What did you learn at school that bode well for you in life?

As English schools go back today (04-09-24), I was reflecting what I learned at school and also what I wished I had learned at school, which would have be beneficial, whether in the workplace or personally to me. 

Below are some of my thoughts on what I wished I had learned about at school, however; 

What did you learn at school, that bode well for you in life?

and 

What did you wish you had learned at school?

1. Financial Literacy

Budgeting and Saving: I can't recall being taught the basics of managing personal and business finances at school, can you? Or about building a rainy day fund or the power of compounding when it comes to saving and investing.

After leaving school, not knowing what I wanted to do, I did a couple of labouring jobs for 9 months and then through a connection*, I was fortunate to start a career as a Trainee Truck Sales Consultant in the capital equipment industry, just as I turned 19. I took part in a pilot development scheme through Mercedes-Benz and over 4 years I was taught and then learned through practice, how to build pricing proposals for products, from cost up, (wholesale purchase price), how to effectively manage margins to maximise earnings from customers, plus cross sell associated services and finance at the point of sale, along with knowing when to walk away. I spent 16 years at Mercedes working my way up to Area Manager.

It also dawned on me later in life whilst I was still employed, in a well-paid role, there are only two main ways to create real personal wealth,

• Owning and running a business, where you don't do the productive work yourself, others do, i.e. your employees, subcontractors do the fee generation work.
• Through investing and owning equity.

Today I run my own consultancy business, but I do all the fee earning work myself, which I enjoy, however, when it comes to investing, understanding stocks, bonds, and other investment vehicles and how these can work for you, it can be so rewarding. Again, luckily my mother worked in banking, so from my first pay cheque at Mercedes-Benz, my mother advised me to invest monthly what I didn't spend or need. And the beauty with this strategy, is no matter how small an amount you put away each month, over time this money grows and works for you, even whilst you sleep.

Taxes: which they definitely didn't talk about at school, in simple terms I learned out of school, what you earn (top line in an employed role or revenue in business) isn't all yours, the government want a big chunk of it.

I believe we should all learn basic financial management, tax principles and how to manage your money more efficiently at school, as it's a key knowledge required before anyone starts and runs a business or manages a team and budget within a larger organisation and Financial Literacy is such an important life skill in itself too.

2. Soft Skills

Which soft skills did they teach you at your school?

Communication: Effective verbal and written communication skills will get you a long way. English was always my weak subject at school. However, my first manager told me, "when in a meeting always ask a question, and if you get a chance to speak, (take the mic) speak. Over time you will build confidence and people will notice you". Having been in sales, with the opportunity to learn and hone my verbal and presentation skills along with "ask a question" these tactics have always bode well for me. So, for me, whatever your weakness, learn to play to your strengths

Networking & Nurturing Relationships: Building and maintaining professional relationships is so important. Most, if not all the *best career opportunities and rewarding business opportunities have come through referrals. At school did you learn about "bird dogs"? They search out and the fetch you the game. You can also have "bird dogs" in business too, they're just called trusted referral partners, spend time nurturing these relationships and they will bring you the bounty.

Emotional Intelligence (EI): through practice, to be an effective manager, leader or sell (which everyone does in life), we all need to learn how to understand and control our own emotions. But it's also just as important having the ability to read others body language in the workplace too (what they're not saying). If you move into managing people, EI as a soft skill, is so important.

I recall Albert Mehrabian's research in his book, "Silent Messages" which shared only 7% of communication comes from the words we use. 38% is from the tone (vocal) and 55% is non-verbal i.e. body language. And that's why sharing a vision, a visual sells and is much more effective that a document full of text.

3. Entrepreneurial Skills

Business Planning: In business, we are told, that taking the time to work through what your business is really about and determining your target audience and the most effective route to market is important, but a business plan is only a plan, and very rarely fully implemented or effective. You're better off with developing a strategy, with a clear vision and mission and setting yourself and your team some objectives. The detail you can fill in on your journey, as it's on the job when you really learn.

