I had an interesting question asked of me the other day while having dinner. After I listened to this person describe some things she’d learned from a course she was taking, hearing all the details, facts and theories presented to her at this course, she finished by saying:
So, what have YOU learned in the last 3 weeks?
My immediate response was a smile. Ah yes, the status of doctor versus entrepreneur must be established in addition to age and experience for she is older than me. She wanted to see what facts and figures I could spew out to match her intellect. I love her to bits but I wasn’t about to play the game.
What have YOU learned? WHAT have you learned? What have you LEARNED?
What I learned over the last little while had to do with people. Here are a couple examples:
I learned one of my 10 year old students thinks she is fat. She compares herself to the other girls in her class and told me her father said she is ‘pudgy’. She’s 10. She’s talented. She’s incredibly wise, intuitive and she writes songs that are better than some major artists on the radio. She is an incredible human being.
I discovered one of my teenage students now has a boyfriend. He opens doors for her and walks her home from school even though it’s in the opposite direction of where he lives. She smiles when she mentions his name.
I didn’t know my dear friend’s first name is actually Michele…she goes by her middle name…or another friend has 9 names…well, he’s not sure how many are on his birth certificate…
After speaking to a sales assistant at a lingerie store I discovered she is a teacher who used to do youth counselling. She said many years ago when she first started talking to kids it used to be about sex, drugs and relationships, now they talk about anxiety and feeling overwhelmed.
This is a fraction of what I’ve learned but this is what I VALUE in life: Connecting with people.
The original question asked of me was from someone who was learning about leadership in the corporate world. Leadership in my opinion, is about people and the quality of your relationships. I found a great article on leadership called: Power in Praise
I value TIME spent with people: LISTENING, VALIDATING and RECOGNIZING them. It’s about being AUTHENTIC and speaking from your HEART. It’s the CONNECTION built on a genuine interest in learning about who they are as a human being.
I think education is enormously valuable but I also think it doesn’t always happen in a classroom.
I think you can be the smartest person on earth but still have much to learn about emotional intelligence (compassion and empathy). I also know highly educated people who lack common sense. Ultimately, we are all students and we are all teachers. We learn through our actions, effort, from listening, observing, reading, taking notes and being open in mind and heart.
Have a great day connecting with each other and don’t forget to check out the article; it’s a good one!
With a smile,
Tina
