Mentoring Learning

In my reading of mentor training material, I found a couple interesting tidbits.

"Professionals possess special knowledge and are trusted by society to use that knowledge responsibly."  This is talking about engineers and other technical professionals mostly, but this did give me a thought.  You know how some professional sports players say they shouldn't be held to a higher standard or be thought of as a role model?  Well, according to the above definition, that's not true.  Whether you're an engineer or a professional athlete, by virtue of being a professional, you are held to a higher standard.  If you don't like being a role model, then choose a different career.

Another section I found very interesting was on learning styles:

Visual

• Learns by watching and demonstrations
• Has vivid imagination and visualizes in detail
• Needs description to help conquer goal
• Person is generally quiet by nature

Auditory

• Learns easily by instruction from others
• Finds that visualizations are hard to interpret
• Details are less important
• Enjoys talking and hearing others talk

Kinesthetic

• Thrives on hands-on, direct involvement
• Remembers what was done, not what was said or seen
• May speak with gestures and stand close to the speaker during conversations

What I found so fascinating about this is that based on your learning style, they can generalize things about your personality and mannerisms.  I guess I never really thought that your learning style really affected your personality, or vice versa.

Any guesses on which learning style I am?  Or, do you want to share what kind you are?  I've never been officially diagnosed, but based on the description I'm pretty sure I know what type I am.