Learning, a never-ending process for personal growth
Learning, a never-ending process for personal growth
By Pri Notowidigdo
JAKARTA (JP): One of my students, came up to me the other day
and asked me whether her MM/MBA degree would guarantee her a
satisfying and well-paid job after she graduates.
She has an accounting degree coupled with seven years of work
experience. I teach a course in a joint MM/MBA Program at The
Indonesian Institute for Management Development/Monash
University.
The fact that she even raised the question halfway through her
studies made me wonder why she was even in the program in the
first place. It also made me think of my own "education," in the
broadest sense of the word and how people I have admired in life
have educated themselves. It seems to me that how we learn is as
important as what we learn.
When I was a little boy growing up, my father and mother were
constantly exposing and encouraging me to appreciate music, art,
travel, history and other cultures.
At that time, I didn't fully understand, in particular,
Bapak's passion for classical music ranging from Javanese gamelan
music to Beethoven nor Ibu's curiosity and love of people.
Only with reflection have I been able to see the value of the
educational foundation that my parents had shaped for me.
My parents' efforts had been to try to provide me with an
education that touched my heart and inspired my soul. They wanted
to instill in me the drive to take responsibility for my own
life, for my beliefs about the world and for the people in my
life with whom I meet, live, or work.
In this regard, what are the things that have mattered?
Charles Handy, a writer who has lived and observed life, has
highlighted a number of thoughts on educating oneself that have
brought home to me the wisdom of my parents and others:
* The discovery of oneself is more important than the discovery
of the world. While both are important, we need to build up a
belief in our competence to deal with it. One way to do this is
to identify what you can make or do that will bring value to
other people and that you enjoy.
* Everyone is good at something. School traditionally teaches us
to learn facts, be able to reason and conceptualize and know how
to work with numbers. Some of us do these things better than
others. But there is more to this if we think of the range of
possibilities for us such as: language ability, the ability to
see patterns in things, intuition, self-awareness and self-
control, common sense, the ability to get things done with and
through people and musical talent. These are things that can be
applied quite readily and effectively in life.
* Life is a marathon, not a horse race. In a horse race, only the
first three count. In a marathon, everyone who completes the
course is a winner; most of the runners are running against
themselves, seeking to better the standards that they have set
themselves.
* Knowing "what" is not as important as knowing "where", "how"
and "why". In life and in work, we learn things when we need
them, not before we need them. In this regard, parents, or
anybody for that matter, as teachers, will have to be prepared to
encourage their students to search for facts and theories to gain
knowledge.
* Life is a journey that starts at home. Life is a process of
discovery - of who we are, what we can do and ultimately, why we
exist and what we believe. The discovery will change the way we
see ourselves prompting us to seek new directions and discovering
new capacities and new reasons for our existence. It is not
enough just to survive.
* Learning is experience understood in tranquility. We learn by
reflecting on what has happened. The process seldom works in
reverse.
If we begin to apply the thoughts discussed above, young and
older people alike will acquire (or continue to build) the self-
confidence that is the foundation of self-respect and
responsibility.
The writer is an executive search consultant of Amrop
International, The Amrop Hever Group - Global Executive Search.
(e-mail: jakarta@amrophever.com)