The Lessons of Experience

This book is a reference on learning from experience. The authors have collected many testimonials from leaders on the most formative experiences of their professional lives. By combining this data with social science research, they developed an overview of the principal influential experiences in the career of a business executive. In particular, they analyze the main lessons that can be drawn from the first management position, operational responsibilities or support functions, low points in a career, etc. They use these collected testimonials to share how executives have been able to learn and grow by relying on their superiors, seasoned employees, etc. They lay out the key principles for ensuring that concrete experiences are truly formative and provide suggestions on creating a context to stimulate learning from experience.