comes to business growth, and he does a fantastic job of boiling down complicated concepts into very actionable, practical tools and wisdom.

I thought one of his sayings at this recent conference was fantastic and a great reminder for both individuals and businesses:

“Whoever learns fastest wins.”

How true!  Of course, I would add (and I believe that he would agree with this) that learning must be followed by swift action in order for you to win.

How many of you have continuous learning systems in place for you personally or for your company?  You can be sure that if you don’t have something in place, one of your top competitors does and is going to beat you eventually.  If you aren’t competing with the best ideas in your toolkit, you aren’t competing at the highest level!

I read the following statistics recently:

  • 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.

  • 42% of college graduates never read another book.

  • 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.

  • 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

  • 57% of new books are not read to completion.

  • Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.

I don’t know how accurate these stats are, but if they are even in the ballpark it is completely astonishing!  How can anyone expect to keep up in the world if they aren’t feeding their brains?

I am a big supporter of finding whatever educational vehicle makes it easiest for you to continue learning quickly - books, tapes, seminars, conferences, etc. - and making it a part of your regular routine!