Written by Tony Harvey

What is the thinking behind Learn it / Master it / Pass it on?

Let me tell you a success story.

A few years ago, a good friend, Linda, asked me for some help.  Her son, Jonathan, was at that point in his schooling when he had to choose subjects for further study.  The expectation was that his likely future career would have some impact on his choice and that he should select subjects that would lead to university and advanced study.  The concern was, Jonathan really did not know what he wanted to do in life.  Not really unusual at all for a 14-year old and why should he anyway?  That question could take me down a whole different avenue into the nature of our education system.  Perhaps for another day.  Nevertheless, Linda’s request for help got me thinking.

I looked back over my own education and career choices.  I left school and went into higher education to follow a dream that many thought was crazy.  I gave up study in maths and the physical sciences to study education, youth work and psychology.  Forty years later I am still involved with youth work but as a volunteer.  I am still involved with psychology and education, although my career has not followed a linear path at all.  But it has given me breadth as well as depth.

Back to Jonathan’s dilemma.  My reflections on my own journey, and my observations of others, gave me three clear steps for Jonathan and any one else to follow when deciding and breaking into a career.  This is not the 3 steps of Learn it / Master it / Pass it on but it is how I got there.  Please follow the story because it will take you to the point.

Step 1: Find “something” you enjoy doing.

The world of work and study is demanding, can be frustrating and will take many years of your limited life on this earth.  So we should really choose to work on something we really enjoy doing.  It is not enough to follow your head and make sensible decisions.  Not at this point.  Follow your heart and your passions to find something that will consume you, that is worthy of your time and energy now and in the future.  Find something where you can make a difference and leave your mark.  It doesn’t matter at this stage how good you are or whether you think you can make a living out of it.  You can learn knowledge and skills.  You can create new business models and ways to make money.  The key is to find something that connects at the emotional level because as emotional beings we become the best we can be when we are doing something we enjoy.

Jonathan’s passion is making music.  Not writing music but putting all the elements together.  He had already learned some musical instruments and was very good on the guitar.  He had shown some interests in the technology behind music production and had experimented with the latest applications, much to his parents’ consternation.  The walls in their house were not that thick!  But he had found something he enjoyed, how to make music.

Step 2: Learn everything you can about that “something”

Our education system breaks knowledge into subject areas, for the  sake of teaching and examinations.  But knowledge need not be bound by subject areas.  “How to make music” is a good example.  It involves an understanding of aesthetics (the sound of the music), mathematics (of melody and harmony) and of science and technology (the production of the music).

The key, however, is to learn as much as you can about your chosen passion.  Research into its history, its leading exponents, its techniques, current developments and likely future enhancements.  I would advise to seek breadth at this stage.  Talk to different people, learn from books, experience the subject itself in all the senses.  Music, for example, can obviously be heard but if you want to learn how to make music then you have to hear it at its best and at its worst.  It can also be seen (live at a gig, on the page, etc), touched (when playing an instrument or operating a mixing desk), smelt (have you ever been into a band’s room after they come off stage?) and even tasted (you will have to figure that out for yourself).

Jonathan decided to explore “how to make music” in his choice of subjects and as the basis for his future career.  Following the principle of “start with the end in mind” he had in mind to get into record production and to work for a production company.  This is a demanding job role but with great prospects, including setting up your own business.  Jonathan selected Maths, Physics, Music and Engineering as his core subjects for further study.  Out of school he took lessons in different instruments and went to see as many bands as possible.  He wrote to production companies to enquire about career opportunities and work experience.  He started building amplifiers and mixing desks at home.  His choice of school subjects satisfied his teachers as there was some breadth as well as depth in his choices.  But he did not limit his learning to school.  He took every opportunity to learn about his chosen subject, “how to make music”, from all sources available to him.  He pushed the limits.

This took him, in time, to step 3.

Step 3: Master your chosen subject

It wasn’t long before Jonathan’s efforts paid off.  He was driven in his school studies by his passion for “how to make music” and this carried him through the parts that did not appear to have any link at all (he could not make the link between probability theory and making music at this stage).  He took the long term view, worked hard and got good grades.  Outside of school his learning was equally driven but down a more practical route.  He regularly visited a local venue and, by showing interest and by sticking his neck out, he gradually got to know the technical staff who worked the sound desks.  They introduced him to bands and their road managers.  Jonathan’s interest began to take a more focused path.  While continuing to apply himself to his studies, he thought that his interest was probably in the technology behind making live music happen.

If we want to succeed in anything we have to achieve mastery.  It is not good enough to be competent.  There are lots of people making a living being competent but if you want to be a real success, if you want to be a leader in your field, you have to be a master of your subject.

At one point Jonathan’s passion led to him spending too long at the venue with the technical staff and the bands.  His school work began to suffer.  Fortunately, his tutor picked up what was happening and sat Jonathan down.  He reminded Jonathan of the long game, that if he wanted to be the best he could be (and to make a difference and to leave a mark) he had to finish his education, get high grades and get a good break with a reputable production company.  This is where the head has to come in, to work with the heart.  If we want to achieve mastery we have to be disciplined.  We have to work at it.  No field of human endeavour gives up its higher levels of achievement without hard work.  The heart and the head have to work together to achieve mastery.

