When The Student Is Ready, The Teacher Appears

March 27, 2011 - PRLog -- Louie was one of those kids that couldn’t sit still in class and his teachers found him to be a very clever boy who was a horrible student. He did not listen, he did not follow the rules; he did not do his homework.

As he grew a bit older, Louie’s cleverness drove him to be more daring and troublesome. Before he left elementary school, he was known as a local terror and a juvenile delinquent, but somehow avoided getting involved with the law. The local police knew who he was and kept an eye on him. This probably prevented him from getting into more serious trouble.

At one point Louie ran away from home, hoping to start a new life without rules, without school. He was looking for a place and peace of mind where he could start over and become someone that people liked, respected and looked up to for his achievements. What Louie discovered was that he wasn’t running away from anyone but himself.

Louie returned home defeated but willing to start the next level of his life with a fresh outlook. He realized that he needed someone to guide him, to encourage him and to hold him accountable. He found that person in Pete. Pete became his teacher.

Pete had figured out that Louie sought attention constantly but could not earn it by doing what others did, that is, by following rules and succeeding the way most kids did. Pete reflected that Louie got the attention he needed through being punished. Pete knew if he could find a way for Louie to gain acceptance, recognition and praise by doing the right things, Louie would not only be successful, he would shine.

Pete saw in Louie a talent that was there but not being used. Like many teachers, Pete saw something in Louie that Louie did not see in himself. It was Pete’s job to take the raw, unformed talent and turn it into something useful. Pete turned Louie into a runner

It didn’t start out well. The first time Louie raced, he came in last and it wasn’t close. Louie was so embarrassed he ran right off the track and hid under the bleachers. The track coach said something to Pete along the lines “how that boy belonged anywhere but in a footrace.”

Louie did better in the second race he ran, beating one boy. But Louie liked the applause and that applause was the gasoline that got and kept his fire burning.

The fire ran hot from that day forward. Louie became known as “The Torrance Tornado.” While in high school he ran a mile in 4:21.3 minutes, a record that stood for 19 years. Two years later he ran in the Olympics, the youngest runner to ever make the team. Louie was not just a local hero, a bad boy who had been turned for the good; he was known all over the world.

Seven years later, in his mid-twenties, Louie went for an early morning run along the ocean. Though running in sand, he finished a mile in 4:12, probably close to the world record, certainly enough to make it back to the next Olympics.

As it turns out, what Pete instilled into Louie probably saved his life. Later that day following his morning run, Louie’s plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

That isn’t the entire story; in fact, it is just the beginning of the best-selling book Unbroken by Laura Hillebrand. Louie’s real story of survival started that afternoon in the ocean. Pete, the teacher was affected too: Pete was Louie’s older brother.

What is to be learned from this story?

Every owner is a little bit like Louie…maybe somewhat undisciplined, likely considered a know it all, a poor listener, perhaps guilty of talking too much and listening too little; a person that can’t be told what to do, daring and a risk-taker, not one for ‘book learning.’

But every owner needs a Pete…a teacher of sorts, someone who sees the potential in a student that the student doesn’t see in themselves, someone who has the courage, the fortitude and the stamina to help the student across the rough patches to a better future. Every owner is also a teacher.

Who is teaching you? Who are you teaching? Food for thought, at the least.

Founded in 1994, STAR Business Consulting, Inc. is a Valencia, California based company with a focus of increasing top line revenue for clients. Industries served include banking, certified public accounting, manufacturing, distribution, entertainment, event production, information technology, financial services, insurance, consumer products, law, healthcare, medical equipment, film, commercial and residential real estate, construction, food and beverages, printing, professional services and others.

Services and programs provided by the company include Contract Sales and Marketing Director, Creation of Results Oriented Sales Plans, Client Retention Programs, Competitive Advantage Clarification, Client Acquisition Plans & Programs, Sales and Customer Service Education, Tradeshow Lead Generation Follow Through Program, New Segment Penetration, Marketing Plan Creation, Sales Compensation Plans, Sales Meeting Production & Facilitation, Key Account Management Strategies and Telephone Coaching.

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STAR Business Consulting, Inc., based in Valencia, California, provides strategic advise on growing top line revenue for domestic and international clients. Clients include the Fortune 500 and the INC 500 in a wide variety of industry segments.