Meet Moxie: Small Mouse, Big Lesson

Yesterday, we talked about making one good move. Today, let’s make that move together.

Meet Moxie the Mouse, the newest little personality joining the LG3 family. She is curious, determined, and willing to tackle something bigger than herself. Preferably after coffee.

Moxie will be bringing us small, practical challenges to help turn learning into action. Her first challenge comes with a twist:

Teach someone something, and watch what you learn.

Two people, two directions of growth

We often think of mentoring as knowledge flowing from an experienced person to someone learning the ropes. The mentor explains. The mentee, or mentoree, listens, practices, and develops.

But a good mentoring relationship gives both people room to grow.

The learner brings questions. The mentor has to slow down, explain their thinking, and sometimes reconsider something they have done automatically for years.

“Why do you do it that way?”

Six little words. Suddenly, your perfectly ordinary Tuesday has become an examination of your entire process.

And “because I always have” is looking rather underdressed for the occasion.

Think about teaching someone to drive

If you have driven for years, many actions happen with very little conscious thought. You check your mirrors, judge your position, ease off the accelerator, and adjust your steering. Those practiced movements can feel like muscle memory.

You still need to pay attention, of course. But you no longer have to talk yourself through every movement.

Then you try to explain driving to a beginner.

Suddenly, “just pull away” is a spectacularly unhelpful instruction.

You have to unpack it. What should they check first? Where should they look? How do they coordinate the controls? How do they know it is safe to move?

You begin noticing the steps your own experience has quietly bundled together.

Explaining them can sharpen your awareness of your own driving. You may notice a habit that needs attention or rediscover the reason behind a step you have taken for granted.

The beginner is learning how to drive. You are learning how to make your experience visible.

Your work has its own muscle memory

The same thing happens at work.

Perhaps you can spot an unusual invoice almost immediately. You know how to structure a report, ask a useful audit question, or recognize when a project explanation does not quite add up.

But can you explain what caught your attention?

Was it the amount? The timing? A missing document? A contradiction between what someone said and what the records showed?

Teaching someone encourages you to turn “something feels wrong” into observations they can understand and test.

That helps them develop judgment. It also helps you examine the basis of your own.

And sometimes their question reveals a gap. That is a useful discovery, even if your ego needs a biscuit afterward.

You do not need to know everything to help someone

Mentoring can begin with one task, one conversation, or one useful explanation.

Show a colleague how you organize evidence. Help someone rewrite a confusing paragraph. Explain how you check an AI response before using it. Walk through a project decision and the questions you considered.

Be clear about what you know, and be comfortable saying, “Let’s check that.”

Then give the learner room to try. Ask them to explain their approach, rather than simply repeat yours. Their thinking may give you something useful to take away, too.

Moxie’s challenge: teach one thing

This week, choose one skill you use regularly and help someone else practice it.

Explain the steps and the reasons behind them. Invite questions. Let them have a go.

Afterward, ask yourself:

What did I understand more clearly because I had to explain it?

Perhaps you found a better way to describe the task. Perhaps you noticed an assumption, corrected a habit, or realized how much you have learned.

That is the lovely thing about sharing knowledge. You give someone a place to begin, and you may find a new place to grow.

Moxie approves. She is already looking for someone to teach her how to reach the coffee machine.

Learn it. Grow it. Own it.