You have likely heard the saying, "Those who can't, teach".
I've never liked that saying. As an occasional teacher at various levels, church, corporate, profit, nonprofit and educational, including undergraduate and graduate, I thought it was not true regarding my colleagues and hopefully not true of me as well.
Over the years, I've become even more certain that the opposite is actually true. For those that consider themselves leaders, people that influence and provide encouragement, guidance and inspiration, it is imperative to understand that you need to be able to teach.
Everyone can discover their teachable point of view. This teachable point of view is how leaders develop leaders. It is often said that the true test of leadership is how well life goes on when you are no longer the one that is leading.
Personally, I've had mixed results. There have been times when I felt that even a relatively short amount of time that I've had to develop leaders actually left a lasting imprint. Things including people, processes and organizations were forever (at least for the foreseeable future) changed. I was able to look back at my short tenure and smile, knowing that I had not only led but taught and developed other leaders that were able to carry on.
Other times, I had no sooner moved on to a new assignment, a new town or a new organization and everything that I thought I had accomplished returned to the state it was before I ever engaged. It's sad but true and sometime disheartening but very few can claim a perfect record.
I've learned from those times however. I don't necessarily have to think of them as mistakes as much as they were lessons learned. When I have the opportunity I develop a stronger and more determined resolve to not only 'do' but 'teach' others so that they have the opportunity to learn from my experiences both good and bad.
I want to be one that not only can do....but also teach.
