{"id":1485,"date":"2019-08-10T22:11:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-10T22:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/?p=1485"},"modified":"2019-08-10T22:11:31","modified_gmt":"2019-08-10T22:11:31","slug":"learn-from-those-who-have-already-walked-the-path-that-you-are-on-this-knowledge-is-invaluable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/rwc-blog\/learn-from-those-who-have-already-walked-the-path-that-you-are-on-this-knowledge-is-invaluable\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn From Those Who Have Already Walked the Path That You Are On – This Knowledge is Invaluable"},"content":{"rendered":"

It continues to amuse and bemuse me, as to the ongoing tendency for many people to avoid\/ deflect\/ reject\/ ignore the offered perceptions\/ opinions\/ experience\/ help of others. Increasingly I see this pattern intensifying in relation to the\u00a0inter-generational exchange of knowledge and ideas<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

During 2017 I experienced a stand-out piece of work produced by one of the students who I was teaching at the Eastern Institute of Technology. Such was the depth of perception and level of creativity behind this particular piece of work that I decided to have this student present their work to the CEO of the Hawke’s Bay Chamber of Commerce. Why ? Because the themes that ran through this piece of work had come from a mind that was aware of the growing divide between people generally – the growing incidence of dysfunctional relationships, and of particular note the distancing\/ isolation of older people in society.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday during a catch-up with my Mum (now in her 70’s), she spoke at length of her concern that a good number of older people in the retirement village that she lives within rarely receive visits from their younger family members; so\u00a0the opportunity for sharing ideas\/ thoughts\/ knowledge\/ wisdom between generations is foregone<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I see the consequences of this reduced tendency for people of differing ages to converse inter-generationally being dire for society at large. Why ? Mainly because younger generations are avoiding benefiting from hearing from their older relatives as to what measures\/ approaches\/ ethos\/ values their older relatives have found benefited them during their lives; in order to then at least consider adopting\/ adapting at least some of this acquired knowledge\/ wisdom to help them in their own lives. Equally, older people often have the benefit of considerable hindsight, and can therefore share those decisions\/ actions that they made\/ took in their lives which they perhaps regret – again, knowledge\/ insights that are invaluable for younger people to have in order to potentially avoid the same pitfalls\/ consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that a major contributing factor of the high level of business failure in many countries is actually due to “close-mindedness” – an unwillingness to seek and receive the constructive input of other people who have walked a similar path in their lives (and who therefore are well-positioned to provide practical assistance\/ guidance). When we believe that we have acquired all of the knowledge\/ wisdom\/ information that we need to be self-contained in steering our life’s course and\/ or in guiding the direction of the organisation that we own\/ manage\/ provide governance in relation to; that is the point that our ego has in fact overshadowed our good judgement and outward focus on life. It is in fact at this point that we stop growing\/ maturing and start retracting into ourselves – fueling our ego further.<\/span><\/p>\n

The two most influential people in my life are my mother and my grandmother (who will turn 100 years of age in 2020). I rate these two phenomenal people as being among the wisest people in my life. I never stop learning from them – their respective life experiences are so rich in teachings…teachings that help me form perspectives and shape my own life, and which help me help others in their lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Older people are rich in life experiences, and tend to be more open in sharing their knowledge\/ perspectives\/ wisdom to unconditionally benefit those who care to listen to them (i.e. they expect nothing in return for their time\/ energy expended sharing something of themselves).<\/span><\/p>\n

My plea to particularly younger people is\u00a0take the time to be with your older relatives\/ friends – to invite their stories to come forward and to encourage them to share their experiences\/ knowledge\/ wisdom with you.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0You will be the richer for it, and you just never know – you may just avoid repeating the same mistakes that your older family member\/ friend made along their life’s path.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than anything, these acts of engaging with your older relatives should prove to foster closer ties with these family members\/ friends, and they will receive a greater sense of\u00a0feeling valued and included in your life<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I once worked alongside a broadminded, mature CEO who shared with me one day this wonderful expression…”I try and learn something from every person who I connect with<\/em><\/strong>“. I implore more people to adopt this open-minded attitude in respect of their relationships with others.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It continues to amuse and bemuse me, as to the ongoing tendency for many people to avoid\/ deflect\/ reject\/ ignore the offered perceptions\/ opinions\/ experience\/ help of others. Increasingly I see this pattern intensifying in relation to the\u00a0inter-generational exchange of knowledge and ideas. During 2017 I experienced a stand-out piece of work produced by one of the students who I was teaching at the Eastern Institute of Technology. Such was the depth of perception and level of creativity behind this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1486,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1485\/revisions\/1486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realworldconsulting.kiwi\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}