What separates professionals who consistently advance from those who plateau? According to a recent episode of the Fisher Career EQ podcast, the answer comes down to a habit, not a qualification.
Host Jon Quinn, Senior Lecturer of Marketing at Fisher College of Business (US), brought together Professor of Logistics Michael Knemeyer and two Fisher-connected alumni – Michael Senyak, Senior Supply Planner at The Hershey Company, and Jensen Green, Brand Manager for Folgers Coffee at The J.M. Smucker Company – for a candid conversation about what lifelong learning actually looks like in practice.
Learning as a mindset
For Professor Knemeyer, the framing matters from the start.
“It’s important to view learning as a journey, not as a destination,” he said. He tells students that graduation is a launching point, not a finish line and that the habits they build now will determine how far they go. His analogy is simple: “A knife – you want to keep your knife sharp. Because when they get dull, they’re not as effective.”
The broader point is that formal education gives graduates a foundation, but the discipline keeps growing around them.
“No matter how good the business school is, they can’t see the future,” Quinn noted. “To keep yourself relevant and marketable, you’ve got to continue to buffer and build more credentials.”
How it works in practice
Both alumni offered specific and refreshingly unglamorous examples of how they stay sharp. Green reads the Wall Street Journal daily, listens to The Economist on weekends, follows industry newsletters like Food Dive, and practises brain games in the evenings as an alternative to doom-scrolling.
“Successful business men and women executives – a common thread is they just love to read and learn everything they can. That’s something I try to adopt.”
Senyak, meanwhile, draws on cross-functional mentorship at Hershey, where he pays close attention to how major retail channels – from Walmart to Amazon – are thinking. He highlighted the value of following thought leaders outside your immediate discipline and keeping an eye on how customer behaviour is shifting across the omni-channel landscape.
Both agreed that social media, used deliberately, can be a genuine learning tool. Green described “tricking your algorithm” – curating your feed toward executives and ideas you want to absorb, rather than passively consuming whatever appears.
Credentials, certifications, and the MBA
The conversation also addressed more formal routes to continued learning. Senyak completed an MBA in Finance several years after his undergraduate degree, and Green holds an MBA as well – both describing the decision as a signal of intent as much as a body of knowledge.
“I think it really shows initiative and drive. This is the type of employee you want to retain and grow,” Senyak said.
He added that an employer who offers no tuition reimbursement or support for continuing education is itself a red flag.
Knemeyer pointed out that professional certifications – particularly those with strong industry reputations – provide a visible, structured way to demonstrate ongoing commitment. And with AI reshaping virtually every business function, Green predicted the next wave:
“I would be super surprised if in five or ten years we didn’t see AI certifications on résumés.”
The parting advice
Knemeyer closed with a line the others seized on right away.
“Lifelong learning is basically that gym membership for your career. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
Green’s advice was simpler: find work you genuinely enjoy, because sustained learning only feels effortless when you care about the subject.
“If you got to find a profession and industry that really gives you energy – you’re having fun doing it. And if you enjoy what you’re doing, this continual learning is not onerous. It’s something you want to do.”
This article is based on the Career EQ podcast, produced by the Max M. Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.
