WHAT YOU WILL, NOT WHAT YOU DON'T

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."

Confucius 5th century BC Chinese teacher/philosopher

You might think ignorance implies stupidity.

It doesn't.

Ignorance is only about what you don't yet know and there's no limit on how much you can know. 

YOU HAVE WINGS FOR A REASON

"If there was one life skill everyone on the planet needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity."

Josh Lanyon, American author

from his book "Come Unto These Yellow Sands"

And the problem has nothing to do with one's level of education; many and probably most college grads are content to simply follow a path prescribed for them by someone else.

But the best are the few ready to go a different way, one they select.

Which are you? 

Which will you be?  

WHY LEARN?

"Studies serve for delight, for ornaments, and for ability."

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) British statesman/philosopher.

Ability for what your knowledge will enable you to do.

Ornament for the favorable view others will have of you because of what you know.

And delight for the enjoyment you will feel resulting from the interesting things you will learn.

For all these reasons your education should never be considered complete. 

SOMETHING YOU MAY NOT KNOW

"It is what we learn, after we think we know it all, that counts."

Unknown.

I don't know that I understood this the day I graduated college. 

Maybe I thought my education ended that day.

But if either were true that was irrefutable evidence of how little I actually did know; how much I still did, still do, have to learn.

You don't have to go to college, but if you do, don't let it get in the way of your education.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE BORN WITH IT

"There are more men ennobled by study than by nature."

Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-43 BC) Writer/politician/roman orator.

Your greatness will likely come from what you learn rather than how or who you were born.

Learn all you can and nothing more than you need to learn all you can.

YOU'VE GOT A LOT TO LEARN

"Only the educated are free."

Epictetus (50-120) Greek philosopher.

Free to be and do what they want to be and do.

And only the educated know the more they are is never as much as they can be.

PRETTY PROUD OF THAT HARVARD DEGREE ARE WE?

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

Mark Twain (1835-1910) U.S. humorist, writer, and lecturer.

Formal education is an important cornerstone of your future.

However, remember, there are four corners on every foundation.

What you learned in school is only the beginning of what you will ultimately need to know.

TIME TO RETRAIN?

"The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people."

Karl Marx (1818-1883) German philosopher/political economist.

This will come as no surprise if you know anything about the economic views of Mr. Marx.

But if true does an increase in "useless people" have to be the inevitable byproduct of innovation?

It doesn't.

History is full of examples of innovation leading to retraining workers to do jobs, which previously did not exist.

If you are a worker whose talents no longer fit the job market, focus on retraining.

Better jobs await you. 

WHY YOUR PARENTS WANT YOU TO STAY IN SCHOOL

"No great intellectual thing was ever done by great effort."

John Ruskin (1819-1900) English art critic.

Effort, sure, but effort alone is rarely, if ever, enough to accomplish the most desirable and difficult goals.

Good that you're willing to work hard, just make sure your education is up to the task you're prepared to work hard to achieve.

A LITTLE HARSH BUT POINT TAKEN

"If you were graduated yesterday, and have learned nothing today, you will be uneducated tomorrow."

Unknown

Just as sure as a print version of Encyclopedia Britannica is outdated the second it rolls off the press, so too are our educations.

Assuming we stop learning when we leave school.

Don't!

LESSON ONE: LEARN ALL THE OTHER LESSONS

"Genius without education is like silver in the mine."

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) American statesman/scientist/philosopher

To all those with great ideas now contemplating leaving school to pursue them, without an education, succeed or fail, you fail.

Ornamental Education

"Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity."

Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) Greek philosopher

The degrees we list on our resumes only suggest our worth; until we are tested they are, as Aristotle says, "ornaments".

However, education of any sort put to use, which doesn't always happen, is an advantage.  

In either case, sooner or later, and generally sooner, we must perform.

I HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE WITH YOU

"There is no delight in owning anything unshared."

Seneca

1st century BC Roman philosopher/playwright

Yes there is for those things meaningful only to you.

However, in most cases, for most things, sharing, which takes many forms, will bring you greater reward.

And nowhere is this more true than when it comes to sharing your knowledge.

YOUR JOB TODAY, THEIR JOB TOMORROW

"Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business."

Francis Bacon 

16th century British statesman/philosopher

There is some cynicism in this, coming from a politician, but more raw truth than not.

If you are now older, presumably wiser, part of your job is to get maximum value from your more youthful employees. 

That and help them prepare to do the same for those who will one day succeed them.

LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING!

"The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think what we like and say what we think."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

19th century American author and poet

But not without regard for how we say it.

Congratulations on your newly minted MBA and all you've learned in your education. 

Don't waste it by communicating in a way insulting to others.

Stop Learning, You're Through

"Education is our only political safety. Outside of this ark all is deluge."

Horace Mann

19th century American educator

Not just political safety, business safety too.

If your company stops learning, which is to say your employees, it, them, and you will be overwhelmed by the deluge of ignorance.

Never stop learning.

History Will Repeat Itself Unless . . .

"There is a history in all men's lives."

William Shakespeare

16th century British poet/playwright

In yours as well and worth reviewing if you don't want to repeat your mistakes of the past.

Jill Of All Trades?

"Sir, a man may be so much of everything, that he is nothing of anything."

Samuel Johnson

18th century British author

Beware the pitfalls of becoming a Jack of all trades, master of none.

You must be good at something.

Can I Help You?

"When a person is down in the world, an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching."

Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton

19th century English politician

There is a time and place for lecturing, preaching to employees, but sometimes the more effective alternative is to simply help.

But as I often ask, how do we balance the need for each, particularly in those situations when there are many more employees needing help than we have time to give?

The Teaching Manager

"Who can direct when all pretend to know?"

Oliver Goldsmith

18th century Irish writer/poet

Why would employees "pretend to know"?

They might if management expected them to know even when that expectation is unreasonable.

Discover what needs to be learned and then teach it.