Life-Long Learning
Posted on January 1st, 2000 by Paul McArdle – 3 Comments.
I graduated from university in 1991 and (probably like 90% of graduates) was glad to be out of the place.
It may well have been that the University reciprocated my relief – and was glad I was gone, as well.
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What they don’t teach you at University
… ah, heaps!
Even in my first job (as an Mechanical Engineer, working at Tarong Power Station) I quickly found that I knew nothing (well, almost nothing – as the tradespeople had already tried out their “sky hooks” jokes on me previously).
Hence I had to quickly adopt the mannerism of a leech, and attach myself to people who seemed to know what I needed to know, hence learning enough to get my job done.
The real realisation of what “life-long learning” really meant, however, only came a couple of years later, when two things happened:
1) I moved to Stanwell Power Station, which was implementing a workplace culture built on empowerment (and, by extension, one of Life-Long Learning); and
2) I was awarded the ES Cornwall Scholarship, which was my ticket to a few year’s of world travel to exotic places (and quite a few power stations as well).
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The Journey Begins
Hence, I left Australia in 1995 and my journey began (literally and metaphorically).
The saying does seem to be true – the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know – which probably means that by the time I’m double my current age, I will really have forgotten how to tie my laces.
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The Journey Continues
Since 2000 (when I formed this company) I have been very keen to implement a culture and structure that places a high value on every employee (and shareholder, as well) continuing down the journey of life-long learning.
I am the first to admit that I certainly don’t know even 20% of what I need to make this business really successful.
Hence we have a library of books, we go to events, we grab experts (and a few con-artists) who we think can help – and we do whatever we can to learn.
We have had some hiccups along the way, but the fact that we’ve grown consistently each year (and generally have clients that like us – most times) is demonstration that we must at least be learning something!
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