From Joanne Linden,
I was at a networking event recently promoting the Star Achievement program. I began talking to a mature woman (I can say that because she was about my age) explaining that the Star program is administrative training. Without missing a beat, she said “I’ve been in this field too long. I don’t need any training.” It took me a moment to respond that I too had felt that way at one time but that after being through the Star program myself that it had given me a renewed enthusiasm for my profession. I know I didn’t sway her opinion on training with that weak response and her remark continued to haunt me. I’m sure you’ve experienced at one time or another when you’re not satisfied with your response to a remark. Then a couple days later you think of the perfect comeback, but then it’s too late.
The perfect response would have been “I understand exactly what you mean, I felt that way not too long ago. But what I realized is that you can never stop learning. Even executives at the top of their fields attend executive training so that they continue to be on the leading edge. If it’s good enough for them, then it should be good enough for us. You should never stop investing in yourself.” Oh well, I’ll be prepared next time I’m confronted with that self-limiting viewpoint.
