- Victor Ochieng’ argues that learning should continue throughout life rather than ending with academic qualifications.
- He says experience, mentorship, reading and mastermind groups can strengthen personal and professional growth.
- Ochieng’ maintains that education should develop thinking, adaptability and capacity beyond narrow job-specific training.
I dote on my best quote by Seneca: “So long as you live, keep learning how to live.” Learning is an endless pursuit. Learning is a boundless sea. Learning begins at birth. Learning ends at the pensive point of death. Learning does not stop at the crest of quest of course work. Or after colourful accumulation of copious academic certificates during graduation (commencement ceremony). Instead, learning should be quite consistent. For those who stop learning after gathering wads of paper certificates become “illiterate professionals”. No wonder, Alvin Toffler (1928-2016) observed, “The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”
Therefore, to know the power of lifelong education, you need to expose yourself to several tried-and-tested methods and models. Largely, yearn to learn from experience. Learn from mentors. Join a mastermind group. Learn how to think like experts. Learn from the best books available. As advised by Charles Spurgeon (Prince of Preachers): “Visit many books, but live in the Bible.” There is an extra-ordinary book from the Centre of Creative Leadership titled The Lessons of Experience. The heroic book talks about how we learn. We learn 50% from life experiences. We learn 20% from life mentors and coaches. We learn 20% from life failures. We learn 10% from formal education.
Then, the only way to learn how to do something is to do it. You must yearn to learn the ropes on the job. In case you yearn to become a great speaker, the only way you can be comfortable in front of the audience is by spending time in front of people. Experience comes from familiarity, persistence, practice and patience. Whether you are the mentor or protégé, you will learn and grow from the exhilarating experiences. Therefore, in case you yearn to learn a task, it behooves you to pick life lessons from people who have gone before you. For John C. Maxwel writes in The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, in case you want to know the way, ask those who are coming back. Such people can assist you to sharpen the skills.
Somewhat, what you do not learn through mentorship, you learn through experimentation. Your mentor determines your mentality. To find a suitable mentor, look for someone whose skills or experiences agree with what you yearn to learn in this life rife with strife. Join a mastermind group whose main mandate is to assist its committed members in accomplishing activities that can push them to the acme of their game. For mastermind groups are groups of like-minded individuals.
So, people working and walking together in mastermind alliance help one another to sharpen skills through joint effort. They hold each other responsible for achieving specific goals. Therefore, other people observe the beautiful and bountiful benefits of being in a mastermind group and yearn to join, and learn. Albeit, this is not a group to mentor people who are at different stages of growth and development per se. For that can always be done in other venues.
Advisedly, people in mastermind group need to be at approximately the same level of growth and development. Reading avidly is also one of the commitments to lifelong learning. So, Seneca advised, “So long as you live, keep learning how to live.” Robin Sharma wrote in one of his books, “Those who don’t read die at 20, but get buried at 80.”
Likewise, Newton Diehl put it aptly, “The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after.” We should be committed to lifelong learning. We should wield the unbridled ambition to learn from every source available. In a certain insightful article titled From Training to Education, Nido Qubein posits that the new business environment needs fewer people who are trained in doing things in a specific way and more people who are educated to find new ways of doing things. This is in fine line with the cogent argument of Stanley Marcus, “You do not train people, you train dogs and elephants, but you educate people.”
Ideally, the word education comes from the Latin educo, meaning, to change from within. Training entices stupendous skills. Education changes the inner person. Training deals only with the doing level. By and large, education teaches people how to think. That does not imply that I am against the notion of people being trained. Training is essential when a specific skill is needed. Or when a specific procedure is to be followed consistently in a manufacturing process. But training should be part and parcel of a broader educational process.
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Finally, when you give people fish, they will be hungry tomorrow, but in you teach them how to fish, they will never go hungry. Training gives plenty of people fish — Specific skills applicable to a specific task. But education teaches people how to fish. Organisations that yearn to access success have no choice, but to invest substantial resources in developing people’s capacities. For it is prudent to invest in diverse ways that props up people’s potential. There should be existence of programmes that help people to think for themselves. Or creates a caboodle of candidates for promotion to lofty levels.
By Victor Ochieng’
Victor Ochieng’ rolls out talks and training services. vochieng.90@gmail.com. 0704420232
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