“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”Henry Ford (1863-1947)

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein

Enthusiasm 
“No one keeps up his enthusiasm automatically. Enthusiasm must be nourished with new actions, new aspirations, new efforts, new vision. It is one’s own fault if his enthusiasm is gone; he has failed to feed it.” Source: Papyrus

I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Machiavelli:

It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things; for the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order; this lukewarmness arising partly from the incredulity of mankind who does not truly believe in anything new until they actually have experience of it.

Seriously though, I have, for years, been actively encouraging my University HR students to use social networking tools to support them in their studies as this has to be the easiest way to keep the skill of argument alive in their professional lives and well as their academic assignment writing.

I also guide them to use it as part of their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) as learning doesn’t (shouldn’t) stop upon the completion of a formal academic course.

In addition to this I urge them to consider how to get their organisational trainers to ‘blend’ social networking learning with more traditional methods of training to give a more holistic and complete approach to knowledge acquisition.

I firmly believe that knowledge is what you do with the information and data you get from various sources and social network learning is a valuable source of information if you know where to look for it and how to use it.

Am I successful in my crusade? Well, it is a slow and sometimes painful experience as many still consider learning can only be done in a clasroom with a tutor.

But still I continue because I know that the benefits far outweigh the frustration caused by those who cannot see the bigger picture.

Józefa