This model of learning focuses not on what people will do but rather who they will be. It encompasses the deep kind of learning that changes you as a person. It's not about learning facts, but about changing your life and your family tree.

Six principles

Curated yet non-linear

Linear approaches to learning have their place. But something so complex as leadership learning crumble under linear thinking. In books, we must present information linearly, but that doesn't mean it is the best way to do it.

Hands-on experiences

We learn by doing. Therefore, we must get our hands dirty. Imagine if the way we taught people to ride bikes was to explain every part of the bicycle, what makes it unique, and how gravity, physicals, and motor skills all combine to make it one of the best inventions ever! We don't teach people to do that. We put them on the bike and hold onto the seat. This serves two purposes. First, we give them support, by holding onto the bike. Second we show that we have faith in them by having them do the hard work. I'll never forget the first time my daughter rode her bike by herself and the tears of joy that were streaming down her face because she finally got it.

Uncomfortable

Which brings us to the third principle: learning is uncomfortable. I often tell my mastermind clients when they are working with me that I will probably make them cry over the course of our time working together. Real learning is uncomfortable. But that isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's a very good thing.

Ongoing with benchmarks

We break learning down in schools to make it easier for everyone to know when we have arrived. But, it is artificial, and can be done at any time. There's value in creating natural stopping points, but as Chase Jarvis says in Creative Calling, "If you train in a martial art such as karate, you’ll learn that the revered black belt doesn’t indicate any sort of perfection or completion at all. Instead, it is only the first step in a whole new progression of learning. It’s just another white belt." You don't ever really know everything. You just keep going.

Measurable

A learner must know they are getting better. It's not enough for them to just "feel" like they are getting better, though that is certainly a worthwhile aim, as well. They need some knowledge to ensure they are making progress toward a goal. This doesn't have to be defined by the instructor, but the learner needs to know they are getting better.

Personalized

Because every person comes to learning at a different level we have to also recognize that any learning activity must be personalized for the learners that are there.

Four Beliefs

Individualized

I believe that learning is an individual endeavor and that means that only the individual is in charge of his or her learning. Regardless of whatever else we may try to do, learning is only a personal decision. That means everyone comes with their own histories of what they've learned and what they still need to learn.

Impossible to forget

Once you truly learn something, you don't forget it. The saying "It's like riding a bike" exists because it is an illustration of the TRUTH that once you learn something, you don't forget how to do it. The Cleveland Clinic states, regarding Amnesia, that

Motor skills are nondeclarative. People with amnesia don’t lose learned motor skills – skills that require coordinated movement of muscles. “Just like riding a bike” is an old saying that means the learned activity is “second nature” — easy to remember and repeat. In fact, studies by neurologists have proven that people with amnesia learn motor skills at the same rate as healthy individuals. (View Highlight)

This means that our learning should focus on nondeclarative or implicit learning. Explicit knowledge, which is knowledge of facts and events in everyday life is not the kind of learning we are going for.

Eternal

There is no end to the knowledge that we can learn. Arthur C. Clarke said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” We accept that people can know things using any ways of knowing. There are also non-scientific ways of knowing that a person has acquired the learning or not. Gut feelings, divine intervention, and other ways of knowing have space here.

Strengths-based

All people know things that they have not been taught. We can call these strengths, gifts, or anything else. There's no need to prove the source of knowledge when you can demonstrate that you know it. But we do start with strengths that individuals have and those strengths should be recognized, cultivated, and improved.

Grateful for some insight on this topic from Lean Forward Learning, as created by Nick Milo