Most of the people in my classroom did not wake up that morning hoping to attend a leadership workshop.
They came because their company asked them to.
Some are curious. Some are tired. Some are thinking about the emails waiting for them. Some may suspect that a few hours of training will not change very much.
I understand that.
The people I teach are not usually university students standing at the beginning of their adult lives. They are professionals who have already spent years working inside organizations.
They are managers, engineers, salespeople, team leaders, and factory supervisors.
They carry responsibility. They solve problems. They make decisions. They keep companies moving.
In other words, they help keep the economy moving.
That is where I find the meaning of my work.
A Different Kind of Classroom
Recently, I read an interview with Amanda Claybaugh, Dean of Harvard College, about grade inflation.
The question being discussed was simple but important:
If almost everyone receives the highest grade, how can excellence still mean something?
Harvard is trying to protect standards. It wants grades to remain meaningful. It wants students to understand the difference between good work and excellent work.
Reading this made me think about my own classroom.
My challenge is different.
I am not usually deciding who deserves the highest grade. I am trying to create a space in which experienced professionals are willing to think again.
That is not always easy.
Many of them have survived difficult bosses, impossible deadlines, reorganizations, market changes, and years of pressure. They have developed habits that help them function. They may not be eager to question those habits in front of their colleagues.
So I do not begin by expecting enthusiasm.
I begin with respect.
Respect Does Not Mean Lowering Standards
In corporate training, participants often sit beside people they work with every day.
Their colleagues are watching. Sometimes their managers are in the same room.
This changes the classroom.
If someone gives an incomplete answer, I do not try to embarrass them. If someone struggles to speak, I do not turn the moment into a public test.
Not because standards do not matter.
Because dignity matters too.
The next morning, these people still have to return to the same office, the same team, and the same relationships.
A classroom should challenge people. It should not humiliate them.
For me, psychological safety does not mean that every answer is correct. It does not mean avoiding difficult questions.
It means that people can think aloud without losing their dignity.
I can question an answer. I can introduce another perspective. I can ask someone to go deeper.
But I should also respect the courage it takes to speak in front of colleagues.
Respect and rigor are not opposites.
Good teaching requires both.
The People Who Are Already Shaping the Present
When people talk about education, they often imagine young people preparing for the future.
That matters.
But there is another kind of education.
It is education for people who are already shaping the present.
The people in my classroom may never become scholars. They may never write books. Some may never describe themselves as leaders.
But tomorrow morning, they will make decisions that affect other people.
They will decide how to respond to a mistake.
They will decide whether to listen to a junior colleague.
They will decide whether to protect a team member, challenge poor performance, share information, or remain silent.
Small decisions like these create the culture of an organization.
And organizations shape the economy.
That is why corporate education matters.
Not because every workshop changes a life.
Most do not.
A three-hour session does not suddenly produce a great leader.
But sometimes one question remains.
It returns during a difficult conversation. It appears during a performance review. It changes the way someone responds to conflict. It helps a manager pause before speaking.
That may sound small.
But a small change in one manager can affect many people around them.
The Pearls That Remain
Sometimes I think of teaching as scattering pearls.
Many may be forgotten by the end of the day. Some may seem irrelevant at first. Others may disappear beneath the pressure of daily work.
But perhaps one idea will remain.
Perhaps months later, someone will remember a question from the classroom.
Perhaps they will respond to a colleague with more patience.
Perhaps they will begin to see leadership not only as delivering results, but also as helping another person grow.
That possibility is enough for me.
Without these workshops, some people may never stop to think seriously about leadership.
They are busy.
The work continues. The meetings continue. The numbers continue.
There is rarely time to ask:
What kind of leader am I becoming?
What does my team experience when I enter the room?
Am I creating more leaders, or only more followers?
A classroom can create that pause.
Sometimes the pause itself is valuable.
Two Responsibilities of Education
Harvard reminds us that education must protect standards.
If excellence can describe everything, it eventually describes nothing.
My classroom reminds me that education must also protect possibility.
People should not be treated as finished simply because they are experienced. They should not be treated as incapable of growth simply because they appear tired, skeptical, or quiet.
A person may not expect to change.
That does not mean change is impossible.
The role of a teacher is not to force transformation.
It is to keep the door open.
To ask a better question.
To offer another way of seeing.
To protect dignity while challenging thought.
The people who quietly keep our companies, organizations, and economy moving deserve opportunities to think too.
If I can help one of their decisions become a little wiser, one conversation become a little more humane, or one team become a little stronger, then the classroom has done its job.
That is why I continue to teach. ■
First published on Substack on Oct 7, 2026 (JST). Archived here as part of the Fabio Caipirinha permanent archive (published on this site: Oct 15, 2026). Images from the original are omitted here pending rights clearance. Original: https://fabiocaipirinha.substack.com/p/when-people-step-inside-teaching
Cover image: Michael Faraday lecturing at the Royal Institution, London (Public domain, Wikimedia Commons — source)