Risk Management: A common sense thing to logically do, but I can never remember the value of having a risk register ever being taught to me at school. How did you learn and identifying how to mitigate risks in business or life? I guess, the biggest learning came for me through making mistakes, then applying, "how do I ensure that doesn't happen again".

Innovation and Creativity: when we are young we can have loads of pie in the sky ideas, which are often dismissed, which is why, I believe in today's society, most people are waiting for direction and to be told what to do. But if that innovation and creative thinking process is honed at a young age, it can support and encourage creative thinking and problem-solving, which is a necessary survival skill in todays ever changing and challenging work & life environment.

4. Practical Life Skills

Time Management: So, I became good at knowing exactly how long it took to get to school and therefore how long I could stay in bed, but apart from exam timing techniques, when did we learn at school how to manage time more effectively? Time is a precious resource and one thing we can't get back, we all need to learn how to best utilise and manage our time. How did you learn?

Negotiation: I suppose the basics of negotiating in both personal and professional settings I sort of learned at school through trading Panini Football cards. (remember them?). But certainly, through my sales career I learned there's a lot more to selling and negotiation is only one very small part. And if you learn to sell effectively, you won't need to negotiate very often.

Critical Thinking: Is developing the ability to analyse and evaluate information quickly. Again, nothing jumps out at me about experiencing learning in critical thinking at school, I only learned through experience when I went into a busy workspace faced with numerous challenges and or opportunities at the same time and then deciding what to do/implement. Mind at school, I did go on a few out of bounds trips where we were often left a challenge to resolve, individually or as a group.

5. Career Development

CV Building: Crafting a compelling and engaging CV and cover letter, was down to trial and error after leaving school for me. What about you?

Interview Skills: Preparing for and excelling in job interviews is something I never got experience of at school, but today, many, including myself volunteer to do mock interviews to help today's students get ready for the world of work so, that is something that's positively changed.

Career Pathways: Exploring different career options and how to pursue them. Gosh I never knew what I wanted to do when I was at school, and even today, I must admit, I'm still not 100% sure.

6. Health and Well-being

Work-Life Balance: I was at secondary school through the early 80's, and strategies for maintaining a healthy work-life balance were not even thought of then, it was more about hard work and grit will get you to where you need to be. "Stick in lad"

Stress Management: Techniques for managing stress in the workplace, again is that a more recent phenomenon. What's been your experience in respect to learning how to manage stress whether in the workplace or outside of work?

Physical Health: I was into sport at school and played in a few of the school teams, so I knew the importance of maintaining physical health, but it was more for sustaining performance on the field rather than productivity at work. And when it comes to nutrition, I can't recall that subject ever being mentioned at my school (during the 80's).

7. Technology Skills

Digital Literacy: Basic computer skills and understanding digital tools

When I was about to leave school computers were just coming out, such as the ZX Spectrum by Sinclair Research (Sir Clive Sinclair famous for the C5 – remember that?) My school started a computer club in 1984. Technology wasn't something I encountered until I first used email and a basic computer programme for pricing vehicle contracts in the early 90's.

Technology Trends: I recall the first mobile phone we had in the office in the late 80's, we shared it across the team, it was a Panasonic connected to what looked like a small car battery. It wasn't very mobile plus it could only be used to make or receive calls too!

I'm sure Technology plays a big part in the learning at school these days.

All my tech. learning has been since I left school, emails came in during the early 90's for me and we had MS DOS software (green text on black screens) in the late 80's to manage stock, expenses, pricing and accounts, and then floppy disks and a telex machine too.

Anyways, just some reflective ramblings from me, but I'm interested to hear;

What you learned at school that has bode well for you in later life?

Or

What you wished you had learned at school that you could have taken into the world of work and life?

If you want to catch up and discuss further how to play to your strengths, I am more than happy to have a chat over a coffee. 

Peter Fleming

E; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

M; 07966 686112