John David Smith
What’s your most important work success factor?
Staying open to new ideas and perspectives as I cross social boundaries. At the same time, I try to hold on to my experience so as to bring insights from one world into another.
What contributes to your success?
Reading social cues so as to empathize with other people in such a way that I can systematically reinvent myself.
What do you focus on and care about in your work?
Working at learning issues from every angle that I can think of: reading a lot of ethnography AND business books, leading communities AND participating in them, learning from other people AND teaching them, observing myself AND interrogating people from the other side of the world. As a consultant, I find that it takes me a while to really “get” what clients are seeing and trying to do, so I seek long-term partnerships where a drip-feed-over-time model of learning and creating value can work.
What is the role of listening in your work?
I am constantly observing people (including myself) learn. I see an interesting paradox: communities around us train us to listen in a particular way; but that isn’t necessarily the best way or the way that will work in new conversations and communities — where vital new learning COULD happen. These days, new kinds of communities, new technologies, casual interactions with new people and new organizational structures all hold learning possibilities — depending on how fast we can learn to listen in new circumstances. Sometimes I feel like I have to learn to listen all over again.