It's a challenge being a teacher: You must learn your subject, gain expertise in teaching, develop plans for every class, continually improve what you do, organize a room full of students, and grade lots of papers and exams.

With time, expertise and preparation improve. Teachers can find, however, that their initial enthusiasm wanes; as a result, their students may not be inspired as much as would be ideal.

Here's an often-praised pathway for career success: Get a great college education at a top school, follow with a graduate degree at another fine school, learn as much as you can by working under a wonderful mentor at a top organization, keep an eye out for opportunities, and start your own company with a terrific idea. But that pathway isn't available to very many people.

Many people want to become business and organizational consultants while serving in another role. Why? People who work in such consulting have a chance to work on important questions, earn good pay, and make a positive impact on our society. The preferred pathway into consulting for most people is to go to a highly esteemed university, do well in business and organizationally related courses, and be hired into a brand name consulting firm.

As a professor I'm always surprised by the gaps that brilliant students have in their knowledge of how to be effective in practical ways. Such students have already accomplished much; after all, it takes a special kind of aptitude to do well in the most difficult areas of knowledge. Perhaps because of having that rare gift some highly intelligent people are encouraged to focus solely on the most challenging subjects.

Who has academic freedom? Few graduate students would be able to recognize any application of the concept of academic freedom while they struggle to meet the many requirements for earning degrees that are an essential credential for entry into the hallowed groves of academia.

For a typical Ph.D. student, studies begin with two years of mostly mandatory classes on subjects that often have no relevance to the student's interests.

What makes some people love being where they are and want to stay there while others want to see what else there is? Clearly, curiosity must play a role. Beyond that, experience must reinforce curiosity by providing rewards. Like many adventuresome Australians, Bob Kudyba was born with the necessary curiosity and life has kindly rewarded him for acting to satisfy his curiosity.

When a puzzled school administrator called Mark Adamson's mother with a question about young Mark's views, his mother forthrightly replied, "Don't worry about him. Let him make up his own mind."

Mr. Adamson didn't have as much confidence as his mother did in his abilities to choose. As an adult, he described himself this way: "I never grasped concepts easily and I was, and still am today, the kind of person who has to study twice as hard and twice as long as the person next door.

Dr. Cam Sholey has more letters designating his qualifications than there are in his first and last names (BA, MBA, CMA, and PhD). He likes to learn and enjoys sharing that new knowledge with clients and students.

Who has he learned the most from? It's his young daughter, Samantha, who launched him into the new and challenging role as parent.

Ms. Carole Chehab was born into a loving family in Lebanon which pampered her as the eldest child. She was fortunate to be able to attend the finest schools and receive much encouragement at home. With such a sound foundation, it's easy to assume that her life would flow effortlessly forward toward her dream of becoming a lawyer.

Stop for a second, however, and consider where she is from .

For many years, people have had to choose between living in a lovely place near their family and being able to interact with more people in less attractive, more crowded places to gain new understanding and accomplish more. Those who live in an idyllic place blessed with flowers, music, and good weather find considering the alternative is painful and unattractive despite the apparent advantages.