This week’s Inspirational message focuses on how we can train ourselves to remain persistently optimistic and excited about the many growth opportunities life seems to consistently offer – but only if we’re willing to be open-minded enough to see them:
“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” – Brian Herbert
I was recently catching up with a dear friend and our discussion eventually led to sharing how well (or poorly) we were coping personally and adapting professionally to the challenges this new telework and virtual-centric environment was producing. And while we both had enough collective grey hair to figuratively represent the maxim “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” the conversation eventually explored why similar taxing situations can have a tremendously different impact on people. On one hand, people can become quickly overwhelmed and potentially irrelevant because they steadfastly refuse to adapt to new environmental demands. On the other, the change event can represent an opportunity and they become energized to add some new skills to their leadership toolkit.
The conversation made me thankful for the balance I had somehow achieved between having a strict, disciplined, and competitive military father and a nurturing, curious, and creative gifted-and-talented teacher as my mother. I think I got the best of both worlds – a high level of accountability and responsibility, with an optimistic and knowledge-hungry appetite. I’m sure my four deployments while in uniform also helped develop this flexible and positive approach to change and chaos.
I carried this attitude and approach forward with me when I transitioned from the operational Infantry to more academically-applied pursuits, first as a professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point teaching psychological concepts, ethics, and leadership applications to future officers, and next as a Course Director at one of our Senior Service War colleges assisting senior military, government/interagency officials, and corporate executives for the challenges they would face as they transitioned from the operational to strategic level of leadership at their respective organizations.
At the beginning of each course or class, I’d share that I saw my role as their Sherpa. My job was to be a trusted and experienced guide on their journey. Referencing Herbert’s quote above, I explained that they already possessed the first two aspects – they all had the capacity and ability to learn. But although a Sherpa can show someone one of many paths capable of reaching a set objective or goal, it is still up to those following to take each step. Unfortunately, I can recall numerous instances, in both of these undergraduate and graduate level institutions where the willingness just wasn’t there. The willingness wasn’t a motivation issue – these young and “older” students represented some of the best and most exciting potential the military and government agencies could produce. Rather this willingness was more focused on being open to learn. Be it young cadets or senior officers/executives, some of them shared a common, yet dangerous attitude – one in which I had nothing to teach them. I was just one more block that they needed to check, an obstacle that needed to be overcome so they could put this academic journey in their rear-view mirror and get back to operational reality.
It is possible that a few of them were correct. After all, who am I to assume that I have cornered the market on being the professorial fount of knowledge and experience? Fortunately, my mother and father also encouraged a very humble trait in me as well. I am certainly no Aristotle or Socrates. But more importantly, I was never really trying to be. My role as Sherpa was to expose them to new knowledge. My job was to open their individual and collective minds to new possibilities; to add some additional complexity to their existing mental models; and to encourage the development of fresh and diverse perspectives. I wanted them to develop a mindset in which they weren’t present to “know” things, but rather to “learn” things. Through this process, I attempted to train them for the former and prepare them for the latter. This dogged pursuit of learning is like a never ending ladder to knowledge. As Sherpa, I was responsible for providing a stable ladder, but it was their job to climb it – seeking out a higher rung every moment, every day. This is the willingness that I sought – a willingness to:
o be vulnerable enough to acknowledge that you don’t know it all
o be patient, open-minded, and ensure you’re “present” in order to truly listen to understand (rather than listen to be understood)
o and be wise enough to “learn” from whoever has new information to offer
As I mentioned earlier – I readily acknowledge that little of this new knowledge came from me. The majority of it came from our evolving environment and relevant experiences expertly coaxed from their peers. And apart from the joy of witnessing the metaphorical “light bulbs” of their curious minds illuminating and the subsequent animated discussion, the additional silver lining was discovering that I was probably learning more from them than the other way around.
Like many events in my life, the jury is still out on weighing my success or failure in this endeavor. Regardless of which side of the scale is winning, I’m confident that this approach is not only one that I have attempted to share with others, but also one that I lived. It continues to bear fruit on a nearly daily basis and confirms one of many truths my mom used to share with us: “Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching.” What are you willing to learn today?
Comments