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So one of the things this book is about is adult learning.

Most psychologists have virtually nothing to say about mental

life, learning and growing, in our adult years. For whatever

reasons, we tend to associate creative behavior and learning

with the young. I think it’s a matter of socialization that we

don’t think of the old (post–45, perhaps) as learners. Certainly,

if we look at enough examples of “grown-up” learning, from

Churchill to Picasso to Beethoven—to Freud, even—we must

think again about our assumptions.

Because we are still questioning the assumptions, there are no

theories. But the best information we have suggests that adults

learn best when they take charge of their own learning. Taking

charge of your own learning is a part of taking charge of your

life, which is sine qua non in becoming an integrated person.

But of all the characteristics that distinguished the individu-

als in this book, the most pivotal was a concern with a guiding

purpose, an overarching vision. They were more than goal-

directed. As Karl Wallenda said, “Walking the tightwire is liv-

ing; everything else is waiting.” Along with the vision, the

compelling goal, is the importance of the metaphor that em-

bodies and implements the vision. For Darwin, the fecund

metaphor was a branching tree of evolution on which he could

trace the rise and fate of various species. William James viewed

mental processes as a stream, or river. John Locke focused on

the falconer, whose release of a bird symbolized his “own

emerging view of the creative process”—that is, the quest for

human knowledge. None of the metaphors from this group

may be quite that profound, but they serve the same purpose.

Thomas Carlyle said, “The ideal is in thyself; the impedi-

ment, too, is in thyself.” As we learned from Socrates and

Plato, such impediments can be dissolved by close scrutiny

On Becoming a Leader

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