APPRENTICESHIP: Learning Through Relationship

By Deborah Grant, Professional Coach and Organizational Consultant

Something important is missing from many workplaces in the United States, as most organizations don’t have this key ingredient firmly included in their planning. They have training programs, onboarding schedules, mentorship programs, and performance frameworks. What they rarely if ever employ, is the deliberate, structured way for their best people to pass their knowledge along to others for an enduring legacy, years, decades, or even centuries into the future—through apprenticeship.

Apprenticeship is the back-up mechanism not only for knowledge and skills, but, perhaps even more importantly, for what it is to be meaningfully human within a purposefully chosen career.

Here’s an example of an enduring legacy. Consider Kikkoman, America’s number one soy sauce maker, with a 60% market share, and the leading export brand in over 100 countries, sitting in that beautifully designed utilitarian bottle in kitchens and on restaurant tables across the USA and around the world.

The Kikkoman recipe for soy sauce traces back through nineteen generations of Japanese master brewers — each one refining, tweaking, and passing the craft hand to hand through medieval Japan. It was further refined by a Zen monk who carried a fermentation technique home from China in 1254 when he discovered that the magical liquid dripping from his miso barrels was something extraordinary, thereby adding to the delicious flavors of this beloved taste enhancer that adapts to almost any kind of cooking.

What Japanese brewers did with that discovery over the following centuries — devotedly refining the methodology and perfecting the brewing process — produced a soy sauce so distinct in flavor and complexity that it now outsells every other variety on earth. That knowledge lived in people, making Kikkoman’s knowledge and skills-based inheritance one of 800 years.

When Kikkoman opened its Walworth, Wisconsin, USA plant in 1973, they sent Japanese master brewers to live and work alongside the local workforce — because there is no other way to transfer this kind of knowledge. Today that small Wisconsin town produces more soy sauce than anywhere else on the planet, including China and Japan, supplying the number one brand in the United States and to more than 100 countries around the world.

This is an example of apprenticeship at its finest: a living chain of mastery, passed hand to hand across centuries, still arriving unbroken in your kitchen or on restaurant tables around the world. Not only is Kikkoman a soy sauce manufacturer; they have also mastered the countless subtleties of cross-cultural communications with persistent, thorough, smart business strategies. They have created their own powerful food supply chain organization (Japan Foods Corporation) that delivers many complementary quality products to grocery stores almost everywhere. Kikkoman represents much more than soy sauce.

I love the story of Kikkoman because it exhibits the careful curation of a precious legacy, generation after generation. The “back up hard drives” for Kikkoman’s knowledge are living, breathing human beings who respectfully received knowledge from their teachers and devotedly passed their knowledge down to their apprentices. Each understood their part in a long progression of human endeavor with pride and purpose, trusting that in some small part, their work would outlive them, as indeed it has.

In a previous article, I argued that we must each begin to think like entrepreneurs, regardless of whether we believe we have stable employment or not. An entrepreneurial mindset is an essential part of a sound survival strategy no matter what the job or role, especially because of the times in which we live. With the impact of AI, robotics, and quantum computing gaining momentum, it seems like the earth is shifting right under our feet, propelling us to reevaluate and restructure what is important to us. These collective shifts will determine how large numbers of people make a living. There are still many unknowns, but one thing is for certain. Massive change is on the way, and Entrepreneurship and Apprenticeship need to be two sides of the same coin.

Apprenticeship programs are popping up more frequently in human resources conversations in the USA these days. They are frequently framed as ways to keep students from “wasting” time in college, and to quickly place them into jobs where workers are sorely needed for repetitive, menial jobs. The practicality of this American view of apprenticeship, however commendable in some cases of urgency, misses the most essential, obvious point. A meaningful life of work cannot be based on repetitive and menial tasks alone, and scrambling to fill new roles for which few are prepared is not true apprenticeship. Simply creating a larger population of workers trained in specific routine skills will not contribute to a robust, vibrant, and growth-oriented economy. Unless, that is, apprenticeship includes much more than training for a hyper-specialized, limited set of tasks.

True apprenticeship surpasses the value of a logical skill set, but only in the presence of excellent master teachers. If students are to forego college, they’d better be exposed to teachers who carry the wisdom and complex experience of a true master, or the students will be left with nothing more than a hollow set of skills that become more quickly outdated than they can be expected to understand.

Masters at their craft, whether in the arts, industry, or business, do more than instruct; they model judgment, discipline, and profound dedication to their chosen field of endeavor, including its complexity. Skills and techniques are but a small part of the learning curve. Precision, patience, humility, intuition, muscle memory, camaraderie, and the abilities to collaborate within a finely tuned band of fellow humans are what make the work sing and the resulting products gleam.

