stay current and to learn from a wide variety of sources. They access
this information in bite-size pieces at the time and point of need.
Technology plays a big role in meeting these needs. (CEOs are typ-
ically technology-savvy.) In this context, they recognize how
important it is for them to develop their own capacity to filter and
process information. They value those competencies in the people
who feed them information.
CEOs expose themselves to many different conversations and
perspectives. One way they do that is by “walking the hallways” of
the organization (the nonexecutive floors, the shop floor, retail out-
lets). Such practices breed a culture of access, disclosure, and open
dialogue. “Store walks” enable CEOs to get a feel for the customer
experience and to assess how corporate policies and programs pan
out in the real world. This provides a rich source of learning for
CEOs and grounds their dialogues at the executive table.
CEOs Learn by Putting Some Skin in the Game
Few CEOs take part in formal external “institutional” learning pro-
grams. (There are few that would be appropriate for CEOs.) Those
who do get involved in such programs sometimes do so with their
top teams so that they can focus together on a specific issue or chal-
lenge of critical importance to the organization.
CEOs actively sponsor in-company action-learning programs,
where people work on real business problems for development pur-
poses. They define the problems or challenges to be tackled by their
high-potential leaders and set expectations that recommendations
resulting from their work will be implemented. They dedicate qual-
ity time kicking off such programs at the front end and receiving
recommendations at the back end. CEOs learn by listening and
engaging their executives in the context of solving real problems
and opportunities. CEOs give credit to the teams for what they
learn and for achieving breakthroughs for the business. They
demonstrate in tangible ways how they act on the results of the
program.
168 LEADINGORGANIZATIONALLEARNING