A Growth Story, Part 5 – The Teacher and the Apprentice

Learning is one key attribute to growth in every aspect or angle you look at it. From learning how to walk and talk to business and the lean cycle of “build, measure, learn,” you need to get new competencies and behaviors if you want to grow.

Personally, one of the factors that influence the most in learning is the ability to learn from others. Acquire and transmit information and knowledge has been critical to our society from the paintings in the caves, to the pre-historical oral storytelling, and then writing, and teaching.

Everybody is, voluntarily or not, learning or teaching something. And we should not underestimate the power of good teachers.

Teachers and mentors have been critical enhancers of my personal growth in all subjects, from elementary Mathematics to work ethic, from muscular coordination to Judo movements to advanced Strategy and Marketing, and over on how to think critically, build your ideas, and communicate.

And I have learned two important things on my Growth journey: I can see and value enormously every teacher that had an impact on my life, and I learn better by sharing information and trying to teach. Along with that, being the oldest of four siblings allowed me to put my mentoring into practice from very early, and that pleasant sensation perdures to this day.

Mentoring and teaching have an absolute disproportional impact compared to the small effort they require. Sometimes, one hour talking to an expert or even with someone who just can ask the right questions gives one insight that could change a plan, a business, or even a life: small effort, significant impact.

There is also a virtuous mentor cycle. Whenever in need to act, mentors and teachers need to study more about any aspect and get exposed to new problems and questions. That makes them dive deeper and gain more insight into the discussion. That drives more repertoire to all mentors and mentees.

That’s why I wanted to teach and mentor from day one. Whenever I feel confident enough to navigate into any topic, I will try to share the knowledge and get feedback to learn more about it.

In 2017, I started to give lessons at ESPM, one of the most prestigious Brazilian Marketing universities. Since that, I have lectured on over 30 classes and to 800+ students, on subjects such as Agile Methodologies, Agile Marketing, Business Strategy, Entrepreneur Mindset, Startup Management, Growth Hacking, Marketing Metrics, Economic Behaviour, and many more, both in class and digitally in schools like Udacity, FGV, ESPM, MeuSucesso, Tera, and others.

As a mentor, I have participated in numerous startup meetups, incubation, and acceleration programs, from volunteering on Sao Paulo’s startup program to ACE’s acceleration and the global and prestigious Google Launchpad. Exchanging questions, drawing alternatives, giving insight, context, and some experience and especially provoking entrepreneurs to think differently are some things that drive me.

My goal of teaching and mentoring is pretty simple and divided into two points:

1) I want to learn from that experience as well (we are all forever apprentices)

2) I want to make such a significant positive impact that the person will benefit from the conversation immediately, never forget, and way beyond the subject discussed.

That’s how I grow being a student, apprentice, teacher, mentee, and mentor 🙂