Leverage the Learning Loop

Years ago, Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline , said that "the only sustainable competitive advantage is an organization's ability to learn faster than the competition." In last month's Six Sigma ezine, I covered the Lean Startup's Build, Measure, Learn loop. In this month's issue, I covered John Boyd's OODA loop for Lean Warfare. In past issues I've covered Deming's PDCA and Harry's DMAIC loop.

Learning is a Loop

Regardless of how you name it, success and survival depend on the ability to learn from facts and figures as well as insights and inspiration. The people and companies that do this more quickly than their coworkers and competition will achieve an unbeatable advantage. Those who do not will not survive.

Are you mired in tradition and the status quo? Are you part of the 80% of Americans who never read another non-fiction book after finishing high school or college?

What are you learning to position yourself for the future?

What experiments are you devising to learn what works best for your company and your customer?

Want to be more successful? Accelerate your learning loop. Read more. Try more things. Figure out what works and discard the rest. The future is in your hands. 

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