Sometimes experience means knowing that it can’t be done

Sometimes experience means knowing that it can’t be done, and that’s the problem. Innovation is the charge of the day and the buzzword that is used loosely in social and political circles. Yet have you ever wondered how experience impacts innovation? If it’s one thing that experience lends itself to, is knowing that it can’t be done, probably because you have tried it before. Let’s take a look at how that would of impacted history.

One of the most amazing accomplishments of man is the ability to fly. No matter how you think of it, it’s pretty amazing that an iron vehicle that weighs tons manages to not only take flight but do so loaded with cargo and passengers. Can you imagine how bizarre the individuals who purported human flight seemed hundreds of years ago? Just picture some guy working in a blacksmith shop or as a ranch hand tending horses saying that one day, man’s mode of transportation for long distances would be air travel. They would have thought him/her insane and may have even accused him of witchcraft. They would summarily convince him or at least try to convince him that it could never happen and thus it would never happen. Imagine if the Wright Brothers ascribed to the same philosophy? We would of still been riding bicycles!

Anything truly amazing that man has accomplished has been done void of the benefit of experience. These individuals had the audacity to believe the impossible could be accomplished.  We grew up watching the Jetsons, in awe of people talking through their watches, using videophones and eating food that was instantly prepared. We are living in that world now with cellphones, videoconferencing and microwaves!

True innovators are always pioneers in their field. They are the ones that lead commerce and society to new heights of accomplishments. They always carry labels like, crazy, stupid, eccentric or just plain loco, but every once in a while one of them realizes their hair-brained scheme and our way of life is transformed.

Now more than ever the benefit of experience is being negated, simply by the speed of technology. Everything that we implement to make things move faster incrementally makes everything else we do faster. It also multiplies our mistakes that much faster. Think about how long people listened to the conventional phonograph or record player as we know it. In the last 20 years alone those records, cassette tapes, reel to reels, VCR’s, laser discs, floppy discs and CD’s have all gone obsolete. The technology you adapt to today will be obsolete in less than two years.

Coming back from a 30,000 ft. view, how does this translate to the workplace? This is the perfect excuse to give inexperience a try. As we move further into the summer, I am pleased to see many bright young graduates returning to our shores from the Universities on the mainland and UVI looking for opportunity. It’s time for us as a community to give them one! The one thing that we are positive of is that they haven’t done it before and they don’t know that it can’t be done.

The future success of the Virgin Islands is forever married to the education we provide and the ability to attract and retain talent. This is the talent that we will need to man our workforce and power our economy. While tourism will probably always occupy a large part of our economy, we have an opportunity to provide services to the world via the Internet. Adaptation to using videoconferencing through Skype, networking through Facebook/Linked in or accessing information through Google, these are the masters of the modern day economic marketplace.

Not knowing you can fail, strongly increases your chance of success. Young people who still have the light in their eyes and believe that they can save the world and more specifically the Virgin Islands, just might. And even if they shoot for the stars and hit the clouds, they are bound to be a valuable asset to your organization. Remember, sometimes experience means knowing it can’t be done…..and that’s a problem.