Learning Is Easy; Teaching Is Hard!

  At Salemtown Board Company, just north of Nashville, Tennessee, Will Anderson can turn a slab of middle Tennessee oak into a world-class sidewalk cruiser.  Want to know more?  Just click on the piece. It’s worth your time. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-skateboard-company-that-builds-more-than-boards/

As I read article after article about what major to choose in college or what majors have the most earnings potential I go back to Will Anderson and his philosophy major. Or his Masters in Divinity. His desire to become a social worker ultimately played out with his “discovery” and his own business. Once he thought it only qualified him to “write a blog nobody will read”.  Much has changed for him as the piece demonstrates. The role we ultimately play in life is passing on what we have learned to someone else, whether it is to our children, our co-workers or our community.

In Will’s business he’s connected with two young men whose lives have been transformed because he cares about others. It is this additional role he has assumed, that of also passing on his knowledge to others.

I was fortunate enough to be blessed with great teachers; first in an academic setting, then as mentors in business. Many of them have passed on leaving me and my generation as those who carry on that teaching. As I discovered early in my career teaching is much harder than learning. And frankly, I wasn’t always good at it. The differences are polar opposites. As a life-long learner, it is much easier to simply read or listen or experiment with concepts in a business lab where failure can sometimes be rewarded simply because you made the effort. Good teachers allowed me to fail, then helped me up.

Teaching and by its extension, “accepting responsibility for someone else” is much more difficult. Few are really good at it and deserved to be called teachers/leaders/mentors…all the same thing to me. Most try to be good at it but lack/lacked good mentors themselves while others are simply not willing to accept that personal responsibility. There are even some organizations that legislate it by having formal mentoring programs. Not being judgmental here.  Just let me decide who is/isn’t a good leader and let me choose. With Will Anderson it’s easy to see this play out. But what about others? Here are some other examples.

• Being a consultant. Most are engaged because of an end result that is expected. Need a job? Hire a career consultant. Improve your brand? Hire a branding consultant. Want more income? Hire a marketing or sales consultant.  Of course, it all unravels when the consultants turn out to be teachers and the client bears the responsibility for learning and applying that learning! Consultants then get an undeserved negative reputation as a result.
• Being a boss. For the most part bosses lack the skills to actually be one and are sometimes chosen by default, time in service or the perception they will not make any waves… better known as politics. No one likes conflict, but the good ones don’t shy away from it either.
• Being a leader. Fewer today than at any given time in history. Standards have been reduced to simply who is willing to take a stand…any stand. The business climate over the last decade and beyond is the result of lack of leadership, not because of it. And compensation in no way should ever be the benchmark for leadership. Think about current events.  Who are those leaders you follow?  Are they?
• Being a news commentator.  Since when did we hang on all their words?  It’s as if we cannot make our own decisions. They have become teachers who have a specific agenda.  We listen and formulate opinions…their opinions! It’s no wonder we have chosen sides in this information era. We are so desperate for leadership we will quickly adjust our world view to anyone’s words if they somehow resonate with our personal fears.

So what is missing? I call it emotion or a head/heart connection. Learning happens because there is a connection with the teacher.   That old saying, “when the student is ready, the teacher appears”, is so very true.  There is back and forth communication; a relationship is forged and true learning occurs. Where there is none, nothing of any consequence takes place.

More importantly perhaps is what teachers provide…reassurance. In a world dominated by fear, they guide us through the tough spots and continuously reassure us that it will all work out.  They do this consistently and unselfishly always keeping us focused on being better. So in the end the easy part is learning.

If it were teaching then schoolteachers would be compensated appropriately. If it were teaching, companies would reward and encourage their mentors and recognize them as the true leaders they are. And if it was teaching then business outcomes would be equally shared by those who achieve with those who coach that achievement.

Or put another way–Don Quixote’s quest needed Sancho Panza’s daily reassurance. Perhaps even more eloquently stated, Maya Angelou, who passed away recently said…“When you learn, teach, when you get, give.”