During my most recent Camino trip, I thought a lot about my life with my father (which wasn’t easy), 40 years after his passing. One particular conversation came back to me vividly. When I was 19 years old and studying for my high school exams, I was struggling with deciding what to do next. I’d just received the advice not to attend university to study business economics and didn’t really know what I was going to do instead.
In conversations with my father about taking the next step he suggested that I should become a teacher. His advice somewhat appealed to me and the fact that he gave it to me on his deathbed might have added some additional weight to it!
I followed his advice and after graduation I started to study to become a teacher in geography and history. My studying lasted for 7 months before I did a short taster internship at a high school.
While teaching in front of a class of 13 and 14 year old teenagers (that did not show any tolerance nor respect for the person at the front of the class), I woke up! I realised that the profession was not for me! So I dropped out.
After serving my mandatory time in the military, I started working and in the meantime I studied and completed my bachelor degree in business economics.
Was my father wrong with his suggestion to become a teacher?
For a long time I didn’t understand the advice he gave me and I was obviously unable to have that conversation with him because passed away shortly after I graduated from high school. Nowadays I do understand what his advice must have meant because it is very similar to the role I have now, as a coach and masterclass facilitator.
Teaching and providing guidance is an essential element of my work in alliances and partnerships and I love it! One of the most rewarding aspects for me is to see the people I have worked with reach the results they aspired to at the start of working together. This results-driven, practical and focused way of providing guidance is clearly the kind of teaching my father must have meant back then!
One of the means of teaching is through facilitating Alliance Masterclasses together with my alliance partner Anoop Nathwani. We’ve just facilitated a company special Masterclass for a client in Helsinki and we’ve opened registration for the open enrolment Alliance Masterclass that will take place in October.
Our Alliance Masterclass has a practical focus. During 3 lessons of 3 hours, our goal is to make you better in creating and managing alliances. Not just any alliance or partnership, but alliances and partnerships specifically for your role and your company.
Learn more about the Alliance Masterclass and sign up at: https://www.allianceaccelerator.com/alliance-masterclass