My teaching semester at the Catholic University of American Department of Library and Information Science ended last month, and I’m not teaching this semester. But as I have done a number of times in the past, including last September’s “7 Self-Development Strategies for the Fall 2018 Semester,” here are my suggestions on how both teachers and students can make the most of the new semester. These ideas are modified from posts I’ve written over the past year or so, and they are applicable beyond the world of education.
My teaching semester at the Catholic University of American Department of Library and Information Science ended last month, and I’m not teaching this semester. But as I have done a number of times in the past, including last September’s “7 Self-Development Strategies for the Fall 2018 Semester,” here are my suggestions on how both teachers and students can make the most of the new semester. These ideas are modified from posts I’ve written over the past year or so, and they are applicable beyond the world of education.
(1) Develop the right attitude about persuasion and selling ideas
In my post “Rob Jolles on Why People Don’t Believe You…And What You Can Do About It,” I wrote about the communication ideas and strategies of Rob Jolles, a friend and fellow Berrett-Koehler author.
Excerpt from the post: Why People Don’t Believe You fits in neatly with related books on persuading others and ‘selling’ yourself, whether or not you are directly in sales or marketing, including Daniel Pink’s To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others; G. Richard Shell’s The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas; and Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. The reality is that, whether we use the terminology or not, our success increasingly depends upon the manner in which we speak (not just what we say), how we negotiate, how we interact with others, and how we persuade.
(2) Unconventional and nonlinear career paths are perfectly OK
My post “Parker J. Palmer: Reinvention and the Inner Life of a Writer, Teacher, and Activist,” is about another Berrett-Koehler author, albeit someone I don’t know personally. Palmer is a master teacher and educational entrepreneur who continues to reinvent himself, even at the age of 80.
Excerpt from the post: Palmer’s life has consisted of a series of reinventions. Some of his most crucial discoveries about careers and vocations have been by the process of elimination, discovering what he wasn’t best suited to do. He’s forthcoming about his shortcomings and failures, but also points out how they have led to unexpected successes. After college, he thought he might have a calling to the clergy, and studied for a year at the Union Theological Seminary in New York, but ultimately decided against that path. Yet spirituality and religion have played a major role in his life and work, in his teaching, and leading retreats and workshops. He had early hopes of one day becoming a university president, ultimately realizing it would be a disastrous choice. After Berkeley, he moved to Washington, D.C., for five years, both to teach at Georgetown University and also to work as a community organizer, only to realize that the latter wasn’t the best use of his talents, and that traditional, tenure-track teaching wasn’t for him, either.
(3) Tap into the power of intergenerational learning and development
There are similarities between Parker J. Palmer and Chip Conley, whom I wrote about in “Chip Conley and the Making of a Modern Elder.” Chip is a super-entrepreneur and bestselling author who published with Berrett-Koehler earlier in his career.
Excerpt from the post: A major part of the book is about his unexpected career shift post-JDV: five-years, beginning in 2013, at Airbnb, initially part time advising and mentoring, and eventually full time as Head of Global Hospitality & Strategy. There are also many brief case studies of people who have thrived, or are trying to thrive, in the second half of life. And the modern elder concept is completely intergenerational. You are mentoring and being mentored, sharing your wisdom and experience but also learning from those younger than you. This includes people who may be considerably younger, such as Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, who wrote the Foreword, and is a profound presence throughout the book. On page 38, Chip writes: “Brian reverse-mentored me in all kinds of ways.”
(4) Develop and nurture your support system
This is also based on my post about Chip Conley:
Excerpt from the post: One of the big takeaways from the book comes in the Acknowledgments, where he thanks many people who form a vast and intricate support system. Constructing, cultivating, and maintaining our own support systems, inside and outside the workplace, is of great value and open to everyone, at any stage of life.
(5) Craft vs. advice
An obvious necessity for students and teachers is the ongoing need for clear, strong writing. My post “Writing: 9 Key Takeaways From the 2018 AWP Conference in Tampa,” is about what I learned at a giant writing conference. It’s applicable to skills required inside and outside the classroom.
Excerpt from the post: Pay attention to craft; and be skeptical about advice. One of the best panels I attended was “The Worst Writing Advice I Ever Got,” moderated by Melissa Stein, with panelists Chris Abani, Ada Limón, and the poet Mark Doty. Much of the advice, well-meaning or otherwise, that writers receive is contradictory. You have to decide who and what you are going to listen to, and take seriously, and tune out the rest.
(6) Not every career choice has to be cutting edge
In “Mihir A. Desai and the Wisdom of Finance,” I wrote about the 2017 book The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return, by Mihir A. Desai, an economist and professor at both Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School.
Excerpt from the post: He devotes considerable space to insurance, delivered in a style representative of the entire book: thoughtful, subtle and representing more than one point of view on the subjects he covers. “Most of my students,” he writes, “flock to finance—but often for the wrong reasons…I am delighted and surprised when a student walks into my office interested in venturing down the path less taken—finance within corporations in the real economy, or, even better, insurance.”
(7) Cultivate the R&D lab inside your mind
In “Inventing the Future with Pagan Kennedy,” I wrote about Kennedy’s 2016 book Inventology: How We Dream Up Things That Change the World.
Excerpt from the post:…Kennedy celebrates the idea of ‘mental time-travel’ to the future, as an aid to inventing. At the conclusion of Chapter 10, “The Mind’s R&D Lab,” she provides some prompts for this activity and states the following: “You will notice that as you begin working out the details of your future, you are telling a story. The R&D lab inside our minds has a highly narrative quality to it. If you’re inventing a futuristic machine, you have to tell a story about the people who will use it: Where do they live? What are they worried about? What do they desire?”
(8) Become the historian of your own existence
This metaphor comes from my post “18 Quotes to Stimulate and Supercharge Your Thinking From Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Classic Book ‘Flow’.” Csikszentmihalyi is the famous psychologist best known for the concept of flow, which is influential in business, education, personal development, and related fields. The full quote is below, along with two others that should resonate with teachers and students alike:
Excerpt from the post: “In a sense, every individual is a historian of his or her own personal existence.” – page 132
“All forms of mental flow depend on memory, either directly or indirectly.” – page 121
“How we feel about ourselves, the joy we get from living, ultimately depend directly on how the mind filters and interprets everyday experiences.” – page 9
(9) It’s not too early (or late) to think about your legacy
In March, I wrote about the“Top 10 Takeaways From Drucker Day 2019.” The event was held March 9 at The Drucker School, part of Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California, honoring its namesake, Peter Drucker.
Excerpt from the post: {Your Name Here} Day 2069. One of the unspoken themes of the day was to live a life worthy of an esteemed legacy. Project out to 2069, fifty years from now. Some people reading this post will be alive then, and many will not. In either case, will an institution, educational or otherwise, have a day in your honor?
The new semester is likely to move fast. Before you know it, there will be a winter break, followed by the start of spring semester 2020. That’s why it pays to consider which of these beginnings can fit into your life at the present time, while the atmosphere is still fresh with exciting possibilities.
{This post originally appeared on my LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/9-blue-sky-beginnings-fall-semester-2019-bruce-rosenstein/}