Who is Training Whom?

Ken Good article - check out 'Who is Training Whom' Not new stuff, but well put. I'm sure the rest are interesting too.

http://www.strategosintl.com/reading.html

Interesting maija.

I am currently reading Jeremy Scahill's BlackWater: The Rise Of The World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.

Blackwater is one of the world's largest security contractors, With many US military & LEA training contracts, trained at their truly massive facillities

There is an interview with an ex-seal, Al Clark, one of the founder members of Blackwater, in which he states why he left the company in 2000.

"One of the things thart started happening was....I was questioned on why I train your standard army guy on the same level i'd train a SEAL. And my rebuttal was, 'why would you base the value of someone's life on the uniform they're wearing, because once the bullets start flying they don't discriminate,' And I was basically told my standards were too high."

Further on "(Company executives) thought there was no incentive for (clients) to come back if i gave them everything, and my arguement was, they may not get a chance to come back, so while we have got them we should give them everything we have."

Cost, costs, costs.

Quote :

The trainers were under the misguided impression that it was not appropriate to shoot in front of the
students. Why? If you missed, failed, or made a mistake, it would reflect negatively in their minds. So let me get this
straight. You are going to teach somebody how to fight, but you are not going to use the tools you need to fight in front
of your students, because essentially you are scared to do so.
Do not be afraid to be human in front of your students. Being
a human being means making mistakes. Don't put yourself on
a pedestal, instead roll up your sleeves and get dirty with the
students. Don't just tell them from Mount Olympus on high.
Travel down to Earth, tell them, show them, and literally inspire
them with your performance. You are looking to draw out the
hidden capabilities within your students. Attempt to make them
better than you. This means you actually have to know what
you speak of and you actually have to have capability to do it
on demand. If you can't, you better train yourself if you are
expecting to get results from others.

Very well put.

If an instructor is afraid to "shoot" in front of their students they should really be asking if they are qualified for the role- or if the aggrandisement of thier own ego has surpassed the importance of the students learnt abilities in terms of priorities.

Really good article, thanks for posting Maija.

I have to admit that I didn't read this at first, but having just done so it it is yet another insight into the mindset of a 'productive thinker*'.

I know that his actual theories and all that are good material, but what interested me most was the fact that by the end of his article I felt that I had quite a good idea of what sort of a thinker the author was. (And therefore evaluate him as a person and draw parallels with his attitude vs his way of communicating, being successful etc.)

Possibly he is such a successful trainer that everything he teaches doesn't only teach the subject in hand but [more importantly] shows others how to learn by making his logic transparent. If ya get me.

For example; He will teach you how to change the wheel on a car - but you would actually be learning the attitude needed to change the fanbelt when it snaps in 4 months time.

I remember you saying Richard that 'you need to immerse yourself' in this stuff (self defense cd's etc). It's the attitude and way of thinking that matters. If you can learn how to change your attitude and mindset then you'll never stop learning. Changes of paradgims etc.

How odd the human mind is, most of the time it can work against you, but if you manage to teach it not to..



* For lack of more concise yet accurate wording.

Just got an email back from Ken giving permission to put his article on the website

Quote :

I know that his actual theories and all that are good material, but what interested me most was the fact that by the end of his article I felt that I had quite a good idea of what sort of a thinker the author was. (And therefore evaluate him as a person and draw parallels with his attitude vs his way of communicating, being successful etc.)

yeah I got same impression, article works on a lot of levels

As both a student and a teacher I find this guy's insights very pertinent - I have kept the article on my desktop since I first read it.
There is much I recognize in it of my old Eskrima teacher, his constant striving for progress just beyond one's perceived level, not only in his students, but in himself. I don't think his skills as a fighter or a teacher ever plateaued because of this same mental attitude of constant enquiry, challenge and practice - alot of practice, and this attitude has had a profound effect on me to this day.
I've always thought one should learn from really high level people, though of course that does not mean they are necessarily good trainers, but I've most enjoyed myself in the company of people of much higher skill, and I have definitely noticed that those are the occasions I learned the most.
It's one of the reasons I pointed out the value of apprenticeship in the self education thread. If someone is very very good - go watch them and learn how they do what they do. You might not get all the answers from one person, but like the article said, 'skill is the result of consistent, qualitative, and meaningful study'.
And as I said at the top, this goes for teachers as well as students

Great article... and it's absolutely true...your skills level will lower to meet that of the group or 'focus.'

Back when I was a kid playing hockey (I'm Canadian it's religion here lol) the first year I went and tried out for the "rep" team I was on the bubble and given a choice by the coach. I could stay on with the team but I might not get a lot of ice time, or I could go down to "B" level and play a lot more. I chose to go down to "B" as I thought more ice time would improve my game.

However, I found that I started playing 'down' to the level of the players I was with, be it in practice or games. When I was up on the 'Rep' club I would elevate my play substantially to keep pace.

Back to the article...

What consistently amazes me is how anytime new training methods and innovations are made, there are always those who think soldiers don't need the best training, as if their lives aren't worth the time and resources.

Just to add to the info regarding building of skills, apparently it takes 10,000 hours to reach the 'genius' level.

(i.e. the Beatles played 10,000 hours together before they got 'good'. Bill Gates learnt to program from an early age and persistently racked up the hours too. Possibly you could roughly calculate how many hours you've accumulated on a subject?)
(Source is Malcom Gladwell from his book 'outliers'. If I can find it i'll update this post with any similar figures)

Mike 2010,

If you're interested beyong the Gladwell book. The is a good book on the concept of become great beyond natural talent called "Talent Is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin.

Keep safe and train hard/smart, mark H