The Need to Keep Learning

I enjoy learning, but I dislike being taught.

(Winston Churchill)

Only fools refuse to be taught.

(Proverbs 1:7)

     Ancient “wisdom” declares, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks!” Well, I contest that! I plan to be a life-long learner to the day I die. If you have known me long or been in any seminars I’ve led, you have probably heard me tell the following story.

     Soon after we married, Susan and I were at her parents’ home for dinner along with one of her brothers and his wife. When my brother-in-law arrived, my father-in-law asked him, “So, what did you learn today?”

     “Nothing,” he responded. “I’m the teacher. It’s my job to teach new things to my students, so I didn’t learn anything new today.”

      “Oh, you’d better watch out,” my father-in-law warned. “The day you stop learning will be the day you died. You ought to learn something new every day.”

     I knew what was coming next. Sure enough, he turned to me and asked me, “What about you, young fellow? What did you learn today?”

     I was already working on my answer, but I could not think of a single new thing I had learned the entire day. Finally (out of desperation), I responded, “Well, one thing I learned was that the day I stop learning will be the day I died!”

     “Good for you,” He said. “There might be a little hope for you yet.”

Too Old to Learn New Tricks?

     On July 31, 2007, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Arthur Harris graduated from Kennesaw State University at age 81.  

“For the past three years, not unlike his classmates, Harris took two or three classes a semester and stayed up late to write papers on his computer. He even went to Italy this summer in a study abroad program.”

     Professor David Parker added this post script in his blog:

“Arthur Harris was an English major. Now, according to the story, Harris is considering going back to school to get a second degree in psychology. I guess he heard those rumors about how tough it is for English majors to get jobs.”

     Mr. Harris was not even the oldest person on record to graduate from college. That honor goes to Nola Ochs, who graduated from Fort Hays State University in May 2007 with a 3.7 GPA at age 95!

     Mrs. Ochs had taken her first class in 1930.  When she returned to study decades later, she started out taking online classes for a while, then decided to move into student housing on campus. She and her 21 year old granddaughter graduated from the same university on the same day. Still anxious to learn, Nola Ochs started pursuing her master’s degree in liberal studies in August 2007.

Is it Fear or Is it Pride?

     The truth is, we are never too old to learn new things, new ways of doing things, new tricks. We might, however, be too proud to learn from others or to take a suggestion on how things could be better. Several years ago, as we were talking about the need to share leadership and learn from one another, a young pastor who had recently graduated from seminary proudly affirmed, “No one can teach me anything. I am the pastor!” He was probably right. I don’t think anyone could have taught him anything. And his leadership was probably dead, even if he was not physically dead.

Hint to the Leader

• Never stop learning!
• Don’t be too proud to learn from the people you lead.
• Learn from old-timers,
        youngsters,
        frontliners,
        teammates,
        (and don’t forget this one) learn from the competition.
• Don’t be afraid to try something new. If it fails, learn from the failures. Learn from your mistakes and learn from the mistakes of others.
• Encourage the people you lead to find better ways to do things.
• Build a learning organization.

Hint to the Follower

• Never stop learning!
• CHANGE IS INEVITABLE so learn to adapt.
• Don’t become satisfied with the status quo.
• Never say:
  “I can’t”
  “I’m too old”
  “I will never”
  Or the seven infamously fatal words:
             “We never did it that way before”
• Find new ways to do old things.
• Don’t be afraid of failure.

© Dr. Larry N. Gay

February 2007

http://www.mylead360.blogspot.com/

[NOTE: Thanks, Hal B, for prompting me to keep searching for ways to improve this blog. I hope the title of the article now shows up in the subject line! I learned something new as a result of the search!]