“You train an animal. You teach a person.”

This quote from Sol Price has been rolling around in my head for a few days now. For some reason it resonates with me but at the same time I am not in full agreement. 

What’s the distinction between the two? 

In my mind, teaching is more about giving people the building blocks — the theoretical knowledge — to perform. Training is more about giving people a specific set of processes to follow. 

You might teach someone the principles of UI design, but train them on how to use Figma for example. Is that right? I don't know.

It does make me wonder whether companies put too much emphasis on training and not enough on teaching though, especially if we want them to innovate, problem solve, seize the initiative, etc. 

Might there be more value in teaching vs training?

It makes me think of this quote from Emerson which obviously predates the existence of women:

“The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who knows why will always be his boss.”

I don’t know much about teaching or training so I’m curious. What do you think?

See this post on LinkedIn