Words of Wisdom From David Hough - Part 6
More from our series of words of wisdom from David Hough:
Q: If you could do it over what mistakes would you avoid. Not limited to motorcycling or divide it into motorcycle world, book world and life.
Brian P./35/M/SanFrancisco,CA
A: The biggest mistakes I have made involve opening my mouth when I should have kept quiet. I tend to just say what's on my mind, and sometimes that creates problems. For instance, in a recent interview for BMW Owners News, I mentioned that "motorcycle safety" is an oxymoron, like "military intelligence." That really upset a BMW rider who is in the military. I apologized, but the damage was done.
I don't think it's possible to say things spontaneously on the national stage, and not anger someone. One lesson is to avoid passing judgment on other people, or passing along rumors. Have you noticed how President Obama looks left and right, but never straight at the camera? That's because he's reading from the teleprompters at each side of the podium. He doesn't dare miss a comma, or add anything spontaneous, because his speech is written out very carefully, and he must not deviate from it.
Q: Tell us about Coffee with Dave and where can we catch it next?
A: I borrowed the idea from Fred Rau, who started his "coffee with Fred" sessions at the Americade years ago. I arrange for coffee, donuts, and bananas, in a seminar environment. Anyone can ask whatever questions come to mind, within certain rules. Sometimes it's a gab fest, soetimes it turns into a serious skills discussion. And often I'll invite some guest to talk about riding across Russia or doing the Paris-Dakar rally. The next official "Coffee with Dave" will be at the BMWMOA International rally in Redmond, Oregon, July 15 - 18, 2010. For details, go to bmwmoa.org and find "rally."
Q: Tell us about the lessons you've learned while teaching. Also, tell us about your favorite and most effective way to share information with a thirsty mind.
A: One big lesson about teaching is that the teacher always learns more than the student. You may know something very well, but trying to teach it to someone else is a different kettle of fish. As you try to figure out how to explain it, you may discover things you didn't realize, or learn how to approach someone with information so that they can absorb it.
I've also learned that it's a waste of time to attempt teaching something with which you aren't experienced. Specifically, a motorcycle instructor needs to be a veteran motorcyclist as well as a teacher. I remember an event years ago when I was auditing a class of high school shop teachers who were being trained to be motorcycle instructors. One instructor in training gave the command, "OK, start your bicycles." He apparently didn't realize that his credibility had instantly gone down the drain.
Q: From a global organizational perspective, what improvements would you suggest for organizations like MSF.
A: I have offered suggestions to organizations including that one in Irvine, California, and even written articles about this in national magazines. But I've learned that offering suggestions to those Irvine folks has about the same result as peeing into a hurricane. When we are seeing an increase in motorcyclist fatalities, it's obvious to me that we need more serious training courses that would address the issues we see in the statistics, region-by-region.
There are a number of motorcycle enthusiasts in the USA who have considerable experience in both motorcycling and training, and would be very willing to share their skill and knowledge with a national organization. But that would require that the organization in question understands that it really needs more subject knowledge. And it would also require that the organization overcome their preternatural drive to dominanate training. It's like an alcoholic; you can't help until he asks for help.
I might offer some advice to the motorcycle industry. It's your bucks being spent. Refocus the safety organization on educating riders to avoid crashes. Tie financial support to results. If the training reduces crashes and fatalities, OK the safety guys get their money. If not, yoiu might as well cut off the funds. And if your primary goal is to sell more bikes, put your money into marketing, and leave training foundations to do...training.
Q: If you could do it over what mistakes would you avoid. Not limited to motorcycling or divide it into motorcycle world, book world and life.
Brian P./35/M/SanFrancisco,CA
A: The biggest mistakes I have made involve opening my mouth when I should have kept quiet. I tend to just say what's on my mind, and sometimes that creates problems. For instance, in a recent interview for BMW Owners News, I mentioned that "motorcycle safety" is an oxymoron, like "military intelligence." That really upset a BMW rider who is in the military. I apologized, but the damage was done.
I don't think it's possible to say things spontaneously on the national stage, and not anger someone. One lesson is to avoid passing judgment on other people, or passing along rumors. Have you noticed how President Obama looks left and right, but never straight at the camera? That's because he's reading from the teleprompters at each side of the podium. He doesn't dare miss a comma, or add anything spontaneous, because his speech is written out very carefully, and he must not deviate from it.
Q: Tell us about Coffee with Dave and where can we catch it next?
A: I borrowed the idea from Fred Rau, who started his "coffee with Fred" sessions at the Americade years ago. I arrange for coffee, donuts, and bananas, in a seminar environment. Anyone can ask whatever questions come to mind, within certain rules. Sometimes it's a gab fest, soetimes it turns into a serious skills discussion. And often I'll invite some guest to talk about riding across Russia or doing the Paris-Dakar rally. The next official "Coffee with Dave" will be at the BMWMOA International rally in Redmond, Oregon, July 15 - 18, 2010. For details, go to bmwmoa.org and find "rally."
Q: Tell us about the lessons you've learned while teaching. Also, tell us about your favorite and most effective way to share information with a thirsty mind.
A: One big lesson about teaching is that the teacher always learns more than the student. You may know something very well, but trying to teach it to someone else is a different kettle of fish. As you try to figure out how to explain it, you may discover things you didn't realize, or learn how to approach someone with information so that they can absorb it.
I've also learned that it's a waste of time to attempt teaching something with which you aren't experienced. Specifically, a motorcycle instructor needs to be a veteran motorcyclist as well as a teacher. I remember an event years ago when I was auditing a class of high school shop teachers who were being trained to be motorcycle instructors. One instructor in training gave the command, "OK, start your bicycles." He apparently didn't realize that his credibility had instantly gone down the drain.
Q: From a global organizational perspective, what improvements would you suggest for organizations like MSF.
A: I have offered suggestions to organizations including that one in Irvine, California, and even written articles about this in national magazines. But I've learned that offering suggestions to those Irvine folks has about the same result as peeing into a hurricane. When we are seeing an increase in motorcyclist fatalities, it's obvious to me that we need more serious training courses that would address the issues we see in the statistics, region-by-region.
There are a number of motorcycle enthusiasts in the USA who have considerable experience in both motorcycling and training, and would be very willing to share their skill and knowledge with a national organization. But that would require that the organization in question understands that it really needs more subject knowledge. And it would also require that the organization overcome their preternatural drive to dominanate training. It's like an alcoholic; you can't help until he asks for help.
I might offer some advice to the motorcycle industry. It's your bucks being spent. Refocus the safety organization on educating riders to avoid crashes. Tie financial support to results. If the training reduces crashes and fatalities, OK the safety guys get their money. If not, yoiu might as well cut off the funds. And if your primary goal is to sell more bikes, put your money into marketing, and leave training foundations to do...training.
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