Learning As A Way Of Being

I highly recommend reading Peter Vaill's book Learning As A Way of Being. The book focuses on how to educate for managerial leadership, whether taking place in corporate training programs or higher education. Vaill describes seven qualities of learning as a way of being that are critical for training leaders. The seven qualities of learning proposed by Vaill include:

• Self-directed: The learner should be able to manage his/her efforts to confront unique learning challenges.


• Creative: An attitude of exploration is needed when confronting novel learning problems.


• Expressive: This is learning by doing.


• Feeling: The learner needs to be able to deal with feelings of confusion, fear, and incompetence as well as experience the meaning of what is learned.


• On-line: Learning takes place within the environments we find ourselves rather than being confined to educational institutions.


• Continual: The realization that we are to learn throughout our lives and maintain the mindset of a beginner.


• Reflexive: Learn about learning and be aware of one's own learning process.

Vaill explains each of these qualities in depth. The book will be valuable to those responsible for leadership training. It will also provide those who would lead with an understanding of the type of learning that is required to grow into being a leader.