He affirmed that we all have a story to share and something to learn from one another. That if we take time to connect, we can learn anywhere and from anyone.

But, as evidenced by a film on intergen jazz collaboration I’ve listed in the appendix, Keep On Keepin’ On, masters almost always learn something from their superstar students as well.

Observing their own behavior, the coaches learn the lesson—how they found it easier to criticize than to support, to think of ten clever insults rather than a single consolation. Thompson found a way to transform his point into a testable credential, something the coaches could experience for themselves.

I learned an incredibly important lesson,” she [Sheryl Sandberg] says. “It’s not what you used to do, it’s not what you think, it’s what you do every day.” This is perhaps the most important characteristic Bill looked for in his players: people who show up, work hard, and have an impact every day. Doers.

Mastery in any field requires a willingness to actually learn something from the many mistakes you will necessarily make. When Tanitoluwa Adewumi, a ten-year-old in New York, became the United States’ newest national chess master, the boy’s words, like his title, were well beyond his age: “I say to myself that I never lose, that I only learn. Because when you lose, you have to make a mistake to lose that game. So, you learn from that mistake, and so you learn [overall]. So losing is the way of winning for yourself.