Artisans. Learning is a responsibility.

Anatomy art by Leonardo Da Vinci. 1492

We are born learners. From our first breath and arguably before. We are taking in our surroundings and adapting to them in order to survive and develop. We outsource that capability at our peril.

The moment we cede our authority to employers and consultants or believe certificates are proof of our ability to learn we start to lose our way. Learning is an attitude, and there are no certificates for that.

I think we can learn from the Workshops and Ateliers that existed, before the industrial revolution turned scale into a self perpetuating goal. When the focus was on the work, not the output learning was organised differently. Apprentices worked for Masters (effectively the business owner) for seven years, normally paid for by their parents, until they qualified as Journeymen (it was at that time always men) through demonstrating their work to their community. That enabled them to travel and find work elsewhere to develop their craft until, if they c…