Good things take time. Put in the time.
Talent is important, but actual experience is importanter.
Hi guys,
Hope you are well. I’m doing okay, Alhamdulillah.
I write this in bed at 11:04 am on a warm Sunday morning. It’s so hot today lol. I’ve had a restful weekend, my favourite type of weekend. It involves 1. not working, 2. no attempts to fulfill any major commitments or obligations, and 3. a lot of time spent consuming content. I love ittt.
Being in this state for me is rarely because I have nothing to do (as my never-ending to-do list will prove), but because I choose to prioritize myself and push back on everything else. Just yesterday, a friend invited me to lunch. It was a kind offer and would have been a great opportunity to catch up 1-on-1 with someone I care about, but when I saw that the restaurant was 50 minutes away from home (ordinary 50 minutes o 😅), I declined.
I hope to continue prioritizing myself over the next few weeks. Anything that is not life or death will have to wait. 😊
—————
Not too long ago, I had a long conversation over lunch with an Ivy-league educated, international Olympiad-winning young(er) person. As you may guess, he is super intelligent. Probably one of the smartest people I have met.
He had been asking about my learnings in my current job, so I shared that,
“This is probably my first job in which I genuinely appreciate the value of experience versus talent or technical tools. In most of the other jobs I had, an increase in my natural aptitude, education, or understanding of technical tools would have made me better at work. In this role, the main determinant of success is how much experience you have…and getting that experience takes time.”
He was skeptical. His preliminary thinking (as we young, smart, and somewhat exposed young people tend to think) was that experience could be de-emphasized, and that the biggest drivers of success for people and organizations was great talent and new technology. And you can’t blame him. Our generation (millennials x Gen Z x whatever it is we call ourselves) has been wired very differently from our parents, especially in thinking about career success.
Some 30 or 40 years ago, our parents’ generation might have dreamt of getting stable jobs in places like UAC or Wema Bank, hoping to steadily progress through the ranks for 10 years to become an “Assistant Manager” and get a brand new car. Finally, they would then be able to ‘coordinate’ things and be part of the decision-making process, versus just being a cog in the wheel.
Our generation meanwhile, has the good fortune to wake up one day, do a 6-week Product Management course, and suddenly proclaim ourselves ‘Aspiring Product Manager’ or ‘Budding Product Manager’. If we are persistent in seeking out additional training and experiences, our dreams will come through. People with only a few years of work experience (and sometimes less!) can become Product Managers, and are already part of the ‘coordination’ or decision-making process for certain products or functions in an organization. Amazing stuff.
Similarly, our parents’ generation rarely aspired to positions like ‘Director’ or C-level status in those companies. The Director seats were often reserved for the oyinbos that came from the US, Germany, Netherlands, or wherever else. And if it was a Nigerian corporation, then those seats generally belonged to the founding family and their children.
On the other hand, our generation has been exposed to the evolution of technology and acceleration of venture capital funding in emerging markets, which has led 300-level Engineering boys at Unilag to dream not of being SIWES interns at Nigerian Bottling Company, but instead ‘Chief Technology Officers’ of startups they are working on.
The combination of these and other factors have enabled us to dream bigger and think very differently about our approach to work, and how we aspire to be rewarded for it - financially and otherwise. In general, this has been a net positive for the world.
But it comes at a risk. The risk is that many of us believe too much in our natural aptitude, excellent education, and self-training, often forgetting that actual experience or subject-matter expertise is important too. While social media will have us believe that ‘success’ or ‘leadership’ is for young people with immense talent and a ‘vision to change the world’, I think that perception is false.
The correct picture of ‘success’ or ‘leadership’ is many times someone with grey hair. For it is often by repeated experience with a topic, problem, or function (not to even mention wisdom or maturity) that a person develops the expertise needed to drive organizations forward.
There is a reason why 28-year-old Google co-founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, brought on 46-year-old Eric Schmidt as Google CEO in 2001, or 24-year-old Mark Zuckerberg brought on 39-year-old Sheryl Sandberg as Facebook COO in 2008.
Talent, education and innovation are great, but experience is valuable too.
** Jara content:
وَأَوْرَثْنَا ٱلْقَوْمَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَانُوا۟ يُسْتَضْعَفُونَ مَشَـٰرِقَ ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَغَـٰرِبَهَا ٱلَّتِى بَـٰرَكْنَا فِيهَا ۖ وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَتُرَبِّكَ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ عَلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ بِمَا صَبَرُوا۟ ۖ وَدَمَّرْنَا مَا كَانَ يَصْنَعُ فِرْعَوْنُ وَقَوْمُهُۥ وَمَا كَانُوا۟يَعْرِشُونَ
And We caused the people who had been oppressed to inherit the eastern regions of the land and the western ones, which We had blessed. And the good word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because of what they had patiently endured. And We destroyed [all] that Pharaoh and his people were producing and what they had been building.
-Surah 7 verse 137
Have a great week. ✨
Very insightful and interesting to read as always.
Thank you for sharing from your wealth of wisdom.