One of my mentors–early in my career–shared a little gem of wisdom with me. He told me, “EXPERIENCE is NOT the BEST teacher… It is the ONLY TEACHER!” I remember taking issue with that initially, because I’m an avid reader (and researcher) who has benefitted greatly from self-education by accessing helpful materials and resources from libraries, newsletters, books, and journals. I told myself, “Wait a minute… I learn A LOT just by reading and studying!” And then I started thinking about LEADERSHIP (about which I am most passionate!). And I realized that the best things we have learned about effective leadership, we have learned by OBSERVING and STUDYING effective leaders! In effect, we have learned from the EXPERIENCES of others. And then, when I was researching the topic of “adult learning” I ran across this observation from an expert in the field, who declared, “We never learn ANYTHING as human beings, EXCEPT through MODELING.” This, again, underscored the importance of real-life experience in the learning process.
Issue #4 of the LeadershipTracks Newsletter presents this principle in the context of the age-old debate about leaders–are they born or made? Download it here and read what Dr. Daniel Maltby has to say about this. And feel free to use the links in the newsletter to access his original article and the accompanying Leadership Learning Planning Form in Issue #4 of The Personal Trainer. You’ll find it here.
