The other side of experience, knowledge and intelligence.
Every month I have the privilege of listening in on multiple events where highly successful professionals share nuggets of wisdom on best practices, hacks, habits and prospects for the future.
From time to time, I will be sharing a few personal takeaways from events in an attempt to connect the dots and with a goal of opening the key points for a wider debate.
Here are three points that stuck during the Inside the C-Suite Series with Wandia Gichuru and the Fireside Chat with Darshan Chandaria.
- Domain independence is domain dependent.
In the Inside the C-Suite series episode 6, Wandia Gichuru, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Vivo Activewear, pointed out the other side of the coin about the role experience plays in determining the success of a business.
The more experienced you are when launching a business, the more you have to unlearn- Wandia Gichuru.
Experience is the go-to for speed characterized by the expertise (know-how) in system building, blitzscaling, leveraging connections for business development but it is not a guarantee of velocity characterized by figuring out the product-market fit. This involves a certain mindset that supports the ability to learn, relearn and unlearn- needs of the customer.
2. Techne Apprenticeship
Darshan Chandaria, CEO Chandaria Group of Companies, attributes his parents as having had the biggest impact on his career. I would go ahead and say that he is a product of techne apprenticeship (and academic learning) derived from Plato’s techne (crafts and know-how).
Looking at our current society there is a big emphasis on episteme (book knowledge, know what) through institutional learning which in turn (directly or indirectly) reduces the impact parent/guardian(s) have to play in determining the success of their kids from a business perspective. A series of personal questions for self-reflection include:
- Did you grow up knowing specifically knowing what your parent/guardian(s) did?
- At what stage did your knowledge translate from knowing the title e.g. “PR manager”, “pastry chef”, “portfolio manger”, “welding machine operator” to an intermediate understanding of the role?
- When were you introduced to the pathos, ethos and logo of their profession?
- How much of what you knew about your parent/guardian(s) profession do you attribute to active apprenticeship, distant observation and school?
In as much as our interests may vary with our parent/guardian(s), there are quite a fair share of heuristics (unwritten rules of thumb) that can actively be passed down through active apprenticeship.
A note for parents: Use the wealth of knowledge in a family tree by sending your kids to holidays with open-minded relatives willing to share insights about their profession and hobbies.
3. Surround yourself with people smarter than you.
“Make a conscious effort to surround yourself with the smartest people.” -Darshan Chandaria
This phrase is the most circulated words of wisdom I’ve ever come across by successful people. But the less talked about part is how to identify smart/intelligent people. Misconception: Smart does not always equate rich (material wealth) or always right (decision making). These can only take you a few steps.
These two quotes perfectly answer the question:
“The smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they’d already solved. They’re open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.” — Jeff Bezos.
“Real intelligence lies not in the individual, but in the evolutionary process — the ongoing process of trial-and-error.” — Nassim Taleb.
See you in the next one 😊
