100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS • 75Being open and keen to learn, develop, and improve is a defi ning
characteristic of a successful leader. It is also a common feature of a
successful, dynamic organization—but what does it really mean?
The idea
Beware organizations that feel a need to proudly tell you about their
character: they may be speaking too soon, or just too much. For
example, Enron had posters proudly announcing its integrity right
up to the moment its senior managers were indicted and implicated
in one of the worst ever corporate scandals. Similarly, when a
politician (or anyone) says “Trust me,” that’s usually the last thing
you would want to do.
To its great credit, one business that probably does not think of
itself as a learning organization is the international publisher
Pearson, yet that is exactly what it is becoming. Pearson has a host
of impressive, world-class brands (including the Financial Times
and Penguin), and this ensures it can invariably attract the
brightest and the best. Yet despite its great heritage, brands, and
people, there is no air of complacency, just a keenness to learn, and
a tireless desire to collaborate, develop and improve. Working with
Pearson is a little like working with an Olympic athlete: it is good
and it knows what it can accomplish, but it is still striving hard to get
even better and do even more. This is a fundamental aspect of great
organizations, yet it can often be lost or forgotten, with potentially
disastrous results.