Reminders are worth their weight in gold if they remove the long-standing inertia to do the things people used to do but have long since forgotten.
Here’s one that might tip the scale: Business trips are a rich resource of learning and insight if we treat them that way and take full advantage of what is possible in a new city or venue.
Travel is one of life’s greatest teachers, if you let it be. By focusing on experiences, not things, leaders can turn any business trip into a kaleidoscope of insight, knowledge, and new relationships. But it takes forethought.
You would think that planning for learning excursions and meeting new people while traveling for business would be second nature for most leaders. Unfortunately, it’s not. Leaders are often too busy to think ahead and to explore what is possible to jumpstart their insight and relationships when visiting a given city or area.
The possibilities are nearly endless given the events, museums, universities, and recreational areas situated where people do business. Planning ahead and finding learning opportunities can be both exciting and rewarding.
The internet makes the search for events and things to see and do relatively easy. Deciding what a venue has to offer and seeking out the best possible use of downtime or extra time is a pathway to personal fulfillment, all while traveling. Involving family members in such experiences is an extra bonus.
Traveling for business is hard work. Making learning a necessary ingredient seems like a wise and fruitful exercise. You used to do that more often. Time to get back to those basics.
