Travel more

Thomas Barta TryThisBlog
By Thomas Barta
Last updated: January 10, 2019

A Scandinavian airline asked people how travel changed their lives. Three things stood out:

  • More knowledge. This one is obvious. Your own silo looks different from the outside. Other silos look different from the inside. There’s plenty to learn when you travel.
  • New ideas. This one is interesting. Meeting other people and seeing other places spark new thinking. It’s perhaps no coincidence that the most innovative business leaders spend much of their time listening to customers.
  • A desire to improve. This one is remarkable. Travelers are keen to use what they’ve learned and to improve things at home. Leaving your own silo impacts on your to-do list and (if you follow through) your behavior.

Meeting people from other departments, other communities, other countries can be frightening. You don’t know who you’ll meet. You don’t know your way around. You don’t know what to expect. Staying inside the silo is reassuringly predictable. But those who travel are the motors of change.

Try This >>

Use the power of travel for change. In organizations, get people to meet customers, switch departments, take on cross-functional work. Do the same yourself—and leave your country now and then. That one new perspective, that one new idea, that one new priority you acquire can make all the difference.

PS: You can still test how brave you are—it’s free.