Gant Laborde is an entertaining public speaker, science nerd, and Chief Technology Strategist at Infinite Red. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, he shares his programming journey from the early days of video games, wrestling for computers and printer shenanigans, to transforming his work daily by pushing himself to learn new things by any means possible. He also touches on the importance of being yourself, the impact of Toastmasters on his life, and the four books he would give to anyone looking to become more influential leaders.

Several quotes from this episode:

• “I always had the oldest, worst computers. I was like, “Hey, you know what I want to be when I grow up? A computer programmer!” And they’re like, “You can start with this old thing! It can almost get on AOL.”
• “I think that there’s that part of you that wants to be creative and explore. It really helped me out because by the time I actually took my first programming course, I was way ahead of what was going on.”
• “I used to wrestle with my demons and now we just cuddle.”
• “I will always invest in myself. I will spare no expense educating myself. That value is there for the rest of your life and it’s really important.”
• “If you take a look at anybody beginning something, they look like they’re flailing and they’re manic and they have no idea. But at the same time, if that’s where you really want to be, then you will straighten up and fly right because you’re doing that.”
• “Today you are armed with a set of skills that are multi-dimensional: You have videos of people doing things, you have learning by stories, examples, free courses, and then of course, books and forums, and communication. We are so interconnected that I can’t really feel like anybody with the internet has an excuse not to learn something they wanted to learn.”
• “If I’m not me, I can’t connect with people….How could you be passionate about being inauthentic?”

Show Links

• Gant Laborde
• Infinite Red
• Toastmasters
• Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
• Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
• Getting Work To Work (@gwtwpodcast) on Twitter
• Chris Martin (@cmstudios) on Twitter
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter: The Curiosity Lab

The post “How to Constantly Learn and Grow” with Gant Laborde (GWTW158) appeared first on Chris Martin Studios.