Contrary to general perception that learning actually stops once a person graduates from the university, over the course of the past three years, I realized learning for me actually intensified as I departed further and further away from the path that was set in the system for people like me and around me. A safe and secured path that is well defined as it is travelled upon.
This departure was first born as a possible notion and alternative in my mind. As years went by it grew into a belief, later a perception, thereafter an attitude, and finally a natural disposition. This translated into its external counter part a tendency towards a certain life style. It is the life style that I am living right this moment today.
The fact that I was no longer restricted by the rigid curriculums imposed by school systems to produce workers ready to fill up job positions in our societal system, and the fact that I drop out from the natural path of search for a secured job and opt instead to take an uncharted path, meant I was free to explore all matter of subjects and topics.
Quite alot of these topics will never be taught in school. There are two main reasons. Firstly, it is not be economically viable to craft up a curriculum to officially teach these lessons. Secondly, due to the very nature of certain topics, learning is impossible without experiencing it first hand.
Knowlegdge on the first group of topics can be gleaned off books and most lately the internet. Knowledge on the second group of topics comes through a four step process, observation, contemplation, recognition and lastly acquisition.
While I do often spend time observing and there after contemplating, the recognition stage is to me a pretty tough one. This is most especially when I do not know what I do not know. However the fact that the path I am pursuing goes not in a circle, makes it is inevitable my journey brings me to realms hitherto unexplored and meet people from backgrounds I would have otherwise little chance of encoutering much less interact with.
It is precisely these random people I meet during my journey that point out my blind spots to me, done so during the course of coversations.
So in essence, what I know today is either gleaned from books, recognized and thereafter acquired or crowd sourced.
The crowd sourcing of knowledge can in fact be further intensified through what I call a master mind group. When I was young kid and watching cartoons, I had the initial understanding that a master mind was a person. Later through Lawrence and thereafter Napolean Hill, I came to the understanding that a master mind is in fact not just a person but a group of people pooling their physical resources and brain power towards the achievement of a common goal be it physical or meta physical.
The master mind as a concept is not in fact a new one, Johnson once said during one of our dinners together that said the warlords and leaders in China during the fuedal age see cultivation of personal virtue as extermely important. Such virtue in combindation with material wealth attracts around themselves men of talent. This group of men together form the mastermind group.
During military campaigns, battles are won or lost precisely due to the strength of the mastermind group which directly affect the quality of the tactics developed for war fare.
Liu Bei by his virtue attracted and acquired Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun capable generals in war and thereafter Zhuge Liang a strategist capable of military deploying, thereafter generals Huang Zhong and Ma Chao. This formed the core and foundation of the Liu Bei’s mastermind group and enabled him to setup the Western Shu dynasty.
Emperor Tan Taizong in his attempt to strenghten his empire retained the service of Chancellors Wang Gui and Wei Zheng. Frequent debates between Wang Gui and Wei Zheng as well as honest critique on the emperor himself provided valuable critical insights which lead to the setup of a dynastic system that remain solid and firm for the next 500 years.
While reading this new book on the internal functioning of the Boston Consulting Group, I was not in fact surprised such a practise was adopted as well.
I have over the course of the past few years in my path been part of a few master mind groups. I am starting to have the belief that in order grow this current business I am working on to the kind of scale, it is important to start forming a master mind around the core of this business.