Education, Experience and Wisdom, Obama's Advisers
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As a boy, I spent my summers on farms in Indiana spending time with my mother’s side of the family. I played on the farm, worked the fields and spent time with farmers and their children. These were hard working people that weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. They toiled endlessly to provide for their families. They were loyal to their families, their country and to each other.
As a boy I always thought they were smart. As I got older I recognized that they were smart because of their experience. Working with the massive farm equipment, understanding the planting cycles and the markets for their products allowed them to be successful. They lacked the breadth of experience to know about many “worldly” issues, but they knew far more than many educated experts about farming.
I saw them speak to younger well educated people about farming and the one thing that always stood out in my mind was their knowledge about when and how to do things on the farm. The younger and “smarter” folks knew what to do but they didn’t understand the timing and broader implications of doing it. I always had respect for both, but I also learned that education without experience will result in a lack of success. Experience without education will result in limited success.
I became a college professor. I taught economics, statistics, finance and information systems. During that time I was very self-assured of my knowledge and thinking. After all, I was a member of the best and brightest. I scored well on my college boards and my graduate school exams. I graduated from each program with honors. I worked very hard (my parents taught me to work hard).
I was armed with the knowledge and theories that would surely open the eyes of the world. My students were enthralled with my quick whit and mental gymnastics. In the classroom I tended to be sarcastic and looked at business people as naïve. I made fun of their thinking and their decisions. I saw all the mistakes they made.
I became a product of the institutions that taught me. At one point in my teaching, I went through a change in ambition and decided to enter corporate America (I got married and I needed a real job that paid more money). In corporate America I worked with people of all abilities. One of the greatest revelations should not have been a revelation at all. I learned that even the less educated employees possessed valuable experience that allowed them to make better decisions than some of my well formulated ideas. I possessed the knowledge but lacked the experience. Their experience provided them with the wisdom about how to get things done.
With time, I too gained the experience to marry with my education to become an effective executive. Looking back on my career I realize that I relearned the lesson of my youth while working on those farms. Education without experience will result in a lack of success. Experience without education will result in limited success.
The Obama administration has looked to the best and brightest to advise him.
The Obama administration has fewer people without actual business experience or real world experience than any President in the past hundred years. They are smart, they are well educated and they lack experience and wisdom.
The following chart shows the percentage of the Presidents advisors that have real experience in the area that they advise on.
T. Roosevelt 38
Taft 40
Wilson 53
Harding 49
Coolidge 48
Hoover 42
F. Roosevelt 50
Truman 50
Eisenhower 57
Kennedy 30
Johnson… 47
Nixon 53
Ford 42
Carter 32
Reagan 56
GHW Bush 51
Clinton 39
GW Bush 55
Obama 8
Does it matter? The highly educated without experience assume that they know what is best and certainly better than those with less education. They come off as arrogant, as I did in my youth. What they don’t understand is the intricacies of the entire system that they are trying to change. Its not just getting the policy or the process right, it is understanding how those changes will affect other policies and processes. It is managing the people, rewards and recognition systems, technology, etc., and knowing the strengths and limitations that allows experience to guide results.
When someone with deep experience works on a problem, they understand these relationships because they have lived in that system. The Chairman of a company that I worked for in the 90’s called it “having a feel for the cloth”. It is a reference to a tailor that knows the best cloth and how to sew the cloth to get the best out of it based on the feel of the cloth. Others may be able to tell you the type of cloth, the bias of the cloth and the weave, but a master tailor knows how to make a beautiful garment from the cloth based on feel/experience.
Contrast this to someone that has data and analytic techniques to make decisions. Their data can only provide a view in to a limited aspect of the problem. They will feel very sure about their decisions based on their data, but they don’t know what they don’t know which is the real problem. I worked with someone like this. Never in doubt, but usually wrong is the way we described his decisions.
As the Obama administration continues to pursue it aggressive agenda of health care, cap and trade, two wars, jobs growth, international policy, etc, I ask myself, are his advisers smart people that are self assured about their knowledge and ability but lack the experience to know how to be effective? Do they have a feel for the cloth? Does the President have a feel for the cloth?
Show me someone that is educated, experienced and hard working and I will show you someone that is, or will be successful. Education, experience and hard work by themselves are not sufficient for success.
Rita Mae Brown
Writer, Feminist, Activist
Today's ZingerToon:
It's all because of Fradkin. He has terrible business sense,
but great leadership skills, and everyone is following him
down the road to ruin. Wall Steet Journal: Circa 1980's.
America's Health Care, Universal Health Care
The President's State Of The Union Speech
Supreme Court Rules On Corporate Political Advertising
A Republican In A Democrat's Seat. Brown In Kennedy's Seat.
How Parenting Style Shows Up In International Politics. Non-Verbal Communications.
The Role Of Government: Provider or Enabler?
The Corruption Of Health Care Legislation
Inflation Is Coming, Inflation is Coming. Inflation And The Deficit
The Administrations Decision Process For Afghanistan
President Obama's Job Fair and Search for Jobs
President Obama's Afghanistan Strategy and Speech
The Environmental Impact of Hybrid and Battery Powered Automobiles
Shameless Request For Support:
ZingerKing operates without advertising or government funding (obviously). The purpose is to inform and educate its readers about economic and political issues that affect our lives.
Help ZingerKing grow. Have you Zinged someone lately? Please forward a link to ZingerKing to a friend, family member or neighbor. If you enjoy reading the Zinger please subscribe (see the subscribe box at the top of the article in the purple side band). Subscribers receive the"Morning Briefing" when published with a link to the full article.Periodic alerts are sent to subscribers only with important updates and insights into critical issues. Your email address will not sold to others and will not be shared.
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Tuesday March 2, 2010
Today's
Zinger:
Education
Without Experience Will Result In A Lack Of Success. Experience Without
Education Will Result In Limited Success.
Good
judgment comes from experience, and often experience
comes from bad judgment.Who Said It?
Confessions Of An Academic:
As a boy, I spent my summers on farms in Indiana spending time with my mother’s side of the family. I played on the farm, worked the fields and spent time with farmers and their children. These were hard working people that weren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. They toiled endlessly to provide for their families. They were loyal to their families, their country and to each other.
As a boy I always thought they were smart. As I got older I recognized that they were smart because of their experience. Working with the massive farm equipment, understanding the planting cycles and the markets for their products allowed them to be successful. They lacked the breadth of experience to know about many “worldly” issues, but they knew far more than many educated experts about farming.
I saw them speak to younger well educated people about farming and the one thing that always stood out in my mind was their knowledge about when and how to do things on the farm. The younger and “smarter” folks knew what to do but they didn’t understand the timing and broader implications of doing it. I always had respect for both, but I also learned that education without experience will result in a lack of success. Experience without education will result in limited success.
I became a college professor. I taught economics, statistics, finance and information systems. During that time I was very self-assured of my knowledge and thinking. After all, I was a member of the best and brightest. I scored well on my college boards and my graduate school exams. I graduated from each program with honors. I worked very hard (my parents taught me to work hard).
I was armed with the knowledge and theories that would surely open the eyes of the world. My students were enthralled with my quick whit and mental gymnastics. In the classroom I tended to be sarcastic and looked at business people as naïve. I made fun of their thinking and their decisions. I saw all the mistakes they made.
I became a product of the institutions that taught me. At one point in my teaching, I went through a change in ambition and decided to enter corporate America (I got married and I needed a real job that paid more money). In corporate America I worked with people of all abilities. One of the greatest revelations should not have been a revelation at all. I learned that even the less educated employees possessed valuable experience that allowed them to make better decisions than some of my well formulated ideas. I possessed the knowledge but lacked the experience. Their experience provided them with the wisdom about how to get things done.
With time, I too gained the experience to marry with my education to become an effective executive. Looking back on my career I realize that I relearned the lesson of my youth while working on those farms. Education without experience will result in a lack of success. Experience without education will result in limited success.
The Obama administration has looked to the best and brightest to advise him.
The Obama administration has fewer people without actual business experience or real world experience than any President in the past hundred years. They are smart, they are well educated and they lack experience and wisdom.
The following chart shows the percentage of the Presidents advisors that have real experience in the area that they advise on.
T. Roosevelt 38
Taft 40
Wilson 53
Harding 49
Coolidge 48
Hoover 42
F. Roosevelt 50
Truman 50
Eisenhower 57
Kennedy 30
Johnson… 47
Nixon 53
Ford 42
Carter 32
Reagan 56
GHW Bush 51
Clinton 39
GW Bush 55
Obama 8
Does it matter? The highly educated without experience assume that they know what is best and certainly better than those with less education. They come off as arrogant, as I did in my youth. What they don’t understand is the intricacies of the entire system that they are trying to change. Its not just getting the policy or the process right, it is understanding how those changes will affect other policies and processes. It is managing the people, rewards and recognition systems, technology, etc., and knowing the strengths and limitations that allows experience to guide results.
When someone with deep experience works on a problem, they understand these relationships because they have lived in that system. The Chairman of a company that I worked for in the 90’s called it “having a feel for the cloth”. It is a reference to a tailor that knows the best cloth and how to sew the cloth to get the best out of it based on the feel of the cloth. Others may be able to tell you the type of cloth, the bias of the cloth and the weave, but a master tailor knows how to make a beautiful garment from the cloth based on feel/experience.
Contrast this to someone that has data and analytic techniques to make decisions. Their data can only provide a view in to a limited aspect of the problem. They will feel very sure about their decisions based on their data, but they don’t know what they don’t know which is the real problem. I worked with someone like this. Never in doubt, but usually wrong is the way we described his decisions.
As the Obama administration continues to pursue it aggressive agenda of health care, cap and trade, two wars, jobs growth, international policy, etc, I ask myself, are his advisers smart people that are self assured about their knowledge and ability but lack the experience to know how to be effective? Do they have a feel for the cloth? Does the President have a feel for the cloth?
Show me someone that is educated, experienced and hard working and I will show you someone that is, or will be successful. Education, experience and hard work by themselves are not sufficient for success.
Who Said It?
Rita Mae Brown
Writer, Feminist, Activist
Today's ZingerToon:
It's all because of Fradkin. He has terrible business sense,
but great leadership skills, and everyone is following him
down the road to ruin. Wall Steet Journal: Circa 1980's.
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ZingerKing Articles:
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articles.
America's Health Care, Universal Health Care
The President's State Of The Union Speech
Supreme Court Rules On Corporate Political Advertising
A Republican In A Democrat's Seat. Brown In Kennedy's Seat.
How Parenting Style Shows Up In International Politics. Non-Verbal Communications.
The Role Of Government: Provider or Enabler?
The Corruption Of Health Care Legislation
Inflation Is Coming, Inflation is Coming. Inflation And The Deficit
The Administrations Decision Process For Afghanistan
President Obama's Job Fair and Search for Jobs
President Obama's Afghanistan Strategy and Speech
The Environmental Impact of Hybrid and Battery Powered Automobiles
Shameless Request For Support:
ZingerKing operates without advertising or government funding (obviously). The purpose is to inform and educate its readers about economic and political issues that affect our lives.
Help ZingerKing grow. Have you Zinged someone lately? Please forward a link to ZingerKing to a friend, family member or neighbor. If you enjoy reading the Zinger please subscribe (see the subscribe box at the top of the article in the purple side band). Subscribers receive the"Morning Briefing" when published with a link to the full article.Periodic alerts are sent to subscribers only with important updates and insights into critical issues. Your email address will not sold to others and will not be shared.
Write To Us:
You can comment on any article by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of each article or you can write to us at ZK@ZingerKing.com
Posted by ZK at 3/2/2010 10:03 AM 
Categories: Obama Administration
Tags: Obama Administration Advisers
Categories: Obama Administration
Tags: Obama Administration Advisers
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