Stay hungry, stay ‘foolish’

Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo

Pockets of ignorance must never be left unaddressed.

Inaccurate perceptions must never go unchallenged if your goal is greatness.

Value feedback, embrace the feedback you do not like and keep improving, growing and becoming more than you were yesterday. Greatness is a growth journey, learning challenge and improvement marathon.

The late Mr Steve Jobs told of a story that had a profound effect on him throughout his life. In the 1960s, when he was in his late teenage years he used to follow a magazine publication called “The Whole Earth Catalog” that was created by Stewart Brand. The publication was visionary, idealistic, captivating and spoke of many possibilities and tools for those who were technically-inclined. The publisher, Brand and his team put out several issues of “The Whole Earth Catalog”, and finally early in the 1970s, they thought it had run its course and put out the final issue. On the back cover of final issue they carried a photograph of an early morning rural road with a caption beneath it that read: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”.

It is those words: “Stay hungry and stay foolish” that captivated Mr Steve Jobs all his life. Those same words are a powerful mantra for all who seek greatness. When you are full you cannot take anything more. Keep a healthy hunger to learn, and those that are willing to teach you will locate you. Keep a burning desire to grow, and your eyes will be opened to learning opportunities. Keep getting better and you will never get bitter with anyone.

There is always room for change, improvement and learning. It is when you can no longer learn that you become a liability and a stumbling block to others who want to learn. It is when you think you have arrived that you likely to discover that the journey has barely begun. Keep growing and moving forward. Stay hungry and stay foolish. Keep challenging your assumption and testing your fact-base. Be comfortable seeking new insights and checking for fresh perspectives on issues that you think you have mastered.

There is a mental tendency that afflicts all of us called the Dunning Kruger effect or bias. Becoming aware of it is liberating. Making an effort to stay hungry and stay fool will help wad this effect off. In 1999, Psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger pointed to a mental bias in which those who know little tend to overestimate their own knowledge and capabilities. Under this effect, poor performers greatly overestimate their capacity and competencies and regrettably are not aware of it. Because of this effect those that know little tend to hold inflated views of their capability and competence. Equally poor performers tend to have inflated views of their performance and ability.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a wake up call to get us all thinking. Being aware of it helps build a fund of humility that allows us to invest in learning, feedback systems and best of all allows us to go beyond mere fearing to listening. Greatness behoves us to keep learning and growing regardless of any claims we may have to any expertise. Stay hungry and stay foolish and you will be on the path to greatness.

Keep learning

In time of change ongoing and diligent learning becomes the master-key to advantage, advancement and accelerated growth. Never bank on past knowledge and dated track-records. Keep learning, leaning-forward and growing. The more you learn the more you realise how much you still have to know and grow. Never allow your learning to plateau and live facing the future and not the past.

This thought is cemented by an old Arabic saying that states that: “Men are four: He who knows not and knows not he knows not, he is a fool — shun him. He who knows not and knows he knows not, he is simple — teach him. He who knows and knows not he knows, he is asleep — wake him. He who knows and knows he knows, he is wise — follow him!” Choose the person that you will be: the fool, the simpleton, the sleepy or the wise. Make a deliberate decision to keep learning and growing. Keep searching for new insights to add to what you know. Keep reading and you will keep leading. Just stay hungry and stay foolish. This is in no way a suggestion that you must a fool.

Value feedback

Value feedback because it is the breakfast of champions. Keep asking everyone who cares to listen the question: “What can we do better?” Feedback fuels greatness. The better the feedback, the more resources you have for improvement and growth. Keep asking for positive support and help. Keep looking for ways to improve. Keep asking what is not yet perfect and build on the insights that you get. Keep on the journey to greatness and keep moving forward with resolve to be better. When you get feedback do not defend yourself and start fighting the feedback. Stop insulating yourself against feedback. Embrace feedback even if it injures your ego and it will improve you and enhance what you do.

When you do not know that you do not know, you are hard to help because receiving feedback becomes difficult. Do not re-channel or mis-redirect feedback to others without benefiting from it. Embrace feedback with a large and willing heart and apply it to yourself. Humility is greatness in work-clothes. Keep learning,  and growing because knowledge is always multiplying. Greatness compounds daily but seldom happens in a day.

When nothing seems to be changing it is important to ask serious questions. When you feel stagnant power your personal growth through inspiring, challenging and worthy questions. Confront the uncomfortable questions and you will grow. Avoid the challenging questions and you postpone vital growth.

Those who do not know that they do not know are usually the most arrogant. It is akin to riding a dead horse. If you are riding a dead horse and you do not know that you are riding a dead horse, you will do things that defy horse-sense. Check the horse you are riding often to see if it alive. Smell the cheese often to see if it is still there and edible. Keep introspecting because to not know and yet not know that you do not know makes you impervious to knowledge. Stay hungry and stay foolish. Be on guard to ensure that the Dunning-Kruger effect does not afflict you.

Organisation and institutions are made up of people. Great organisations are always learning and seeking out consultants to help them and work with them. Organisations in decline never reach out to any learning resources.

Leaders are readers because they know they have to keep their cutting edge and the fountain of their wisdom flowing.

Never be satisfied and arrive at a place where you park. The pace is not slowing down and the race is not finished yet.

Observation, feedback and awareness gives you firm footing. As you continue your growth and greatness journey there are things you will do that you may not be aware that they were the right things until you meet others who do them.

Seeing greatness in others lights your own flame of greatness. Keep doing what helps you even if other people do not seem to share the same passion. I used to love books and was buying books all the time. As my own development journey grew I started meeting other people who also have an unquenchable thirst for learning. I discovered that I was not wasting money, I was doing the right things all along.

Some people belong to your past, others belong to your present, while others belong in your future. Love and learn from the past, but do not park there. Pay homage to those in your past, for they contributed to who you are. Keep envisioning the future and seeking those who will take you there. If you park in the past, ever dangling it, and using it as a beacon what will happen to the future?

Mr. Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, in his book, “My Vision” writes: “Whenever we talk about the future, we should be talking in terms of the challenges that lie ahead. Our ambitions are big and we anticipate even bigger challenges. Our ability to overcome these challenges depends on our capability to plan, work and feel optimistic and confident about ourselves, our potential and our capacity to reach our goals. Great challenges make great nations and when I look back to the past and then to the future, I am convinced we will overcome these challenges and succeed. We did so in the past We did do in the past and can certainly do so again.”

Commit to greatness and keep learning and growing. Stay hungry and stay foolish.

Committed to your greatness.

 

Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author, and a virtual, hybrid and in-person workshop facilitator. He is a cutting-edge strategy, team-building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and His website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com