As I celebrate another birthday and my journey into middle age is in full swing, I am off for two weeks of my annual self-renewal process. I guess I can thank the late John W. Gardner, college professor, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare for the United States and leader of numerous non-profit organizations. Almost twenty years ago, I had the good fortune of reading an article written by Dr. Gardner titled “Self Renewal”. The following passage in Gardner’s article made quite an impression on me.
“The more I see of human lives, the more I believe the business of growing up is much longer drawn out than we pretend. If we achieve it in our 30s, even our 40s, we’re doing well. There’s a myth that learning is for young people. But as the proverb says, “it is what you learn after you know it all that counts.” The middle years are great, great learning years – and even the years past the middle years. I took on a new job after my 76th birthday – and I’m still learning. Learn all your life. Learn from your failures. Learn from your successes. When you hit a spell of trouble, ask, “What is it trying to teach me?” The lessons aren’t always happy ones, but they keep coming.”
I promised myself from that day forward that I would become a lifelong learner. Every year I dedicate time to learn a new subject and to deepen my knowledge within my area of focus in my career. Over the years, I have been lucky enough to learn from some of the brightest minds at some of the best universities in the country. Equally important, I have learned from people many years my junior and also many years older than me. I have had the pleasure of learning from successes in business, and also learning even more from the failures I have encountered in the business world. My self-renewal is not limited to formal education or even to my career. I have also learned numerous life lessons, both good and bad through everyday occurrences and relationships. The most important outcome is that I have continued to grow as a person.
Throughout my career, I have had the good fortune of working with some of the finest companies in the United States and Europe. One thing that always surprises me is how many people in these companies have given up on continuing to learn. Many times when I ask for a show of hands of how many people have a formal plan for continued learning, I am surprised that not a single hand is raised. Especially in this day and time where the lifespan of many occupations is very short. I think that sometimes we think that once we are finished with our formal education, we feel that we have all the knowledge we will need for the rest of our careers (and lives). My challenge to everyone is to become a life long learner. I am pretty confident that you will find that your journey of self-renewal will be much more interesting than just sitting back and letting life pass you by.
I will close by pointing out another gift that John W. Gardner gave to me. He said,
“Everyone wants to be interesting, but the key to self-renewal is to be interested. Keep a sense of curiosity. Discover new things. Care. Risk failure. Reach out.”
(The original article can be found at the following link: http://www.pbs.org/johngardner/sections/writings_speech_1.html)
