Here's how you can continuously develop your skills and stay ahead in your career as an executive.

More than that: Embrace UNlearning. Adopting a socratic mindset is one of the most underrated, yet most powerful traits of a senior professional.

Lifelong learning, networking, and embracing innovation are key to maintaining your competitive edge in the ever-evolving business landscape.

To “embrace” any learning I generally want to find the initial spark of curiosity. Understanding your own core passions is a great start to determine career directions and long term paths. Here learning more specifics about something you are already interested in, will allow deeper learning a joy rather than a chore. If you are in a position where you need to learn about something that is not interesting to you, do the same mindful reflection into what aspects of the “dull” topic that can be applied from the “passionate” topic. A relationship will from between the two and your interest will advance.

Most importantly: Make sure the feedback you receive is honest and not just people trying to be nice. You can do that by creating relationships built on trust and low hierarchy.

The primary obstruction to feedback is pride and ego. Leave them at the door, place them in a box, put them in your pocket… then listen. Listen closely, as if you about to discover the Fountain of Youth, King Solomon’s Gold or the Secrets of the Pyramids. Restrain your immediate urge to defend, explain or deflect… those are the ego at play.

Find "your people" aligned by a common mission. People love to find belonging, also in the business world. United under a common purpose / intention those folks can become powerful allies in your pursuit of bringing value to the world.

Living life or conducting business as if you are the silver ball in a pinball machine is the kiss of death, at least an early one. Set a goal and then the roadmap you “think” best to achieve it. Always preset milestones of achievement (be this time frame, I will have achieved “this”) by doing this, you have set indicators to alert you that you are either on or off target.

Experiment: Don’t be afraid to try new approaches and innovative ideas. Encouraging a culture of experimentation can lead to significant breakthroughs. Learn from Failure: Embrace failures as learning opportunities. Analyzing what went wrong can provide valuable lessons for future success.

You can explore new ideas, take calculated risks, and learn from failures. By adopting a mindset where experimentation is valued and mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth, you can inspire creativity and innovation within your organization. Embracing innovation as a core value can lead to breakthrough innovations and continuous improvement overtime.

Innovation is a primary key to success in any business. It keeps your offerings as well as yourself fresh. Innovation for the sake of innovation is a waste of resources. You will want to innovate to inspire your market, challenge your competition and stimulate your own growth.

One thing I’ve found helpful for CEOs and executive leaders is to create space in their daily routines for free time. There are significant demands on executives given the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity these days. To find time for reflection, I recommend that you be intentional about carving out space on your calendar. Don’t look at as downtime or unproductive time. Downtime is Goodtime. By pulling yourself out of the daily grind, you are giving yourself space to focus on the business and not in the business. Do this daily or schedule specific day(s) of the month to allow you to focus on the future of your firm, solve complex problems creatively, or find new solutions to employee and customer engagement.

Like every top athlete has a Coach, it only makes to have that as a top executive as well. It will help you to stay ahead the curve and actualise yourself constantly.

Micheal Gerber said to work ON your business, rather than IN your business. It has remained a key component for any entrepreneur or CEO. Seeing the forest rather than the trees gains powerful insights to the wellbeing of the entirety. When observing specific weaknesses and/or strengths in your business enables you to react faster and surgically to the situation.

Choose things that make you curious. Things that you consider research- and study-worthy for a long long time. That will ensure a natural drive and passion toward growth.