My colleague is a sponge. He used to hover around my desk, watching me work, asking me why I did things the way I did them. Over dinner, he often sketched ideas on restaurant napkins, asking more questions, and brainstorming new approaches. Andrew Clark is a user-experience designer who inspired me to be a sponge. We worked in a newsroom at a media company, regularly interacting with experts in writing, editing, design, photography, advertising, marketing, web development, project management, and business. In the time we worked together, we both developed dozens of new skills just by observing each other and our colleagues, asking questions, and trying things out. And that’s why I strongly believe that for my students to compete in our information and technology-based economy they must be sponge-like, absorbing knowledge and perspectives from not only their instructor, but from colleagues, supervisors, clients, other students, and customers no matter what discipline or industry they come from.