Teaching is not limited to lessons.
We learn from what people explain.
We also learn from what they repeatedly embody.
How a person handles disagreement.
How they prepare.
How they respond after a mistake.
Whether they listen before answering.
Whether they become smaller or more generous under pressure.
The source describes this as coaching by osmosis through highly specific relationships.
The broader phenomenon is ordinary.
Apprenticeship works partly this way.
Children learn this way.
Teams develop habits this way.
Cultures reproduce themselves this way.
Proximity is not magic.
Being near a skilled person does not guarantee that skill transfers.
Observation can also reproduce bad habits.
Learning still requires attention, practice, feedback, and judgment.
But explicit instruction is only one channel.
Sometimes we first learn a way of being by spending enough time around someone for their way of meeting situations to become visible.

A reflection on learning by proximity: beyond explicit teaching, people absorb patterns of attention, judgment, conduct, and response from those around them.

We also learn from what they repeatedly embody.

Whether they become smaller or more generous under pressure.

The source describes this as coaching by osmosis through highly specific relationships.

Being near a skilled person does not guarantee that skill transfers.

Observation can also reproduce bad habits.

Learning still requires attention, practice, feedback, and judgment.

But explicit instruction is only one channel.

Sometimes we first learn a way of being by spending enough time around someone for their way of meeting situations to become visible.

We Learn Ways of Being by Proximity