What has teaching taught me?

Actually, said more completely, what has teaching taught and continues to teach me?

Simply said, a lot and more than a class, specialized training session or camp could have.

More specifically, teaching for me has been a core virtue which has helped create and define who I am and what we believe the BUSHI mission is and our core values are:

• BUSHI Mission: “To teach traditional martial arts and life skills, to drive the perfection of the person”

• BUSHI 6 Core Values: “Honor, Truth, Hard Work, Self-Confidence, Self-Discipline and Teaching Others”

“Teaching Others”, for me, goes much further than helping someone else improve their technique, it is deep rooted in the Japanese cultural belief of the group’s importance. Betterment of the whole and improvement of the community by giving back and being a steward of what is right and just is at the core of BUSHI, and goes beyond the dojo doors.

Now taking a break from the philosophical discussion, what has teaching provided me over the past 26+ years? Starting when I was twelve years old and a 6 kyu (green belt), while I had been guiding lower belts during classes, I then began teaching the beginners (men, women & children) class. This was not a paid position, but a requirement to continue to advance.

But what was this teaching providing me, if there was no money in it? Simply said, skills that were much more valuable than the hourly wage it could have provided. I learned both technical and leadership skills. The technical skill of being able to identify a correction area needed for someone else, as well as to be able to correct one’s own techniques. But the secondary leadership skills I obtained were much more beneficial in the short and long run. These leadership skills included, but are not limited to, self-confidence, self-discipline, self-awareness, and communication, presentation and motivation skills.

• It is a powerful thing for a 12 or 13 year old to be able to say to himself, “I have something valuable to offer others, even adults who are more than two or three times my age.” - this feeling of value and accomplishment also helped me get through the difficult teenage years with priceless self-confidence.

I would assert that not getting paid (when I was a student and it was not a primary source of income or used to keep the dojo open) pushed me to search and identify the true benefits of teaching. I believe if I was paid for the standard duties of teaching lower ranks, it would have been too easy for me to be blinded by the money and thought the value was the hourly wage. Furthermore, the cultural lesson of the importance of the betterment of the whole because it was the right thing to do, not because there was money in it for me, would have been lost.

• As a parent, I am proud when our children do things because it is the right thing to do and not because they want a bribe.

Now don’t get me wrong, eventually the life skills we all gain need to also be able to pay the bills and provide for a family. These life / leadership skills I noted earlier have done just that in the form of a 15+ year successful career in the healthcare industry working at J&J and as a marketing consultant for all of the major pharmaceutical companies.

When I started my professional career at J&J in 1996, I was the only Associate Marketing Director who was 21 and finishing an undergraduate bachelor degree, while everyone else was in their early 30’s and had completed their masters degree (I have since obtained my masters several years later). I had gained a hard work ethic from martial arts and my parents, and could command a room of people during a presentation who were older than me because I had been doing that for more than 8 years already.

I remember countless presentations I led with J&J company presidents, vice presidents, etc, but one presentation stuck out for me; a national sales meeting presentation to more than 200 people. These people came from all over the country and the most senior leadership in the company to hear me help launch a new line of products J&J had acquired. Most of the attendees at this meeting were to take the new product line I was launching and sell it to the country, and therefore I needed to exude confidence in what we were presenting and remain poised when difficult questions were asked. I am proud to say, that while I was on edge, I was able to deliver a successful presentation and provide the audience with the confidence needed to make the launch successful as a result of the skills I had gained through teaching and hard work.

Today, I, a 36 year old with 15+ years of healthcare industry experience, am heading up our marketing consulting operations for all of the major pharmaceutical companies in Asia, with a special focus on Japan and China. Most of the people who I deal with in similar positions around the world are in their 50’s, and I still enjoy working hard with those whom I know I can learn from as well as they can learn from me.

In closing, as I reflect further on how I get where I am today, it is because people took an interest in me, taught me and I continue to teach others. Building on the infamous saying of “it takes a village to raise a child” I will repurpose this and state that as our “physical villages” have become less impersonal...

“It takes a Dojo to raise up each other”.

So, as you are granted the honor, teach not only because it is your duty, but because it is the right thing to do and you will gain so much more value than the one you are teaching.