The Art of Smart

Consider this: Every second, the Web grows by 17 pages and, according to some sources, the world has generated more data in the past 30 years than it did in the preceding 5,000 years. The challenge then is not only to learn what you need to know but also to unlearn what you no longer need. That means eliminating the habits, practices, and assumptions that once worked -- even those that may have accounted for past successes -- to make room for new methods that better fit your new circumstances. So, in this Information Age, how do you keep up with all of that, well, information? We asked 12 experts to help us better understand the lessons of learning and unlearning. Read about their thoughts, and then draft your own lesson plan.

John Seely Brown

Chief Scientist
Xerox Corp.
Palo Alto, California

The more success you achieve -- either as an individual or as an organization -- the more difficult it is to change. All of the learning that led to one kind of success becomes implicitly coded and works against your ability to unlearn. The challenge then becomes how to uncover those deeply ingrained assumptions. One way is to create what I call knowledge ecologies -- to cultivate diverse opinions and skills. To do that, my senior team and I have a two-hour lunch every Friday where we reflect on what we did well, what we did wrong, and what we can learn from it all.

Some of what is said to me at those meetings isn't too pleasant to hear. As a leader, I could be the team's biggest obstacle in the unlearning process. Each of us can send out signals -- by raising our voices, squinting our eyes, stiffening our bodies -- that block open conversation and shut people down. To try to curb those signals, I started videotaping important meetings to see exactly how I acted and what subliminal cues I sent out.

But one of my most dramatic unlearning experiences had nothing to do with work. I used to be a fanatic about motorcycling: I've toured in more than 30 countries. But I had to give it up, because my reflexes started to go. Two years ago, however, I realized that the computer-driven brake systems of the new high-performance bikes actually could restore some of my lost reaction time.

But I promised my wife that I would take professional lessons before getting back on the road. At first, the thought of lessons appalled me, but then I assumed that I would breeze through them -- no problem. The reality? I was reduced to a twitching heap because, at first, I simply could not unlearn the innate skills that I had always relied on -- such as how you swerve or shift your weight. Once I relaxed, got rid of my ego, and accepted the fact that I was going to look profoundly foolish, my mind unfroze, and I learned how to ride again.

John Seely Brown (jsb@parc.xerox.com) is director of Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) as well as the cofounder of the Institute for Research on Learning. He recently returned from a 7,500-mile motorcycle trip throughout the United States.

Andrew Parkinson

President and CEO
Peapod Inc.
Skokie, Illinois

Doing business on the Internet has forced me to unlearn everything I knew about anything. During my years at Procter & Gamble, I learned a logical, process-oriented, methodical way of introducing and marketing new products. We were indoctrinated in the four "Ps" of marketing -- product, packaging, price, promotion -- and in product testing to the nth degree within a very hierarchical structure.

When I started Peapod, I took a very "P&G approach" to everything: We did a lot of testing, started in a small market, and expanded slowly. But what I thought I knew about bringing products to market, managing people, and making decisions in the brick-and-mortar world all fell apart in the Internet world. For instance, packaging is not nearly as important as the information about the product that's put on the screen. And as we adjusted to the Web's demands for quicker decision making and quicker implementation, we also found ourselves failing a lot. I've had to learn to become comfortable with a continual-improvement approach of doing business and to leave behind the perfect up-front approach I learned at P&G.

I also now realize that the processes -- picking, packing, delivering groceries -- that work today in one centralized distribution center, where we're doing $30 million worth of business, aren't going to work when we're doing $100 million worth of business. Our model will always be evolving. I'm a pretty anal guy, and learning how to evolve as our model evolves hasn't always been easy. But learning that lesson is vital.

Andrew Parkinson (aparkinson@peapod.com) and his brother Thomas founded Peapod in 1989. it is now the leading online grocer, serving 98,000 members in eight metropolitan markets. Previously, Parkinson held various positions at Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble.