I’m thrilled to share some exciting news with you! Today, I’ll be recognized at the inaugural faculty retreat of the American College of Financial Services and receive the Excellence in Teaching Award as an adjunct faculty member. It’s an incredible honor, and I couldn’t be more grateful for this journey.
Reflecting on this moment, I remember the first time someone called me “Teacher.” I was speaking to a group of middle school-aged students in Pristina, Kosovo, about leadership in 2017. They called me Teacher Tracey, and I was genuinely caught off guard. Until then, I had seen myself as many things: a leader, a speaker, a doer, a mentor, an advocate—but not a teacher. Teaching felt worlds away from my action-oriented approach to learning, where I believed the best lessons came from experience and doing.
Over the years, I realized that experience alone has its limits. Responding to the world around us is powerful, but it only gets us so far. That realization propelled me into a doctoral program, where I learned, unlearned, and relearned for four intense years. I wanted to complement my practical experience with a foundation in theory. It was there that I truly understood that, sometimes, we have to be taught and not just caught.
Then came a unique opportunity: to teach! I could become an adjunct professor, something I’d never imagined. Teaching, I discovered, is akin to leading in that it’s about creating favorable conditions where others can thrive and grow. But what makes teaching unique is how it brings us into the inner landscape of the self. Excellent teaching invites us to hold a mirror up to our own identity. It can form or deform our sense of self; the most tremendous teachers ensure it’s always the former.
I now think of teaching as a three-legged stool supported by logos, pathos, and ethos. These intellectual, emotional, and spiritual components hold up every great idea. First, logos is the intellectual aspect reflected in how I think about teaching. Lifelong learners raised me, and I fully understood and lived the power of continuous learning and personal development.
Next, there’s pathos—the emotional connection; how do the students feel about learning? My students are adult professionals hungry to deepen their leadership skills. Hearing their stories is one of the greatest joys I’ve encountered. On the first night of class, they talk about mentors who inspired or shared how they’ve long dreamed of developing themselves. Their excitement is contagious!
Finally, ethos is the spiritual piece manifested in the longing for growth and connection. The most important thing I’ve learned in my two years of “professorhood” is that while technique is important, showing up makes all the difference. By showing up, I mean being present in my students’ lives. I let them know they’re about to uncork levels of potential they never knew existed. Even if they haven’t written a paper in twenty years, their experience has prepared them to shine. My role is to guide them to take it one step at a time, helping them finish strong.
Teaching is one of the most incredible ways to serve others. It’s about igniting potential, fueling dreams, and building bridges to new horizons. I hope my journey inspires you to discover and nurture the tremendous teacher within yourself. Whether in the classroom, the workplace, or at home, we all have something valuable to teach—and even more to learn.
Thank you for being part of my journey. Here’s to the tremendous power of teaching and learning!
