Experience vs. Talent

As is often the case, while I type up this blog post, the television blares on in front of me. In the past I’ve typed away to the likes of American Idol, or the assorted sitcoms that populate nighttime T.V. Tonight though is a little bit different. On a rare occasion I’ve set the channel on MSNBC in order to tune in to the Democratic Candidates Debate in Ohio, my support and like of Barack Obama a secret to nobody.
I’ve probably said uncountable times that Tribal politics more than most people would admit has come to mirror mainstream politics, and this whole primary, not just within the Democratic Party but in the Republican race as well, has only served to confirm my belief. Whether that is because certain parallels exist across most democracies or because politicians have learned to hit the same notes that appeal to a broad constituency and are generally universal is hard to say. Either way, I’ve noticed a practice being thrown out there of separating experience and talent/hope/optimism/education that has become somewhat personal for me. You are especially seeing this within the Democratic primary, as Hillary Clinton constantly touts her 30 or so years of experience, although John McCain is doing so as well.
This is personal for me because it was an issue that I’ve faced for a number of years now, and especially after first being elected Tribal Chair in late 2006. A notable elder of the Tribe blasted me in my first meeting as Chair, noting that I was “just a baby” during Restoration, and that this somehow impaired my ability to do the job. It was not easy to take, especially publicly. Quite often, I think, comments about being too young are mired in the same vein of thinking as inexperience. They could be one and the same; youth equals inexperience to some people.
Entering my fourth year as a Council member, I realize fully the value of experience. True to what some might tell you, experience is irreplaceable, and with very few substitutes. It sure makes a big difference when typing up a resume or filling out a job application. In politics, though, it's a little different. Experience is also one of the most misleading resume points that a person can possess, especially if a person’s breadth of experience has been more characterized by failure and ineptitude as opposed to success. Sometimes, depending on what lies ahead, experience is far from being enough.
I go on this little rant because it has become a theme during the Presidential primaries, and because it has become more frequent in Council discussions, enough to make me sigh and roll my eyes and think of better days. Over the last two weeks, especially, as we are dealing with a situation that I’d assumed experience would have made for better preparations. But therein lies one of the major flaws with experience: it creates within some people the belief that they really are prepared for anything, that time put into a certain job has amounted to unflinching wisdom and innate ability to never be wrong.
I expect “experience” to be major selling point for at least one candidate during this year’s Council elections. Will anybody bother to ask about the specifics of that “experience”? As Barack Obama has pointed out in his debates with Hillary Clinton, experience as campaigned on usually is a glossed-over version of what happened where successes are handpicked and highlighted and generally presented as being the norm of the experience. Sometimes the best form of experience is actual failure, although I don’t expect too many politicians to ever use those anecdotes.
There is something to be said for talent and fresh ideas, even of the raw variety. It doesn’t always equate to new faces, but at the very least new ideas and hopefully a new way of doing things. I was told once or twice that the difference between an optimist and a pessimist is that a pessimist usually has better information. There is sadly more truth to that than I like to admit. But I’m not ready to sell optimism down the river just yet.
For one, I believe that given the choice of talent and experience it is best to take talent, which usually represents upside. Experience is often safer. But once in a while, the right combination of experience and talent come along, the kind that knows that while anything is possible, not everything is probable, and experience allows a person to know which is which.
That is my philosophical rant for the day.