“No great thing is created suddenly.”

Absorptive Capacity is an interesting concept that has absolutely nothing to do with diapers as came to my mind when I first heard the term.  I was first introduced to the concept last semester on my India study abroad class. My Innovations textbook defines it as: “a firm’s ability to assimilate new knowledge. The more related knowledge a firm has, the easier it is for it to assimilate the new knowledge.”

Now, I am person, not a company, but what the teacher was talking about when he said he was building up our absorptive capacity is our ability to take in as much learning as possible from the travel portion of class.

For example, if we went to India  with no preparation, we’d have been shell-shocked, asking a million questions trying figure out so much of what was going on. Instead, we spent a semester’s worth of classes learning about the country so what we saw would make more sense. By being prepared, we were able to ask better questions and we were able to come to a greater understanding of the country of India.

So then, Absorptive Capacity is integral into being able to take on and understand new concepts. For example, if I was an expert on water purification, learning about vodka filtration and production might be an easy transition. However, if my tasks was to learn  computer programming, there is very little overlapping knowledge and the transition would take much longer and would involve tremendously more work.

A key lesson for personal and professional development would be to build on what you already know. Find new skills that overlap the ones you already have. Are you good at conducting meetings? Maybe sales presentations would be a good skill to develop. Build on your strengths and look for ways to bring it all together.