What did you learn today?

My father often asked that when I was a boy. I couldn’t tell him I had learned that Kathleen, who sat in front of me had pink ribbons in her braids instead of rubber bands that day. Nor that a few guys learned to snap towels in the shower after gym class, with one guy targeted, I am ashamed to say. Mr Bove, the teacher, heard the commotion, grabbed a towel and said, “I’ll teach you little wieners to snap towels.” After unsuccessfully hopping around the shower to avoid a thrashing, each was left with a welt or two. “Now get dressed and get out of here!” Today, he would be fired or taken to court. Back then, he was meting out deserved justice. No one said a word. I couldn’t tell my father I had learned to snap a towel. I would have suffered his wrath as well.

I only ever had a weak answer for my father. He grew up poor and went to a one-room schoolhouse on the high-plains near the New Mexico-Colorado border and expected more from me. He was not a learned man although certainly clever but did not know how to instill the importance of learning, which frustrated him.

I was no boy scholar or academic. I did the work, which was easy but uninteresting. I went into the U.S. Navy at 18 years old, where discipline and learning were mandatory. I cannot say that I was inspired, but I did begin to subtly connect learning with survival. I don’t think that is an overstatement. There is a difference between learning to get good grades (which I did once in university starting at 24) and learning to do the next right thing under pressure so you and your mates will survive another day. It might be subtle, but it became part of how I live my life.

Learning is what life is about! You cannot stop or you will lose your youth. Learning is my life, and it is woven into the very art and fabric of survival, not just in your personal life, but in the work you do. If your role in your company has anything to do with problem solving, you are part of the fabric of survival.

At a recent Dynamic Learning workshop, a woman approached me and said, “I thought my career as an engineering problem solver was over. Now I am inspired to keep at it.” We talked more, and I asked her to rethink the premise of problem solving. Most problem solving is weak, overly structured and either rule or tool based. Dynamic Learning, which is described in my book, is based on characterizing System Behavior and is why we can figure out in days what others work on for weeks or months. Dynamic Learning starts with a simple cartoon which centers on the heart of how a system is supposed to work and how it is behaving…for one single cycle!

Let’s face it. There are still companies using fishbone diagrams as a problem-solving tool. It is merely a social tool for opinions. The infuriating part of a fishbone diagram is that you may know nothing about how something is supposed to work but can still play the game! Even the application of tools and rules can be improved by starting with System Behavior. Why bother to establish a measurement system until you have a sense of System Behavior? If a measurement system is to help you see, plan to begin to see the System. Don’t begin by looking for differences between monthly percent rejects, good and bad lots, lines, or days or even parts until you have a picture of the System.

The central premise of Dynamic Learning is action that leads to new knowledge through insight and understanding leading to innovation and competitive advantage based on decomposing System Behavior. And, yes, survival.

I am 75 years old and still working, curious, studying and reading. My age gives me a few liberties, as I have learned the importance of learning, even if my curiosity started well after Mr. Bove marked me and my mates with a wet towel.

I have been in Italy for five weeks at Studio Danze Verona learning ballroom dancing. I was practicing at home in Florida but not learning at a pace which pleased me. Now I am taking two or three lessons a day five days a week. I have learned five dances and will compete at a 700-year-old castle in Germany in a two-day event in the end of June. I have a new custom tuxedo from Giancarlo Bellucci at RS Atelier in Florence! I am competing with Chiara Paretta, a ranked professional Italian dancer. I wanted to learn fast and from the best. I have no time for slow learning; neither do you.

This trip to Italy has become a once in a lifetime experience and I am proud of my dedication to learning to dance after a near death experience that resulted in a month in a coma and a year in the hospital, leaving with a transplanted heart. Learning to get out of a wheelchair, learning to live with a donated heart. I know about survival and dedication. I know that each day is a gift, not to be wasted.

A friend followed me to Verona to dance although at a higher level. At lunch one day she said, “I have met men your age who know how to dance, but never one your age who decided to learn to dance.” I leaned back in my chair, pondering. Old man, am i? I decided to take it as a compliment. I am fit, mentally healthy and dedicated to learning not just from books but from young professional dancers because dancing is part of survival, even if for just one more day.

I told the woman who wanted to quit problem solving to change the way she thinks. Just imagine that the goal is to learn and to learn quickly. Problem solving will happen, but you can only be the best if it is centered on learning and surviving one more day.

Yes, Dynamic Learning really is about helping your company survive and thrive.

John Allen
Verona, Italy
June 25, 2025