Episode 57: How To Learn and PIVOT From Life Experiences with Ravi Hutheesing

Ravi Hutheesing has had quite a journey. As a rock star, aviator, cultural diplomat for the US Department of State, keynote speaker, and Cultural Futurist at Ravi Unites, he's an inspiring example for every student, parent, learner, and entrepreneur in this ever-changing world. 

Ravi Unites is a large network of international K-12 schools, whose classes participate in peer-to-peer learning with real-time audio/video interaction. He’s also the author of the book Pivot: Empowering Students Today to Succeed in an Unpredictable Tomorrow.

As somebody who wanted to be a musician since he was 11 years old, he pursued that passion and kept pivoting every step of the way to, in many ways, educate himself as a musician initially, then as an entrepreneur. His journey has been one of complete self-empowerment.

Education is more than going to school, and this is where our education system is falling short. It's not because of the content that they're delivering or not delivering — it's because we, as parents, often feel that we have to outsource our children's education to a school, and that's not right. It's a collaboration, so the school system is there to support the education of the child, but the first educator in a child's life is the parent. The bottom line is, we all have to pivot throughout our lives to navigate a changing world. And the only way to do that is to make sure that both parents and educators are teaching students how to learn.

The Hidden Common Thread

If there's a common thread throughout all the various things that Ravi has done, which doesn't seem to have a common thread, it’s music. Music is the one thing that has carried him through pretty much everything that he's done. When he was ten years old and his parents were dealing with a divorce, Ravi discovered AC/DC, and he wanted to be Angus Young of AC/DC. This passion for the electric guitar was supported by his mother, who went out and got him an electric guitar for his 11th birthday. That facilitated his interest because she also got him guitar lessons at the same time. His guitar teacher, who after all these years is still a dear friend, was a fantastic mentor to him in many ways. 

His guitar teacher's stage name is Ratso, and today, Ravi always tells Ratso that what matters to him most is what he learned between the notes. It wasn't just the music that Ratso taught him. He learned so much about goodness and what it means to be a good person. As simple as being kind and being good may sound, it's not always easy. However, when you learn to be kind, and when you have somebody teaching you the importance of kindness and goodness, you’ll find that it helps you in business, building relationships, and doing good things in the world throughout the rest of your life. 

So Ratso became an extremely important role model to Ravi. There were also situations where he would show up for his lessons and Ratso would be a little late because he was on the phone trying to book his band, or trying to make sure that the advertising was done correctly for his upcoming gig. It was through watching that, that Ravi actually learned what it meant to be a local businessman and what it meant to be an entrepreneur or even a one-man show. Ravi is still pretty much a one-man show when it comes to his business, and Ratso’s lessons were incredibly valuable in enabling him to pursue building a recording studio.

Tony, the owner of a bike store, was another important mentor to Ravi early on in his life. As he writes in his book, he recalls arriving at the bike store to find nobody there since all the other salesmen were busy working with others. He just stood around until Tony showed up, looked at him and said, "Ravi, don't wait around for somebody to tell you what to do. Find something to do and do it." Almost 40 years later, that's become one of the main tenets of everything Ravi does. He doesn’t just wait around for somebody to do something for him, or for somebody else to do something that needs to be done — he always finds what needs to be done and does it. This principle has served both his personal life and career very well. His clients also feel it serves them well. That's just part of having a winning attitude in your approach to life and your approach to work.

He often says to his keynote audiences, which are largely superintendents and school board members and organizations, that the modern-day teacher is not the purveyor of knowledge anymore. All the knowledge in the world is right here, in the palm of our hands. As a result, the modern-day teacher is now the facilitator of experiences.

The Power of the Arts

The arts in general are incredibly powerful, and not just music. Culinary art, for example, is one of the only art forms that stimulates all five senses at the same time, so there's incredible bonding that happens. It's likely why good business often starts over a meal of some sort, a business lunch or dinner. People really bond over those experiences since all their senses are on fire. 

The arts are also extremely important in terms of empathy, teamwork, and making sure that students have an open-minded curiosity about the world around them and the people they can engage with. Opportunities arise from these soft skills — and nothing teaches that like the arts.

We have to create those times and opportunities during the day for kids to be kids, and for them to be able to express themselves in healthy controlled environments. Physical education and recess used to provide these spaces, until money came into it and budgets started cutting certain things. We can make direct correlations that, when we cut arts and physical education, unintended consequences occurred that caused a lot of hostility in the world, taking us further away from a peaceful environment. Education has to consider that part of its role is to educate towards peace, because that's how we function best.

We have to expose children to as many different things as possible in order to allow them to find their passions, interests, and motivations. Again, it's not just a school's job, it's very much the family and parents responsibility, too. School doesn't necessarily expose you to the world, it’s your family that does.

Connect with Ravi Hutheesing:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/raviunites/

Learn more about Ravi Unites, Inc. at https://raviunites.com/

Subscribe and listen to our podcast at IlluminateHigherEducation.com

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