Experience vs Sagacity

If you are asked to choose one of them, which one would you? Let’s pick these two and discuss them individually.

Note: By sagacity I mean to establish a quality to be wise enough to understand any given situation as quickly as possible and suggest a solution for a problem at hand with extreme precision.

Experience is a quantifiable quality measured in terms of time and exposure to a certain scenario. A person who worked for 10 years as a carpenter is more experienced to a person who worked for 2 years. It’s a simple math. But it really does not gives a clear picture of a person’s understanding and depth of knowledge in any particular subject. On the other hand we have sagacity. It’s a quality which cannot be measured, but it can be felt. Sagacity is the quality possessed by astute and dedicated individuals. A person with no knowledge of a subject can be more productive than an experienced individual at times.

Now it depends on a person whether he/she wants to gain experience or sagacity. They are not the qualities that are gained by birth. They are acquired by time. I’m not saying that an experienced person is waste and is not worth giving respect. But considering an experienced person above a capable person is certainly intolerable. I will quote Ayn Ran here. “Why should ineptitude exists and have its say?” It’s not that experienced person is inept. He/she is certainly an asset, but he should use this asset to re-define the standards and produce sagacious humans.

Since I am from IT industry, I have seen experienced individuals getting promoted based on their level of seniority and inexperienced getting oppressed even after being capable of learning more quickly than the experienced person. This is not the ideal world we would wanna create for our future generation. We would like to promote talented and enthusiastic individuals. Then only we can consider the system to be fair and wise.

When I joined my first company, I was as experienced as a new-born. But the level of transparency I experienced there made me the man I am today. All my curiosity was nurtured by highly talented and experienced leaders. I was given a highly competitive environment, where I can prove myself to be better than even an experienced employee. I loved it and I cherished it. It helped me grow as much as I desired.

I experimented with different technologies and adopted untested methods. I failed and I tried again. I was considered as much man as my seniors were. And so I became one.

I would recommend all my countrymen, with all due respect as a proud Indian, to be open-minded and not be influenced by the sheer quantum of experience a person holds. There’s more to a person than just years on the resume. I would recommend that an individual should be judged based on the capability to deduce, discuss, analyze and scale based on the situation. This will certainly result in a drastic change of one's mentality towards every phase of life, hence leading to a better society.

 Brain learns slowly, experience is slow. Talent is fast. Take enough time, find your talent. Find something you love to do and invest yourself into that. Give life a shot.