Life-Long Learning: A Path to Success
I joined the Army at 17 years of age, a junior college drop out with poor grades and little ambition. The Army seemed like a good idea at the time. Little did I know that experienced drill sergeants and cocky young officers would shape my life in ways that would put me on a solid path to success.
I was just an average skinny kid in high school. I had no idea what I wanted to do. As a solid “C” student my options were limited, nobody’s fault but my own. Fast forward ten years, I had survived 30 months of combat in Vietnam and found myself a very serious, motivated and eager student who was determined to make the Army a career. At the time however, I had little idea of what that meant.
One of my early mentors, Col. Veddar B. Driscoll, a veteran of Work War II, the Korean War, and the war in Vietnam, told me that if I wanted to succeed, I need to dedicate myself to lifelong learning. I needed to believe in myself, take change of my own career, spend my GI education benefits on continuing education and never say no to any opportunity that came my way. I applied that advice and upon retirement from the Army as a Colonel, I had acquired two graduate degrees, had completed a fellowship at the Kennedy School at Harvard University, and had served for seven years on military graduate faculties.
That career ended abruptly at the end of the Cold War when I was forced into early retirement during the downsizing of the Armed Forces. I found myself a highly educated military professional with no practical experience in the business world. So, I returned to my mentor’s advice and started reading everything I could get my hands on about business; years later, after a successful business career, I was asked to stand up a nonprofit foundation and once again had to learn about the nonprofit world that encompassed branding, marketing, communications, negotiation, fundraising and program execution. From a standing start I led a team that raised over $13 million. It was seven years of discovery leaning.
Just recently I came across an article by Lauren Weber in the Wall Street Journal entitled I’m Still Under Construction: Six Tales of Lifelong Learning. She notes, “Lifelong learning has become a mantra in American corporations as employees face pressure to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving workplace. employers, politicians and educators are hammering the message that people need to continuously upgrade their skills because of advancing technologies. “
Bottom line, I’ve been under construction my entire life. The success I’ve enjoyed along the way was the result of lifelong learning, surrounding myself with people smarter than myself, and never accepting failure.
