The Internet is not your delivery boy

A few years back, a CEO interviewing me for a job in his company asked me, "How do you learn?"

I never really gave a convincing answer. But I think I came a little closer when I discovered this blog:

http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/archives/2009/11/the_internet_is.html

The most important line in here is something I've thought for years, but something that's becoming increasingly clear from the advent of "Web 2.0" and related terminology, social networking, community-building:

The Internet isn't powerful because it connects you to information,
but because it connects you to other people.

Knowledge sitting there and flapping in the breeze is passè.

Knowledge acquired through interacting with someone that you sought out because you knew they possess it...? That's cool!

Since I know you're wondering, my attempt in that interview was enough to please the CEO. Although I thought the subject deserved a book or two, I went home and wrote a three-page manifesto on how I acquire knowledge. But one of his underlings threw a wrench in the decision, and I didn't get the offer. I was grateful for his question all the same. It's stuck with me for several years now.

We learn because we seek out people who pass on knowledge. We use the best method available to do that.

Originally posted on LiveJournal.

Question: What expertise are you passing on? To whom?