Jonathan took the advice and found a new balance between applying himself and enjoying himself, between living in the moment and keeping the end goal in mind.

Jonathan got good grades at school and went to university to study Music Production.  He is currently in his second year and doing well.  His is nurturing his contacts within the music business and getting great experience.  He is very focussed on the long game and now has ambitions to set up his own production company, just as soon as he has fully mastered his chose profession and built up his resources.  Of course his interest may change over time but he has a clear direction and that is taking him forward.

But these 3 steps are not Learn it / Master it / Pass it on.  That is something a little beyond how to find and succeed in your chosen subject and career.  So what is the thinking behind Learn it / Master it / Pass it on?

A while after Linda and I first spoke about Jonathan and his dilemma I was running a leadership development programme for a client.  The group and I had already spent some time together and I had shared with them Jonathan’s story up to that point, really as part of a discussion about how to make career decisions.  Quite rightly a member of the group pointed out that sometimes masters of a chosen subject can get stuck in a rut, the passion subsides and what was once all consuming can become a process of going through the motions.  He asked me what advice I could offer to those who want to go beyond mastery in one area, who want to continue to be successful however the world, business, technology and other driving influences change.  That evening I reflected on what he had to say and the following morning I had this to say to him and the rest of the group.

If you want to succeed in any job, if you want to continue to grow, to adapt and change and to become the best you can be you have to do three things.

Step 1: Learn it

Whatever job you are in the first stage is to learn it.  Get to know all of its different features and aspects.  Learn about its history, its reasons for existing now and its likely future development.  Find out about the customers or users, their history and their expectations.  Learn about the techniques, processes, procedures.  Gather together as much breadth of knowledge and develop the skills involved.  Practice, practice and practice the skills, whenever you can, wherever you can.

The end result of this stage is competence.  Competence will sustain you for a while, at least until the job, its context, market, technology or simply the need for it still exists.  Competence will not sustain you for a whole career.  The world is moving very quickly indeed and all fields or human endeavour, all subject areas, are moving with it.  Skills, techniques and processes become redundant.  Forty years ago I learned to use a Umatic video recorder and carried it and a camera up a snow covered Scottish mountain in white out conditions.  It was heavy and unwieldy.  Using it was slow and painful.  This weekend we went to Whitby and I filmed something on an iPhone.  Knowledge of exposure and camera angles were still relevant but (thankfully) I no longer needed to know how set up a Umatic video recorder to get my footage.

Most of my career has been connected in some way to the world of adult learning and performance.  I learned the basics when studying psychology and education at university.  To that I had to add an understanding or people at work, of organisations and their dynamics, of leadership, performance management and governance.  I then had to develop new techniques to become a coach and facilitator.  My initial competence could not have sustained me for the last forty years.

Step 2: Master it

To stay ahead of change you have to achieve mastery over your job and all that it involves.  Become the “go to” expert that answers questions, provides solutions, coaches others.  Develop new ways of doing things that are quicker, cheaper, better.  Keep going to the customer and asking them for feedback to hone your expertise and to stay ahead of their expectations.  Take every opportunity to develop the job and its subject area and to contribute to its development by others.  Join networks, groups and committees.  Speak at events.  Become recognised as a thought leader.

The end result of this stage is mastery.  You become an acknowledged leader.  But you may find yourself at the top of a tree with nowhere else to go.  More importantly, others may not let you go anywhere else.  Others, whether they are employers or customers, will want to keep you in place.  They have no one else who can do what you do.  You may begin to lose opportunities for further development.

This is where step 3 comes in.

Step 3: Pass it on

If you wish to keep developing, to move to the next job, to get promotion, to renew your passions, you have to pass on your knowledge and skills to others.  Until you have, and for as long as others still need your skill and expertise, others will keep you in place at the top of your tree.  They cannot afford to do otherwise.  Your time will continue to be spent on those things you have now mastered.

If you want to continue to progress you have to put in place the means for others to carry on your past work and the time for you to learn something new and move on.

Until you do this you will still be occupied as a master of past glories.  Your time will be fully occupied.  The risk is that you will gradually lose interest and that your passion will fade.

When you “Pass it on” you are letting other people, those who are following in your footsteps, learn and develop.  You are creating space for them to succeed.  They may well raise the standards and contribute to your subject’s further development.

When you “Pass it on” you become the eager and passionate learner of something new.  Yes, you become vulnerable but you also have the opportunity to apply your wealth of experience to something new, to add your insights and creativity.  Learning something new and mastering it is likely to be quicker the next time you do it because you have already developed the strategies from your last “learning journey”.

In my own experience I have been round this loop of learning something, mastering it and passing it on many times.  I moved from child care (I am not sure I mastered that), to medical research, to computer programming, to the management of training, to managing a business, to starting my own business, to developing that business and learning new techniques.  I am now learning new skills in the world of digital communication and online learning.  I am vulnerable, nervous and uncertain as to how it will all go.  But I am enjoying this journey and I will master it.

Learn it / Master it / Pass it on

To allow you and other people to grow, to succeed and to become the best you can be.

 Now I am asking you to pass it on.  Please sign up to receive copies of my blog and pass this link on to others in your own network, so that they too can Learn it / Master it / Pass it on.

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