Experience is retarded

I just read a great post by Jeremiah Owyang about “The Four Elements of Career Management in Business” — highly recommended, but I have some issues with it.

First, the Founding Fathers had no experience in democracy. Neil Armstrong had no experience in moon landings. Your future and your past are actually two different things — something a friend of mine, Ted Ernst Sarvata, keeps reminding me of. Perhaps he doesn’t use precisely those words, but it’s an insight he has somehow been able to “give” me — and one that I value very highly. Putting the past behind you is a very important part of moving forwards (and I’m guessing that “smart employers” would also realize this “fact” ).

Second, this point — “experience” — and also the point about networking are both social issues. Social skills are very valuable — but they are also very much dependent on the society in question. One is very hard pressed to say that the White Rose was a successful movement. Likewise, Galileo was hardly a match for the Pope — and similarly, if someone were to caution that google.com is actually a “censorship engine” (rather than a “search engine”), then the question of how well that comes across as a credible argument significantly depends on how brainwashed the members of the society in question are.