Pleasing the Teacher

Being in business has little to do with school. You need to learn the value of experimentation, to find answers that aren’t on the test, to work outside other people’s expectations. But you’re not completely ready, and you haven’t learned all those yet.

That’s because you still like to please the teacher. Your attachment to theory, in your case, has been impractical outside of school. You like to live inside models.

Let’s change that.

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All relationships go through three levels. Dependence (to “them”), Independence (“I” can), Interdependence (“Us”, together). To become independent (from “them”), you need to figure out how you (“I”) can do your thing, so that later, you can collaborate, provide, and tend to the group (“Us”).

And so it goes with your relationship with theory, with the professor, the source of wisdom and knowledge.

To cease depending on the teacher for points, you’ll need to step into your own role as a teacher. Figure out the whole model, teach it to yourself and others, and find where the models fall short. You’ll need to experiment outside of the models to do that, to find your own answers (that aren’t in the model), and to venture on your own, even if it counters people’s expectations.

You can then teach that material, to yourself first, but to others if you like, for all our benefit.

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You always had that relationship with the teacher, so it seems fitting that you teach.
You always had that relationship with the theory, so it seems fitting that you develop new theories.
You always had that relationship with the models, so it seems fitting that you test its limits with experiments.

And next thing you know, you’re in business. You had to be, because that’s independence. Now come back and serve others with what you learned, because we all want to make progress.

In the process, you’ll have had fun. You’ll have pleased the teacher that you are.