The Element of Apprenticeship and its Hope for Changing Lives

Recently I watched Cinema Paradiso.

In the movie, a little boy becomes an apprentice to a movie projectionist and eventually takes over from the projectionist, when the projectionist loses his sight in a fire in the projection room.

The movie made me think about the value of apprenticeships.

An apprenticeship is not an internship.

An internship is a paid or unpaid stint in a company, usually lasting a few months, typically offered to a college student during a college break.

It is a vague term, and it is usually not a commitment the internee will learn anything specific by the end of the internship.  Neither is a future job always assured.

Thus an internee may finish her or his internship, without learning anything much of value, and be at square one in terms of securing the future.

If she or he has learned a few things during the internship, it is by accident, and not by design.

In some cases, internees may even have been left to twiddle their thumbs for most of the internship.

Apprenticeships are different.

When someone takes us on as an apprentice, it means they need an extra hand, and they are committed to teaching us the tools and tricks of the trade. 

Our work will be used; we are not there just to learn. We are there to be productive, to become a contributing member.

Apprenticeships are always about learning the how.

They are always about becoming a contributor.

They are always hands-on.

And they are usually, if not always, one on one.

Eventually, we will, or should, be able to take on some, even all of the work, of the person or teacher who is grooming us.

The person grooming us is an experienced expert whose job it is to create and deliver the work we are being groomed to do.

Because of this one-on-one nature of an apprenticeship, working alongside an expert, being able to watch them at work, and to benefit from their guided instruction, we become competent, even with no prior experience or exposure.  It all boils down to the teaching skills of our mentor or trainer, and our own receptiveness.

Both My Careers Started With Apprenticeship

I learned both copywriting and commissions administration by being taken on as an apprentice.

Benjamin Franklin - whose first career in printing was learned as an apprentice in his older brother's print shop – said “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

Involvement and immersion are essential to graduating from an apprentice to a skilled practitioner.

When I was taken on as a commissions administrator, I knew nothing of commissions administration, and I knew nothing of Excel. 

But as I said in the Element of Believing In Someone, Laura H, the Commissions Manager of Palm Inc, took me on, and was prepared to spend the time necessary to immerse me.

Thanks to her excellent training and confidence in me, I acquired the necessary competence.

When Laura went on maternity leave, I was able to handle Palm's commissions on my own.

Here are some well-known people whose professional careers started out as apprentices....

Chefs

Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver are both nationally recognized, award-winning television chefs and personalities. That’s not all they have in common. They both started out their careers as catering apprentices.

Fashion Designers

Alexander McQueen, the famous and well respected fashion designer, started out as an apprentice tailor.

Hair Care

John Frieda, the celebrity hairdresser and maker of hair care products, began his career with an apprenticeship in hairdressing.

Formal or Informal Apprentice Arrangements

Lawyers do clerkships after they get their law degree; nurses pick up valuable information from the doctors they work with.  Both formal apprenticeships such as clerkships, and informal apprenticeships such as working alongside doctors, are equally valuable.

An Apprentice Mindset

An apprentice mindset means you want to learn how to do something, not just be exposed to it.   

It is a key distinction.

An explorer is not an apprentice.

An explorer is just curious.

For instance, we might go to a real estate class - to explore how to buy and sell houses. Or we might go to a class on investing in stocks, because we might want to find out how to invest in stocks.

We may come away from this with a general idea, and leave it at that.

We are explorers.

It is only when we want to learn the ropes, and become competent at what someone else is doing, we can be considered apprentices.

The Tax Example

I can give you the example of taxes.

Several people sit down with me to learn how to do their taxes.

Some come to me with an apprentice mind.

Those with an apprentice mind are extremely attentive, ask a lot of questions, make sure they understand as much as possible. They start doing their own taxes right away. They call me with questions later.

Others come just to explore.  So they sit beside me and they listen. But they do not absorb, or internalize any of the information. This is not their purpose or focus.

When they go home, they go back to doing their taxes just the way they did before – with the help of a tax professional, or leaving it to their spouse. 

This is fine…..

Sometimes we are curious.  Sometimes we just want to explore. 

But you can see how a curiosity visit is completely different from an apprenticeship visit; a curiosity approach is completely different from an apprenticeship approach. 

So we need to know our mind.

Because if we want to start applying what we have learned, our approach and our attitude must be different.

It must be that of an apprentice.

If not for getting that break from Laura H at Palm, and being able to work one on one with her, I would not have made a successful career as a Commissions Analyst, and later as an SPM Consultant with experience in Excel, Centive, Xactly and Varicent.

If not for my apprenticeship with the SPI team, I would not have been able to lead several Xactly implementations.

And if not for working with the Spectrumbiztech experts, I would not have broadened my SPM expertise to become Varicent-trained, and to become a commissions documentation specialist.

It takes time to develop as an apprentice.

Every new assignment recasts me in the role of apprentice.

Because, there is always something to learn, something proprietary to that company.

I am indebted to different people in different companies for passing on their knowledge to me.

Maya Angelou says, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give”

The key thing to offering an apprenticeship to someone, and taking them under your wing, is to want to pass on your mastery and competence to them, even if you do not care about doing so initially.

In the movie Cinema Paradiso, Alfredo reluctantly starts teaching Toto the tricks of his trade; he only half cares that the boy is so interested in learning the ropes.

But Alfredo changes his attitude and starts passing on his skills to Toto. He wants the boy to succeed - and doesn't get jealous when Toto takes over from him. 

As in Cinema Paradiso, an apprentice may reach a higher degree of fame and success than his teacher.

Many former apprentices go on to become famous names,  while their teachers languish in obscurity.

We don't know who taught Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver, Alexander McQueen or John Frieda.

For instance, does the name Domenico Ghirlandaio ring a bell?

How about the name Michael Angelo?

Michael Angelo started his career as an apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio.

So, if not for Domenico Ghirlandaio, there might not have been the Pieta, David, or the painting on the roof of the Sistine Chapel.

By taking people under our wing, as Domenico Ghirlandaio did Michael Angelo, or as Alfredo did Toto in Cinema Paradiso, we can change their lives, we can extend our influence, we can recreate ourselves through a new generation of winners.

The world needs more apprenticeships.

Confucius said: “Education breeds confidence. Confidence breeds hope. Hope breeds peace”

Indeed, teaching somehow how to do something enfranchises them, empowers them and gives them dignity – all of which are essential to being happy and living a well-adjusted life.

I will end with a Japanese proverb which runs: “Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher”

It sums up the value of an apprenticeship.

As always, thanks for reading and have a great day and week. If you have a skill you can teach, I hope you will take someone under your wing and change their life….M…..A Pearl Seeker like you.  Thanks to Ajay, Jacinta and Subhakar for their comments on Facebook, and thanks to the rest of you for your votes.  Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there - and to the dads and the siblings and everyone else who supports them. Bless you all.