Learning is Relationship

Learning is Relationship

Last week, we heard from Megan Kizer in our series unpacking L3 Catalyst Group's Ls: Learn, Lead, & Liberate. Over the next few months, we will hear from more than a dozen brilliant humans about why they value and how they define, understand, and love learning, leading, and/or liberation. They'll share a short narrative, tell a story, or share a challenge that illustrates why Learn, Lead, or Liberate is important to them.

At L3 Catalyst Group, we believe that organizational and personal leadership requires learning. In fact, growth and transformation can't take place without learning…and unlearning.

Today, we hear from Natalie Williams, a brilliant, brave, and badass human who serves as the Assistant Director of Herrick District Library in Michigan.

At L3 Catalyst Group, we grow learning, cultivate brave leaders & teams, and co-create a liberatory future. We envision equitable outcomes, spaces of belonging, and flourishing people.

I sincerely thank you, Natalie, for sharing your thoughts about learning.

Fellow leaders and learners, I wish you courage, rest, and beloved community along the journey.

Natalie Williams is a librarian. She is a UofM graduate with an MLIS from Dominican University and an MA in Writing from DePaul University. Natalie loves poetry, lighthouses, coffee roasters, and walking in the woods. She's an enneagram 2 (the helper) and an introvert who always chooses a hard, honest conversation over small talk. She believes that vulnerability is the best place to begin. 

A decade ago, I was living in Portland, Maine. My partner and I had just moved there from Chicago after finishing graduate school. We didn't know anyone in Maine, but we thought it would be a beautiful place to live. And it was. I could see the Atlantic Ocean from my reference desk at the public library. On my lunch breaks, I often walked the shore and visited one of the many lighthouses. On those days, I could smell sunshine and salty sea spray in my hair for the rest of the afternoon.

But those days were deliriously isolating. I felt so far from home and my family, from anything familiar. I lost myself. To reorient, I began browsing the shelves at work. I do this whenever I have a personal challenge; I look up information. This time, I read about philosophy, religion, psychology, anxiety, depression, and grief. I read essays and memoirs about loss. I re-read everything written by Anne Lamott. These stories helped me process and make sense of the mess inside me. These books were a lifeline. They made me feel less alone and less broken. Through them, I felt tethered. Connected.

This is why I love being a librarian. Every day, I help people connect to information, stories, and each other. I get to see firsthand how completely transformative those connections can be.

Learning is relationship. Learning is how we develop or deepen our connections to anything in this world - to people, things, places, or concepts and ideas.

It is widely accepted that the better you know someone, the deeper your connection is. This is true even if the association is a negative one. You may discover that you don't like someone or something based on what you learn, but there is a meaningful connection once you learn enough to take a position. There is no relationship.

I'm not where I was a decade ago. I'm back in the Midwest. I continue to browse the shelves at the library. Right now, I am learning about budgeting, lithography, and making the best chicken parm. I am also learning more about my own personal privilege and bias and how to honor people who have been marginalized. And I am enormously grateful for the relationships with people and ideas that I've made along the way.

 What I’m Reading/Watching/Listening to:

• The Witches of Bone Hill by Ava Morgyn
• Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara