It contends that in a former lifetime when things were fairly stable and developments happened less often, it made sense to look for people who had 20+ years of experience in a given field. However, when the landscape is constantly changing, how can we really rely on experts of anything? By the time anyone can proclaim they’re an expert nowadays, the field of knowledge has become obsolete. This is especially pronounced when it comes to technology.

It is always helpful for even so-called experts to look at things through beginners’ eyes. Some of the most accomplished jazz musicians say that the more they play, the more they discover how much they have yet to learn. To avoid ruts and cliches, they look at the notes and chords they’ve gotten to know through different angles, as if to go from that transition of “amateur” to “professional” once again. It’s roughly analogous to realizing that graduation exercises are called “commencement,” as if to remind us that this is only the beginning. (Or as Kansas puts it, “If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don’t know.”)

Great ideas can come from anybody, especially from those who haven’t let experience poison them. That applies to persons of any age, from those just starting out to those who’ve been around a while. As one of my college professors used to love saying, “The most important part of an education is knowing when to throw it away.”