The Intellectual Fool Meets the Practical Wizard

We all met such a person before: one who never fails to catch up the latest fad in management and sales and knows more than trainers. But when you ask him which knowledge he has applied in his daily work, he will remark, "Not yet".

We call such a person an Intelligent Fool. Many a times such a person will go to great lengths to prove that he is right and you are wrong. He is highly intelligent as a book smart.

On the other hand, there is the Practical Wizard: one who is very down to earth and applies knowledge on a daily basis. It's obvious who gains the most: the Practical Wizard will gain the most while the Intelligent Fool is still occupied with proving that he is right! There are 5 Ways to apply knowledge into work:

Apply Immediately. Strike while the iron is hot and apply the concepts immediately. In all our training we create a '30-Day Action Plan' where we give out prizes to those that complete the best Action Plan.
Teach others. When you teach, you develop a new level of understanding and knowledge not known before. The more you teach, the more you learn.
Test the knowledge first before applying in the real world. This will reduce the risk. Like do a role play first before presenting to the real customers
Apply the Opposite. This is one of the ways to apply knowledge in the highly secretive Sun Tzu Art of War and The 36 Stratagems. Apply the opposite and you'll be amazed that it works just as well. Like we teach our clients to apply the 'Beauty Trap' in 36 Stratagems as 'Ugly Trap': have an ugly packaging and people will be pleasantly surprised with you internal contents. (Apple's iPhone started this trend by having minimalist packaging).
Apply Beyond What is Taught. I have this client who instead of just reading the 8-page book summary that we we gave (100 Ways to Motivate Others by Steve Chandler), he reads the entire 240-page book and even do his own 'Application Summary'. He got our book prize worth $55 for going the extra mile.

In short, Wisdom is Applied Knowledge. Until you apply the knowledge, you do not know. By Andy Ng, Chief Trainer at Asia Trainers. The next How to Be a Better Manager course starts on 7 April 2014 Monday. It is on 4 Mondays of April from 2 to 5.30 pm. For details, click here.

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