Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

For eighteen months, I taught Inuit leaders on Baffin Island, for McGill University.  But, in reality Inuit leaders taught me! Their brain based lessons about learning, laughing and about community building stay with me daily. My Inuit friends modeled how laughter, life and learning work well together.

Learning for Inuit is not about  listening to lectures or memorizing facts, and it almost always compels moral beliefs, and a deep respect for nature. I left the Arctic with a new appreciation for the richness of Inuit culture and affirmation of my own faith and abilities. Their  rich collection of brain based tactics … such as the talking stick I still use, as well their humorous approaches to routines we stress over here in the south… reminded me to appreciate much more from life and nature.

One leader with whom I worked  … Theo ... led a dog team 3000 miles from Igloolik to Greenland , and  he described the expedition through wind directions, ocean ice depths, and climactic patterns as accurately as if he possessed a compass in his head. Under his leadership, others pressed on through deadly white outs as they wend their way around forty foot pressure ridges. My friend Theo's amazing exploits are recorded in Equinox magazine (Vol. 36 No. 36.) Leaders like Theo became friends and fellow learners.

Inuit leaders share insights and understandings as easily and naturally as polar bears fish. Humor, hands-on problem-solving, naturalistic skills and the development of interpersonal skills … ranked high on Baffin Island . In fact, Inuit respond daily to environmental emergencies with wit and ingenuity.

Suspended in the balance between fierce weather conditions which might land ten foot snow drifts against a classroom door, and shut down Igloolik's only taxi …  is their extraordinary flexibility. Those I knew taught me to laugh when aircraft get stalled for days …  to be curious when polar bears or rabid foxes were spotted and to solve problems in practical ways with resources at hand. In communities which dip to 90 degrees below zero that often meant survival when the dog team faltered or the skidoo broke down on sea ice.

What have you learned lately from another culture?