Jon Ims sat in an NSAI music workshop class for songwriters on July 18 in Nashville. This guy, who is a songwriter teacher and also a seasoned professional with hits that include "She's In Love With the Boy," is learning more, along with several other writers and myself. Sitting on the front row with his pride stashed for the full two-and-a-half hour session, presented by Danny Arena, on things such as chords, motifs, modulation, inversions, rhythms and today's melody types, like a schoolboy who also volunteered questions.

Jon said he didn't mind me writing about him as long as it was positive, when I asked him during the break. This, I'm sure, is not what he expected, but Jon made a valuable impression on me and others in the class.

He could have found other things to do.

He could have stuck his nose in the air and assumed he is above and beyond this music class. But he is a professional and most professionals realize that one of the most (or the most) important rules of learning is to be humble enough to allow room to grow.

Pride can be a learning killer for songwriters or any other profession. We need pride. But stash it when it comes to improving what we do