On teachers, foes and friends

I wonder sometimes why is it that time passing tends to turn our past experiences upside down and shine a new light on what REALLY was learned.

During my childhood I was not very much open to feedback (case to point- picture of me at 13 with my grandmother). Over the past 30 years, things have clearly changed.

Lesson 1- turning students into teachers

As I think about my past teachers I realize that some of them did not intend to teach me anything at all, and some just wanted to reaffirm themselves maybe. For example, back in 2006 I tried to teach at a small all girls college in Chicago. Heavens only knows why I thought I qualified (oh, yes, of course, I thought that having an MBA qualifies one for practically any job). Teaching just one semester shed a light on the fact that I never wanted to teach again, simply because in my cockiness I did not realize that teaching requires infinite patience, ability to listen to the silence in the classroom and perseverance in understanding why is it that some of my students struggled. In my naivete I thought that I was bestowing my infinite business wisdom on girls. Instead they thought me about my own shortcomings.

Lesson 2 - foe turned friend

During my corporate career I've had many bosses, but one in particular was constantly there to point out my mistakes stemming from my lack of attention to detail, rushed judgement and excessive enthusiasm for my projects. At the time of course, I thought she was a total witch and complained to my poor husband excessively. I thank my stars for having to report to this person til this day because while she was very demanding, she was also bright, no nonsense marketer who was down to earth and infinitely cool. Also, she made me far better marketer than I ever hoped to be.

Lesson 3 - Humbling dancing experiences (still ongoing)

After visiting Buenos Aires for the first time last July I thought that learning to dance tango would be a "cool thing to do". I love dancing (God did not give the gift of gracefulness though) and learning to dance was always something i had to prove to myself I could do easily. So, armed with a new pair of tango shoes I marched into a local dance school prepared to take a lesson and amaze everyone with my excellent steps. Needless to say that with such technically demanding dance as tango, here I am 8 months later, having only slightly better movements and body coordination. I dress up for the milongas (tango dances), have two more pairs of shoes and even get to dance once in a great while. Most of the time though I sit on my royal behind and play Angry Birds when everyone else around me is dancing. Maybe one day I will dance with a real partner, not mostly with my imaginary friends. But for now- I am armed with humbleness, patience etc..... this was not an entirely true statement, but I am trying to live up to these virtues.

So, I am raising a toast of herbal tea (it is Monday night after all which means no drinking for me because of my self- imposed calorie counting adventure) to all of the teachers, whether they intended to teach me or no.