I’ve read books and listen to leaders that speak about the person who is teachable.  The teachable person is humble, is pliable and is willing to change his or her behavior. A teachable person is a learner, someone who is willing to be taught by other people. If only more of us were teachable I think we’d have a lot less problems in our culture.  But I think that teachable ness is only half of the equation. There is another side that we are missing as a culture; yes we all should be teachable but what about being what I call “teacher-able”.  This is a new word that I am proposing, an adjective that is defined as ‘capable and willing to teach others’. The attitude of a teacher is just as important and I think is more rare as is the attitude of a learner.

Teaching others can be done in a variety of ways, teaching others can be done through one on one mentoring, it can be done using software, it can be done with writing, it can be done in meetings, in presentations, in sharing of data. It’s true not everyone can or will teach, it’s also true that not everyone can be taught. Why do we as a society emphasize being “teachable” and not “teacher-able” ?  Both require attitude changes, I think it is actually easier to become teachable than it is to be teacher-able.

The bible says in 2 Corinthians 2:14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

Here knowledge is referred to as a fragrance and people are the diffusers of that knowledge, in every place.  The teachable person is humble and is willing to change.  The teacher-able person must also be humble, she must be willing to change if teaching doesn’t come easy to her, the teacher-able person must also become a giver.  Teachable people receive benefit of the new knowledge.  Teacher’s seem at first
glance only stand to lose; especially if they feel that what they are teaching could benefit them in some way by withholding.  Herein lies the difference, the teacher-able
person is a giver.  Being a giver is not a universal quality that we all share. Transforming our work behavior from selfishness and insecurity into one of selflessness and generosity is the essence of becomeing teacherable.

If we could transform our organizations from a siloed insecure place into a horizontal team of teacher/ givers, the rapid technology innovation would take care of itself much faster.