At Tsinghua University

I just returned from Beijing where I was invited by Tsinghua University (one of the top universites in China) to conduct four days of lecture/training on "Enterprise Leadership" for a group of 65 Chinese CEOs. They came eager to learn and not quite sure what to expect. They had been told the experience would be different from the traditional programs they had attended in the past – and therein lay a potential problem. When one enters a learning situation with the expectation that the learning that is available is dependant on some thing, some process, being different the responsibility for the learning has shifted. The shift moves the responsibility from the learner to the process (or the teacher). By focusing on either the process or the teacher as the vehicle for the learning it is far too easy to miss the lessons available. What seems to occur in such situations is the learner enters an observational space where the intent is to critique the process – how is it different and is that difference enough to stimulate new learning. Being an observational learner dramatically diminishes the potential learning that can be taken from any event.

As a writer I notice that there are times when the experience of writing can be like being in the position of the “observational learner”. When I write presupposing I need the “right” time, place or subject matter the process is difficult and it’s usually not pleasurable. Additionally, what I produce is often disappointing. The experience of disappointment is interesting because it presupposes a defined end product that wasn’t matched by the actual output. In simple terms, the writing is not ideal. And my disappointment is like the canary in the mine pointing out the potential danger.