Life-long learning

A needle can stitch opposite ends of a ribbon into a mobius strip: the symbol of infinity. José Guimarães was 17 the first time he ran his own business, a t-shirt factory. Now, he’s 47 and, though his mother who was a seamstress never taught him to sew, Guima managed to seam the tape of his life into an endles circle of true leadership. It is inspiring to see how 30 years of constant personal and professional growth brought him back to the steering wheel of a company. Except now, he’s the CEO of Novo Mundo.com, one of the largest home appliance and furniture retailers in South America, and innovation through permanent learning has become close to an obsession to him.

As he was attending the NRF in New York this year, during one of our English Therapy sessions he came up with a short paragraph that elegantly synthesized who he is as a businessman. He wrote:

"I am a self-made man who believes that knowledge is meant to be shared and that leadership consists in inspiring others by being an example. And I've found in Novo Mundo the best environment to bring this about in my life."

Indeed, Guima is a self-made man. I met him because he wanted to get closer to the English language, which he had learned by himself along the years. When I heard he had never had formal instruction in the language I was expecting someone unable to hold a conversation. We were both very surprised. Not only could he understand everything I said, but he transcended the language a good few times, sharing insights of his personal journey in being a leader and a father, but this time all in English.

Despite grammar and vocabulary limitations, which are inherent to the language learning process, Guima is absolutely aligned with what makes a person bilingual. He's enthusiastically curious and possesses an unquenchable thirst for social interaction. I had never come across anyone so positively open for learning. Among the few shortcomings we did identify during our sessions are (1) his anxiety for speaking faster, (2) his reliance on Portuguese when he's short of vocabulary and (3) his lack of a sustainable routine of language exploration and use.

We’ve established that his adult mind is faster than his tongue and that he should learn to walk before he can run in the language. In our last few sessions, he demonstrated he was listening to himself as he spoke and managed to self-correct on the spot, despite still speaking rather too fast. He also avoided resorting to his mother language when vocabulary was missing and exercised his creativity in communicating his ideas to me. Both elements are crucial for independent interactions in English. Unfortunately, our process was cut short due to Guima’s overly busy and constantly shifting schedule, which left us little-to-no time for discussing his bilingual routine in more detail. I hope our paths will cross again soon, so we can pick up from where we left.

In my career, I have come across several truly remarkable stories. However, this is the first time I see a life that perpetually loops around learning for the sake of leading like Guima's. His "life-long learning" motto is a translucent manifestation of his personality. I'm sure English is another stitch in his mobius strip. Perhaps the language will take Novo Mundo.com to new horizons abroad, or, perhaps it will take José Guimarães to new perspectives about his own life right here in Brazil. Regardless of where Guima will end up as a bilingual, he will most certainly be there to share his knowledge, inspire others and lead, again and again.

Drux Silva |English Therapy
In partnership with SKEP