Why I Don't Care About Experience

Though the media likes to spin it as if it's a fresh story, it's not. Every time elections roll around, the candidates get to talking about experience--how they have it while their competitors don't, how it's the one thing that really matters when it comes down to it. Well, I say phooey. I don't give a rat's ass about experience when it comes to deciding who I'm going to vote for for President, and here's why.

First, and most simply, I don't believe there's a job in the world that can prepare you to be President of the United States of America. No amount of "experience" can condition you for the amount of power and the amount of responsibility that you will wield as President. It is a job like no other, and I don't envy anyone it.

Secondly, and most importantly, I've seen what "experience" does. I've seen what happens when someone slowly climbs their way up the ladder to reach that top rung. What happens is that they get jaded. They begin to believe the company line. They greet any new idea with a "won't happen." They've seen it all. They know it all. And they immediately dismiss anything that doesn't fit with their "experience." I'm not simply referring to the U.S. government here, but to institutions and corporations throughout the country and world. Look at your own boss and think about whether it's true for them.

So tell me, please, how do we progress when we are led by people unwilling to take a risk because they've "been, there, done that, and know it won't work"? We don't. We walk down the same paths over and over, moving in circles, going nowhere, except maybe backwards.

Look around at companies that have really made it big. Look at the Googles of the world. Were they led/created by people with experience? More often than not, no. They were led by people with vision, people with ideas, people who were willing to try something no one else would because they didn't have the "experience" to be convinced it wouldn't work out.

I look around me and see young people who are smart---maybe even brilliant---, hardworking, and innovative. I see people who could do a better job leading their department, company, organization, or whatever than the "experienced" folks at the wheel. But they're told to wait their turn, to watch and learn, to gain the necessary "experience." What for? So their talent can go to waste and they can one day turn into the "experienced" drone who favors stagnation over growth because it's the less risky path?

Phooey, I say again. What inspires me isn't experience. It's the desire to make the world, the country, the company, the organization better. It's the willingness to listen to ideas, to try the unconventional, to believe that different isn't wrong. It's talent. It's intelligence. It's wit. It's daring. It's passion.