Teaching is the highest form of understanding

It’s a knowledge-driven economy - individual knowledge and collective wisdom could possibly be the differentiator for success – an individual’s or of organizations. ‘Independence’ has paved way for inter-dependence where the success of an individual or organizations could possibly trigger off world of opportunities for others. In business parlance – the network effect. . At home, Captain Gopinath’s focus in bringing the ‘dream of flying’ closer to the masses helped commoditize flying with low cost carriers stretching the market. Today, millions of Indians fly across the country – saving precious time, enhancing relationships, or simply improving life. Today, every feature story about low cost flying in India has a mention of Captain Gopinath. Take the example of Toyota. Though there are several car manufacturers across the world, the manufacturing process of Toyota is vividly discussed, why?

The answer is simple. We tend to quote or refer ‘learnings’ in our day-to-day conversations. The phenomenon seems to increasing as pressure on individuals ‘to learn’ mounts every day. This is prevalent in an organization as well as outside. With competition elevated to a global landscape, neither organizations nor employees can rest on past glory as competitive differentiators become a moving target. The quest for learning hence is a continuous process and stretches outside the organization. Gary Hamel, the influential business strategist, likes to say that one of the most urgent questions facing leaders (and thus their companies) is, "Are you learning as fast as the world is changing?"

It could possibly be inferred that employees will stick to an organization where continuous learning is encouraged and embedded in its culture. An ex-colleague of mine used to engage all of us in a discussion about latest trends in technology, every day in the morning. We used to discuss, debate and also distribute knowledge assimilated via this exercise to clients and journalists who were in contact with us. All of us would prepare well for the ‘debate’ in the morning lest we run out of points. In a nutshell, we would keenly look forward to the ‘mornings.’ The debate also enabled the team start an in-house journal besides helping win new business mandates showcasing ‘knowledgeable team mates.’

Many leaders have now come to terms with the fact that for their companies to stay ahead of the competition, their employees, cutting across the entire organization, have to learn more than the competitors. Employees will have to acquire new skills, keep tab on emerging technologies, and suggest new ways to do old things, from manufacturing to marketing to R&D. An organization can be a learning one only when it truly understand its people and their unique requirements. Aristotle famously said, "teaching is the highest form of understanding." Ever wondered why the likes of Infosys founder – Narayanamurthy, Air Deccan’s Captain Gopinath to name a few are recalled by the masses? While they stayed focused as leaders in their organizations, they also knew what is ailing the industry, what should people learn and more importantly they were willing to share what they knew. We don’t forget what we learnt and from whom. Our favourite teachers are the ones from whom we have learnt a lot.