Apprenticeship reflects what Takeo Doi, MD, in The Anatomy of Dependence, describes as amae—a form of mutual dependence that enriches both sides. The apprentice relies on the master’s attention, judgment, and care, while the master finds deep fulfillment in passing on knowledge they gained from working side-by-side with their own teacher before them, seeing it take root in the next generation. This is not a one-way transfer of skill but a living relationship through a long lineage of excellence: apprentices grow through being observed, guided, and encouraged, and masters are renewed through teaching in honor of those who taught them. At its best, apprenticeship becomes a shared bond in which both depend on one another—and both are strengthened and rewarded by it.

Apprenticeship is not only a human-centered model of learning—it is also a highly effective economic strategy. At a time when organizations are struggling with skills gaps, turnover, and the rising costs of hiring, apprenticeship offers a more stable and productive pathway. Unlike internships, which are typically short-term and observational, apprenticeships integrate individuals directly into meaningful work while they learn, creating value from the outset, lasting as long as three to five years.

Studies of apprenticeships in the United States make the case plainly: employers see a median return of roughly $1.44 to $1.47 for every dollar invested in an apprentice; about 90 percent of apprentices stay with their employers after completing the program; new hires reach full productivity faster through role-based, in-context training; and businesses avoid replacement costs that can run anywhere from 50 to 200 percent of an employee’s annual salary (see Sources below).

Taken together, these outcomes point to something larger than efficiency. Apprenticeship builds not only skills, but commitment, continuity, and depth of knowledge within an organization. In a world increasingly shaped by AI, where speed and output are easily replicated, knowledgeable teachers and masters who can skillfully guide apprentices may prove to be among the most valuable assets we have.

It is worth pausing on what, exactly, gets lost when knowledge transfer happens screen-to-human instead of human-to-human. A learning model can describe the steps to brew soy sauce, prune a bonsai, weld a submarine hull, or close a difficult deal. What it cannot do is hand over the judgment that tells a learner when the brew is ready, when the branch has more to say, when the weld will hold, when to stay silent in the negotiation and when to speak. That judgment lives in the body and in long relationship — in muscle memory, in the ear that hears something before the mind can name it, in the small course-corrections that accumulate over years of being watched and gently redirected.

Machines can compress information, but they cannot compress experience. They can answer questions, but they cannot model how to be in the room. Apprenticeship is how the part of human knowledge that resists encoding gets passed on at all. Lose the chain, and that knowledge does not migrate elsewhere; it simply ends.

What we admire becomes a part of us. Humans tend to admire those who are fair, kind, disciplined, creative, inspiring, principled, and attentive to others — and through long proximity, those qualities transfer. This is precisely why the choice of master matters so much. A teacher driven by narcissism or self-interest transmits something too: confusion, exhaustion, cynicism, and a hollowed-out version of the craft. The student either learns nothing of value or absorbs the wrong lessons entirely. Such enterprises rarely last. Apprentices drift away, peers withdraw their respect, and the work itself reveals its lack of quality. The transmission of character is not an optional benefit of apprenticeship; it is the mechanism. Choose the master well, because you are choosing more than a teacher — you are choosing what you will become.

We in the United States have a lot to catch up on in learning from other countries and cultures. In some countries, apprenticeship is still practiced faithfully, reliably ensuring a high level of productivity and excellence, transmitting centuries of knowledge in the arts, manufacturing, business, and even spiritual pursuits.

Here are just some of the apprenticeship programs (with links to short videos) currently being offered in other countries:

In Germany, the dual apprenticeship system — known as the Ausbildung — is as strong and as relevant as ever, and continues to offer the world one of its most instructive modern models. As of 2026, there are over 320 officially recognized training occupations in Germany, spanning mechatronics, nursing, banking, IT, baking, and everything in between — and apprentices hold actual employment contracts with legal protections and a monthly training salary from day one, with no tuition fees whatsoever. (Visit Live in Germany.) For example, BMW apprenticeship retention rates are exceptional and the return on investment measurable. The broader social benefit of the dual apprenticeship system remains striking: Germany consistently records the lowest rate of youth unemployment in the European Union.

Here is a short video overview of another example of the German dual system, for an older worker who wants to switch jobs, choosing a completely different career path by signing up as an apprentice to an historical renovation expert.

