The Age of Humble Curiosity

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality."  - Albert Einstein

Are you like me and you just itch to know more? Are you the one in training classrooms that sits in the front and answer all the questions? If you are, then welcome to my world. If you are part of the group that sit in the back near the door and fakes an emergency call to get out of class, keep reading - there is still hope.

Four Stages of Adult Learning

I am a trainer, and I find it a joy when I get to sit in a good class as a student. Yesterday, I was lucky to be invited to a speech about leadership. In this speech, the speaker reminded me of the 4 stages of adult learning:

1. Unconscious Unknowing – I don’t know what I don’t know because I just don’t know.
2. Conscious Unknowing – I know enough to know what I don’t know.
3. Conscious Knowing – I know what I know.
4. Unconscious Knowing – I know it so well, I forgot I know it, I just do it.

I have used this model time and time again when I train adults for specific job skills. It is a great model and tool for my students to help them put in perspective what they will experience in the training.  It also allows me a graceful way to ask for their humility in learning and their self-forgiveness for not knowing.

I don't know?!

Two things really struck me when I heard this model being presented to me. One was “I don’t know what I don’t know” part. I honestly left that class asking “What do I not know yet?!” How can I learn and pursue knowledge when I don’t know what I don’t know? The second thought that came after was the Unconscious Knowing, how much have I forgotten I know and so have not continued to study?

This second thought stems from my martial arts training. In a typical colored belt system, you start with a white belt to symbolize an empty mind and you end as a master with a black belt to show how much you have learned. The actual end of this cycle is, as the master wears their black cloth belt, it starts to become worn and eventually becomes white again symbolizing the master that must begin to learn again.

Our New Classroom

So I ask you all, what have you stopped learning because you forgot you were a student? How much have you stopped learning because you thought you knew? When I help children with homework, this last question really raises its hand and asks to be seen. I think that is why I am “Aunty Toni” for so many of my friends’ children and their homework because they teach me so much more. But what else can we do? My proposal to myself and all others that are with me in this predicament is to embrace the age of humble curiosity. First, acknowledge that we do not know (easy one for me), then second, take an active role in listening and learning from all that you can. Return to your studies that you have forgotten or try something new and off the wall. If we walk the same paths everyday, we will never find anything new. Listen to what you inner spirit finds inspiring, a.k.a. in-spirit, and pursue it till the topic is exhausted. This is a dawning of a new age of learning and we are the architects. What kind of classroom will we build?

"A sense of curiosity is nature's original school of education."
- Smiley Blanto

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Toni Howard is a Workplace Aloha Coach for Say Leadership Coaching.; She is passionate about bringing nobility to working arts of management and leadership by sharing the principles and practices of Managing with Aloha.  She is also the host and author of a new and upcoming blog site.

Comments

[Dan Ward]

"What have you stopped learning because you forgot you were a student?"

What a poignant, insightful question! Thanks for reminding me that we are all students, all the time, and to forget our "student status" is a tragic missed opportunity.

[Greg Balanko-Dickson]

“What do I not know yet?!” is such an excellent question because it will produce an answer.

Even better I like to ask:

"If I did know what I 'assume' I do not know, what might it be?"

The answers do come.

[Steve Sherock]

Toni, nicely done. I like the humble curiosity. If I have trouble with something, I find I need to step away and then come back as a child with that wild eye wonder exploring the world for the first time. And this approach usually provides the answer. Amazing!

[toni]

Mahalo Dan, Greg and Steve for all of your great comments and encouragement.

Dan's connection to the student status coupled with Steve's "child's wild eye" stirs for me image of the child-like bodhisattva leading the pilgrims to enlightenment. Are we in many ways trying to find this in ourselves?

This "powerful partnership" that Tim has so poignantly structured for us yesterday has a vast collective knowledge base which I believe will begin to have a consciousness of its own. Can we be building our own bodhisattva for learning?

With all that said,I am just so thrilled to be part of this forum. Honestly, I think that all of you are great teachers and I thank you in advance for your paitence as you bring me along.

Greg, Mahalo for placing the "assume" in the question. Was it not just a few weeks ago we had a conversation string of analyzing our assumptions?! You are right on the mark, so thank you for that more focused question. See....Great Teachers, all of you! :)

[Rosa Say]

I love your title as a fitting pronouncement Toni: "The Age of Humble Curiosity." How magnificent!

Quite a compelling thought, that humility and curiosity play so significantly in both learning AND in developing as a leader. It takes courage to be openly humble and curious when others expect your leadership to be forceful and bold.

Much is said about the ability of charismatic leaders to craft and articulate visions that move people, and when I circle my arms around both your post today Toni, and Tim's yesterday, I recommit to this effort here at JJLN yet again.

The "content" of this content network we are crafting must be visionary. The cool thing? We need not go it alone in testing our leadership potential in this new classroom you suggest. As Tim has coached us, we partner to learn and to lead, for I believe that one of the things we now understand in your stage 2 of "conscious unknowing" is that the more we develop ourselves into leaders, the more we can effect positive, meaningful change in our world. That's quite a prize, and I for one am completely okay with being in that stage 2 and not knowing of the "how" yet.

What I DO know of this community, is that the demeanor of humble, curious leadership fits like the most comfortable clothes we own. Good company to be in.

[dave]

Toni - your words open our minds and your perspective shines light on the darkness...from black to white.

[toni]

I agree Rosa, this is great company to be in and thank you for "orchestrating" this event.

Dave, your kind and beautiful words again humble me. Mahalo.

[Rosa Say]

Happy day after Thanksgiving Toni,

I thought of this posting you had done when I came across this quotation:

“The leader must know, must know that he knows, and must make it abundantly clear to those about him that he knows.”
—Clarence B. Randall, Chairman, Inland Steel Co., as printed in 365 Ways to Manage Better by Bob Nelson

I have seen this kind of knowing from a leader in action recently, and coupled with the humility you speak of here (which he demonstrated as well) it was a marvelous thing indeed to see the positive effect it had on his team.

[toni]

Mahalo Rosa for sharing this quote. It is a powerful sight when a Leader can demonstrate these qualities. I hope we all see more of these Leaders in business, education and politics.