To teach is to touch a life

Cliche as the saying goes “to teach is to touch a life” I would concur with this view even though I don’t put on my teaching hat when it comes to being on LinkedIn. Most of the time, I often admired Linkedin top voices and hang around their livestreaming and LinkedIn stories thinking they would have more of an influence than my small circle of LinkedIn friends. Despite feeling that I can’t make an influence as I do not have a giant following, I still managed to use the cliche term “touch a life” or influence someone here and would like to recount my personal experience.

I was pleasantly surprise when a LinkedIn contact whom I started conversing with last year came back recently to ask for my opinion regarding making serious academic choices on which door will open or close. I am awed by how the young person was full of clarity and certainly regarding the choices he had to make and even entrusted me with an electronic letter of offer from an academic institution knowing it will stay in my hard disk.

Not working in Academia, I was still glad to be able to help the person to sort out his train of thoughts over whether to accept the academic offer knowing the terms and conditions clearly. I let him sort out his thought processes by discussing whether to wait for another offer and what are the next steps to take as it involves moving overseas or staying in the country in this current volatile climate.

I thought I would have given more sound advice on whether to pursue a course of action over another if I knew more about NUS Masters programme or the overseas university. However, I decided to give my opinion as a fellow peer knowing that I play a role in influencing his decision of study and subsequently career path ahead during this VUCA times.

I hope this encourages those who are in the position to influence someone to know that it takes courage to influence and speak into the life of others. Hopefully, neither being a Linkedin top voice nor having a PHD will not diminish our confidence in making a difference to the lives of others .