Self Development Starts with Self Investment

Earlier in my career, I had an experience that fundamentally shaped how I think about growth, ownership and how companies invest in people.

A team member approached me and asked if we would fund a course he wanted to take. Typically, that kind of request would be approved with little scrutiny. But this time, I asked him a simple question:

“Pitch me. Why is this investment necessary?”

He made the usual strong case of development, growth, ROI and enhanced skills. Everything that would benefit the company, our customers and himself. They were all the right answers. And I believed them.

But then I thought back to my days pitching investors for venture capital and private equity. That audience lived by a simple principle - don’t ask us to invest millions in your company if you haven’t invested significantly yourself.

So, I applied the same standard here. I told him I’d gladly invest, but first I wanted to understand what he had already invested in himself. What courses had he taken recently? What books had he read? What subscriptions or resources had he committed to on his own?

There was a pause. Then a blank stare.

There had been no courses in the last 24 months. No books in the last six months. No meaningful investment in his own development.

That was a powerful moment for both of us. If he didn’t believe enough in his own development to invest in it, why should anyone else?

It reinforced a simple principle that has stayed with me ever since. We cannot expect others to invest in us if we haven’t demonstrated a willingness to invest in ourselves.

Self-development today is more accessible than ever and even more necessary.

Platforms like LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, edX and FutureLearn now offer thousands of courses, delivered through a network of over a billion professionals.

But access isn’t the issue. The professionals who truly benefit from these resources understand that development is not a company perk. It doesn’t start with a completed registration or budget approval.

It’s a mindset. A habit. A responsibility.

Over the course of my career, I’ve worked with many successful professionals. The ones I respect most share a common trait that they don’t wait for permission to grow or believe it’s somebody’s else responsibility.

They invest their own time, energy and resources well before anyone else is asked to contribute. They seek out new skills. They look beyond their immediate roles. They push themselves into unfamiliar territory.

And because they live outside their comfort zone, they do it consistently.

This isn’t about checking a box or completing a course. It’s about building the discipline of continuous improvement and pushing the boundaries of that comfort zone.

What’s changed is not the principle. It’s the access.

Today’s self-development ecosystem is more structured, more scalable and more accessible than ever. But it still rewards the same attributes of focused curiosity, applied learning and consistent output.

Many professionals rely on knowledge acquired through years on the job. But those experiences can also create a different kind of challenge.

Early in their careers, they actively invest in building new skills. But over time, that momentum often slows. What once drove growth can become something people rely on too heavily.

Experience is valuable, but it can also create inertia. The most effective professionals understand this. They don’t treat experience as a fixed advantage. They build on it. They evolve it. They continue to expand their perspective while others gradually opt out of that process.

You see this clearly in top performers. They are the ones proactively taking on new learning, cross-training across functions and seeking a broader understanding of how the business operates.

They’re not just improving within their roles. They’re expanding beyond them.

At Macnica, we see this dynamic play out every day. The companies that successfully bring new technologies to market aren’t just well-resourced. They are led by teams that are constantly learning, adapting and expanding their capabilities.

Whether it’s AI, advanced networking or emerging video technologies, the pace of innovation demands a workforce that is actively developing and growing.

The ability to adopt and scale new technologies isn’t just about access to tools. It’s about having people who are prepared to evolve alongside them.

That doesn’t mean companies shouldn’t invest in their employees.

In the case of that team member, we ultimately supported his development. But not before aligning on a more important principle that ownership must come before external investment.

For leaders, that’s the real role. It’s not just about funding development. It’s about setting expectations around it and challenging people to take responsibility for their own growth.

This principle has also deeply shaped my own approach to development. Years ago, I had the opportunity to learn from a successful entrepreneur who grew his company to a $250 million exit. He explained his success through one deceptively simple equation: Quality Activities + Learning and Development = Results.

That equation has stayed with me. It has informed how we are building Macnica and how I think about personal growth. Whether through self-funded executive education at McGill and uOttawa, ongoing learning through LinkedIn Learning and MasterClass, exposure to new ideas through the people I follow, or deliberately stepping beyond my comfort zone, I have always viewed learning and development as an active discipline and a multiplier of results.

I and others around me understand that self-development is crucial to keeping up with the world around us. The pace of change isn’t slowing down. If anything, it’s accelerating.

Self-development is no longer a differentiator. It’s the baseline.

The real divide is between those who take ownership of it and those who wait for it to be assigned.

From where I sit, the most effective professionals and organizations are already leaning into this shift, particularly in areas like AI, where the speed of change leaves little room for passive learning.

The question isn’t whether self-development matters. It’s how intentionally are you pursuing it.

How are you investing in your own development today? And how are you encouraging your teams to do the same?

Sebastien Dignard is CEO, Atlantic Region at Macnica, where he leads growth across North America, Europe and South America. He writes about leadership, emerging technologies, innovation and the business principles that help organizations adapt and grow.