A craft is a combination of learned skills and art that enables a person to create something useful and beautiful. Crafts must be learned and practiced. A craftsman is always working on his craft, even after other acknowledge his mastery.
Leadership is a craft. There are learned skills and some art. A clever person once pointed out that art is just science with more than 7 variables.
The best way to achieve mastery in a craft is the apprentice model. I studied how apprenticeships worked in the American colonial period, and much of the same is true today in certain crafts.
There were three elements of an apprenticeship:
- Study. Someone has to teach you the basics of the craft. No one is born knowing how to make horseshoes.
- Practice. Lots of practice. Plenty of oversight and feedback. Especially in the more artistic crafts much of the practice was imitating the work of the master (e.g., copying his paintings or sculptures). Interesting fact – the typical length of an apprenticeship in Western Europe and the American colonies in the 1700’s was about 7 years. That’s about 10,000 hours. Craftsmen need significant practice and experience to develop a “feel” for their materials and how to work with clients and customers. Older apprentices would help teach the younger ones.
- Association. In every craft there are things which are more caught than taught. It was very common for an apprentice to live with the master’s family. Today we say things like “You’re the average of the five people you hang out with,” but this is ancient wisdom.
How was an apprentice “graduated” to being a master of the craft, able to set up his own shop and take on apprentices? An apprentice had to meet three tests of readiness:
- Mastery of the basics of the craft. A master’s reputation was in part built on the quality of the work of his apprentices.
- A demonstrated ability to learn on his own. When you set up your new shop there is no master around to teach you anymore, yet you still have much to learn.
- A demonstrated ability to teach others the craft. This was needed to perpetuate the craft but also a recognition that there are some things you don’t learn until you teach others.
I encourage you to reflect on your own leadership work. How are you doing with the three elements of study, practice, and association?