In the United Kingdom, apprenticeships have reached a genuine milestone. As of late 2025, BAE Systems — the UK’s largest defense and technology company — reported a record 6,800 apprentices and graduates in active training across its UK operations, having recruited more than 10,000 early-career workers and invested over £1 billion in education and skills since 2020. (Visit The Manufacturer.) The scope of their programs is striking: over 60 pathways covering steelwork, engineering, cybersecurity, software development, finance, and project management — across four levels, from entry craft training to degree apprenticeships. 

Almost 30% of BAE’s newest apprentice cohort is female, compared to just 15% across the wider UK engineering and technology sector. Cheyenne, a third-year steelwork apprentice in the company’s submarines division, found both hands-on variety and long-term purpose: “Working on a program that’s critical to the UK’s defense is something I’m very proud of,” she says of her experience as an apprentice. (Visit ADS Advance).

In the media industry, this short video shows a teenager stepping off the expected college path and into an apprenticeship that taps her real strengths—opening the door to a genuinely fitting role — a day in the life of a UK apprentice at Channel 4 in London.

In hundreds of different arts and crafts, Japan has many well-worn paths for apprentices to follow. The “wax on, wax off” method portrayed in the Karate Kid by Pat Morita is still alive and well, and thankfully there are some of these true teachers left. Whether this ancient system survives in the age of social media is in question, because many young Japanese are at sea just as so many young people are everywhere. Many of these small businesses and craft shops are waiting eagerly for more apprentices to arrive, and Americans are filling some of those spots. 

In a beneficial development due to the aging population of Japan, it may be foreigners who step in to retain the wisdom of generations in so many of these small enterprises that up until now have been carried generation to generation. Because now, sadly, with no heirs to take over, they might otherwise perish. As I write this, many American young people are reaching out for these opportunities and are living and working in both the cities and rural areas of Japan, learning by doing under the care of what may be the last group of truly great masters in many fields of arts and small-scale manufacturing.

Here is a clip about a “Day in the Life” of a bonsai apprentice in Japan. As un-glamorous as the life of a true apprentice might be, the work is deeply satisfying and character building.

In Japanese business, there is the implied apprenticeship of the kaban mochi — literally, “the one who carries the briefcase.” A junior employee is chosen by senior management to shadow an elder for years: traveling with them, sitting silently in meetings, taking notes, absorbing the rhythms of negotiation and the unspoken weight of long-term strategic thinking. Western readers may hear “shadowing” and think of a job-shadow day or a six-month mentorship, but kaban mochi is something different in kind, not degree. It is a multi-year, full-immersion handing-down of discernment itself — closer in spirit to the bonsai apprentice or the master brewer than to anything most American corporations recognize. It is part of Japan’s lifelong employment tradition, which is shifting now to accommodate more part-time and contract work with looser ties to employers. Even so, most new graduates entering Japanese companies are still essentially treated as apprentices: groomed over time to rise through the ranks and to carry the best of the organization forward in their minds and hearts.

In the USA, some states are now actively encouraging companies to develop apprenticeship programs, and each state will need to refine how apprenticeships will take shape. The governor of Massachusetts, for example, recently released this informational video on their pledge to support apprenticeship programs. And there are many more effective models both here and abroad we can study, emulate, and adapt. But overall, in the USA, we would greatly benefit in learning more about what we don’t know enough about. The art and science of apprenticeship in its highest and best form is one of those areas. 

Here, in the field of commerce, the worth of a worker seems to be measured by the manifestation of profit and salary in the short term. The one who amasses money in almost any fashion, whatever the size of the corporation, is recognized as a hero, with fewer references made to character. Knowledge is treated as a given, with lesser importance. Teachers or masters are often given a back seat.

Then there is the economic status of the apprentice in the process of learning. Some apprenticeships don’t pay enough to cover a living wage. The true meaning of apprenticeship — not simply a way of quickly deploying cheap labor — is not about promoting a new form of enslavement. Focused on growth and excellence, apprenticeship pay must be fair, with committed teachers who ensure commensurate opportunities for apprentices' career growth in the future.

The transmission of good character is one of the core benefits and measurable successes of apprenticeship. The student is not only learning to emulate the master teacher’s set of skills, but by such close and consistent proximity, will over time be molded (or driven to resistance or rebellion) by the teacher’s faults and idiosyncrasies. The good character of the master will be reflected in the devoted student. To ensure value and longevity, apprenticeship programs must assume a strong moral code of ethics that values the apprentice’s unique contributions even as they carry their teacher’s legacy forward.

In conclusion, if machines increasingly take on tasks, generate outputs, and even simulate expertise, we must ask ourselves: what becomes of the human layer of knowledge — the subtle judgment, the lived experience, the craft that is passed from person to person?

