Leading and Learning

After a recent speech on Think Big Manifesto a woman slipped me a note.

It was a poem by Natasha Josephowitz.

My right hand is held
by someone who knows more
and I am learning

My left hand is held
by someone who knows less
and I am teaching

Both my hands must be held
for me to be

-end-

The future belongs to the learner. The future belongs to the leader. We must be both to create an expansive and collaborative world in which all people have the opportunity for full self-expression.

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Comment by Jason Gramke on May 19, 2009 at 11:43am: Very nice. When we stop teaching, we stop growing. When we stop learning, we stop living. Thanks for sharing, I'll pass it along.

Comment by Patrick Smith on May 19, 2009 at 11:29am: And when both of my hands are being held, we can achieve more than the sum of our parts.

Tres' bien Michael! May all of us Never Stop Learning!

Comment by Judy Szamos on May 19, 2009 at 11:27am: Growth, learning, spirit, giving, loving, no boxes, no shoulds, free, open, fluid.....thanks for that beautiful poem!

Comment by Danelle Brown on May 19, 2009 at 11:24am: I am going to share this with my mastermind group. I am thankful you sent it to me. I believe it is important to learn and to help each other grow at the same time. Now more than ever, thank you.

Comment by Ada Gonzalez, Ph.D. on May 19, 2009 at 11:09am: That is what authentic dialogue for learning and change does. It is like a river of meaning flowing between and among us, enriching lives in its wake, and at the same time growing wider and wiser in the process. Thanks for sharing!

Comment by Nigel D. Alston on May 19, 2009 at 10:32am: We are all connected and have multiple roles.

The poem reflects our connectedness in growth, change, and development.

Thanks for sharing. In a few word, it says it all.

Comment by Greg Hopkins on May 19, 2009 at 10:23am: A lifetime of learning. In order for us to keep what we learned, we must give it away. I have a friend who has always voiced the opinion "those who can do, those who can't teach". I have disagreed with that statement since we were 12 years old ( a long time ago). He can and does. I can, I do, I teach. I get the best of both worlds and my life is amazing. It gets even better when the student becomes the teacher and the teacher learns from the student. Now that's a powerful change in perspective. Michael, thank you for sharing the poem. I really like your book!

Comment by John Geraghty on May 19, 2009 at 10:18am: Thanks for sharing that with us. I found it thought provoking, challenging and inspiring. An expansion of that idea is that both hands can be held by the same person. We can learn from and teach everyone with whom we interact.

Comment by Brinn McFetridge on May 19, 2009 at 9:53am: Boy, how true. Thanks for sharing this wonderful poem.

Comment by Jeremie Miller on May 19, 2009 at 9:47am: As a high school teacher I think this is a great poem, and very true. I am always learning: from my students, from other teachers, from parents, from books I read, movies I watch, etc. I made a promise to myself that the day I wasn't learning anything from being a teacher I would leave the profession as I don't think I would be of much use to my students.
Part of me teaching them is providing a role model as a learner. When they see me learning they know I am not just "talking the talk" and they are more likely to learn. If I proclaimed that I knew it all, I think the dynamics of my classroom would be changed for the worse.