When is not knowing more valuable than knowing?
Why are you often at your best when you are doing something for the first time?
In a rapidly changing world, experience can be a curse. Careers stall, innovation stops, and strategies grow stale. In her fascinating new book, "Rookie Smarts" Liz Wiseman shows how being new, naive and even clueless can be an asset.
For today's knowledge workers, constant learning is more valuable than mastery. Rookies are unencombered, with no baggage to weigh them down, no resources to burden them, and no track record to artificially limit their thinking or aspirations. "We tend to assume that newbies are bumbling, clueless clods, more likely to get in the way and slow things down," writes Wiseman. "But, I found that rookies actually operate with higher levels of self-awareness and move faster than their experienced counterparts. And, while they have weaker networks, they are driven to seek out expertise in others and, as a result, can bring more expertise to bear on a problem than experienced staffers."
Why does a lack of experience drive some people through a discomfort zone and up a learning curve toward new frontiers?
Like pioneers, rookies build paths through new territory every day whereas veterans tend to stay where it is comfortable and settle in. It's understandable why this happens. The more we do something the easier it gets. When we need something, we grab for what's in reach, so we don't have to move from our comfort zone.
Pioneers make do with a shovel in their hands. Living on the outpost, they find a way to feed themselves. Those who forge ahead build what doesn't exist, and occasionally dig their way out of peril. To build something new, they must be willing to explore, to learn, to fail, and to improvise. Above all else, they must be willing to work.
Like those who brave the frontier, rookies are willing to tolerate discomfort and manifest a relentless drive to tame the wilderness and survive. Their lack of experience places them on the fringe, where they are driven to meet basic needs and build a solid foundation.
Because rookies are in an uncharted territory and an often uncomfortable zone, they are driven and work tirelessly to make forward progress.
Source: Liz Wiseman: Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work