It takes only two, three or four generations at most to lose the memory of valuable knowledge that we have worked for thousands of years to amass, bit by hard-earned bit. As quickly as it has taken many exquisite species of plants and animals to disappear through eradication, climate change, and human carelessness, we forget we are just as fragile as these organisms.

In large part, we have thrived as humans when we value meaningful work with a sense of satisfaction for accomplishing work well done. Revisiting the critical transfer of knowledge through thoughtful application of apprenticeships as our built-in “data repository and back-up system” may well turn out to support our very survival, both physically and psychologically.

It is true that we need to be quick in our response and reinvent ourselves through our work as this era demands with that urgent survival mindset. But simultaneously, we must be devoted to the best part of the legacies we carry in our minds and bodies — which is like no other organism on Earth, and likely unique in our universe. Just as quickly, we need to commit to a healthy long-term view of what it means to be human and conscientiously guard our hard-earned knowledge with reverence by making absolutely sure it is passed on, human to human, down the line.

Envisioning how we want things to turn out is the most urgent work in front of us, and we have less time for it than we may think. Are we willing to risk the most precious, most beautiful aspects of our existence because we did not take up the assignment of fully appreciating the best of what it is to be human? The qualities worth identifying, protecting, and passing on are still ours to treasure — and ours alone to claim.

Whether our sense of urgency includes an expansive view of the best of who we are remains to be seen. But we, each and every human being, now more than ever, will play an important part in determining the outcome.

Sources

Apprenticeship research and statistics

•       U.S. Department of Labor, Do Employers Earn Positive Returns to Investments in Apprenticeship? American Apprenticeship Initiative final report, Abt Global, 2022. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/OASP/evaluation/pdf/AAI/AAI_ROI_Final_Report_508_9-2022.pdf

•       U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeships. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep/program-areas/apprenticeship

• Apprenticeship.gov, Investing in Talent Development. https://www.apprenticeship.gov/sites/default/files/aai-infographic-employers-11-11-22.pdf

•       Jobs for the Future, The Next-Gen IMT Apprenticeship: A Return on Investment Study. https://www.jff.org/idea/next-gen-imt-apprenticeship-return-investment-study/

•       Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), employee turnover and replacement cost research. https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/tools/forms/turnover-cost-calculation-spreadsheet

Germany — Ausbildung

•       Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), data on recognized training occupations.

•       Live in Germany, How To Do Ausbildung in Germany. https://liveingermany.de/ausbildung-in-germany/

•       BMW Group, apprenticeship programs and the MOVE international exchange. https://www.bmwgroup.com/

•       Eurostat, EU youth unemployment data, October 2025.

United Kingdom — BAE Systems

•       BAE Systems, Record £1 Billion Skills Investment as BAE Systems Set to Recruit Thousands More Apprentices and Graduates in 2025. https://www.baesystems.com/en-uk/article/record-1-billion-skills-investment-as-bae-systems-set-to-recruit-thousands-more-apprentices-and-graduates-in-2025

•       The Manufacturer, coverage of BAE Systems skills investment. https://www.themanufacturer.com/articles/record-1-billion-skills-investment-as-bae-systems-set-to-recruit-thousands-more-apprentices-and-graduates-in-2025/

•       ADS Advance, BAE Systems Reaches Training Milestone. https://www.adsadvance.co.uk/bae-systems-reaches-training-milestone.html

Japan

•       Takeo Doi, MD, The Anatomy of Dependence, Kodansha International, 1973.

Kikkoman

•       Kikkoman Corporation, corporate history. https://www.kikkoman.com/en/culture/soysaucemuseum/history/

•       Kikkoman Corporation, soy sauce business overview. https://www.kikkoman.com/en/corporate/business/soysauce/

•       Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Kikkoman Builds on Success in Wisconsin. https://wedc.org/success-in-wisconsin/success-stories/kikkoman-builds-on-success-in-wisconsin/

•       Artful Living Magazine, How Kikkoman Soy Sauce Changed a Wisconsin Community. https://artfulliving.com/kikkoman-soy-sauce-walworth-wisconsin-plant/

Videos referenced in the article

•       Germany’s dual apprenticeship system — overview. https://youtu.be/fzNM2BqKsxs

•       A day in the life of a UK apprentice at Channel 4 in London. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrP8MtmPjRE

•       A day in the life of a bonsai apprentice in Japan. https://youtube.com/shorts/OBgY5W-0Ov4

•       Office of the Governor of Massachusetts, apprenticeship pledge announcement. https://youtu.be/UaxByh0zPLg