Experience vs. Potential

I heard a great line today. An older leader was asked, what would be his advice to young leaders. This was his answer: “You’re not as smart as you think you are, but you have more potential than you’ll ever know.” I know there are probably times I need to hear his, and definitely times I need to communicate this to others.

Experience is a noble teacher. It is relentless in its lessons. It is brutal with consequences. And it is gracious with victories. Young people sometimes forget this. We scoff at recommendations from the establishment, brooding about how things will never change, and wishing we could show them how it could be done.

I know this is true in parenting. How many times did I hear advice or comments come from someone further along the journey than I, and I laughed at how little they knew? Only to find out that they had spoken the truth. And how many times have I witnessed someone just starting the parenting journey, and I smile to myself? Because I’ve been there, I know what they’re thinking, and I am the wiser for having gone through it already.

I know this is true at work. When I see the “deer in the headlights” look from a junior engineer, or field a question that seems trivial, or spot the glaring error that they’ve so obviously made, I’m reminded that I was once where they are. I had the same look, asked worse questions, and made errors with zeroes on the end.

It’s not a matter of intelligence, but experience. When you’ve been around longer, you have the benefit of time, understanding, and the fact that “there is nothing new under the sun.” I remember my college days of living with my 87 year old grandfather. My small group of friends would often gather to study scripture and discuss the meaning of life, at least from the perspective of 21 year olds. Sometimes, when the group landed at my house, Grandpa would sit quietly while we debated the world, and then afterwards, he would laugh and say how much he enjoyed listening to us. Often, he would take his many decades of hard labor, 59 years of marriage to one woman, and a Bible that he must of read through a hundred times and in two sentences could set me straight on whatever the night’s topic had been. He must have thought, “You’re not as smart as you think you are.”

I think he also would have said, “but you’ve got more potential than you’ll ever know.” I don’t know if it’s a linear connection, but I think that potential must be inversely proportional to the amount of experience you have. With more experience, you just don’t have a need for potential, although I suspect you could never get to the end of it. King Solomon tried, and it didn’t work out as he planned, but that’s a completely different thought. One of the saddest commentaries I hear is someone being described as “not fully realizing their potential.” It’s usually applied to someone that has a lot of it (potential that is), but they squandered it.

What about you? Are you extremely experienced, or just full of a lot of potential? Either way, if you’re still breathing, you ought to be striving for what’s next. So, I’ll end with another thought I heard recently.

Make small, attainable short-term goals.
But make humongous, unreachable, ridiculous long-term goals.

That’s a recipe for reaching your full potential. Until I reach my full potential, I’ll be…

Just passing through,

Eric