Time VS Experience

Being in the business of motivation and influence, understanding what will get someone excited and passionate about a goal is important to me.  I also want to know what are the "dissatifiers" – what decreases motivation.  I seem to be noticing a lot of dissatisfaction between the young workforce and the "older" workforce.  This conflict is affecting the motivation and passion of both groups. 

I was recently introduced at a meeting as someone who had years of experience in a specific area.  I commented that the word experience is simply a euphemism for old – chuckle, chuckle.  But it got me thinking about what experience really means.  And I think I hit on one of the reasons the Gen Y/Millenials and Boomers are having these disconnects.

As we have seen in blogs and the business mags, there is a mild shoving match going on between the old and new guard.  Millennials want to contribute and are chomping at the bit but the old regime is resisting  – citing age, experience and "paying your dues" as reasons why they don’t offer the up-and-commers the chance.  I think the issue is the definition of experience.

For Boomers experience is time-dependent.  Like my comment in the meeting, experience equals old.  Therefore, in the older generation’s eyes the only way to be experienced is to put in some time.  But in todays hyperactive, hyper-connected world can we make that assumption?  I started thinking about what my experiences had been and for the first 10 years of my career.  During those 10 years I would say they were time-dependent.  I learned at the pace of the business.  The pace of the business was dictated by the style and technology of that business.  Couple of pitches a month, one face-to-face presentation every couple of months, a big dog & pony presentation once a or twice a year.  That was my time-based experience curve.

The last 10 years have been much more compressed.  The internet, blogs, proliferation of business books, email discussions, daily conversations with potential clients about their business, online bid responses, white paper submissions, more discussion on the phone, conference calls with people in the UK, India, etc.  My experience is activity-based not time-based.  Therefore, I’ve probably put an extra 10 years in – no wonder I get tired earlier.

But what this says to me is that I have to change my definition of experience.  And I have to apply that to others.  When I next talk to a Millennial I’ll ask about their activity-based experiences.  How many blogs to they subscribe to and read, number of conversations about business, life, etc. do they have?  What hobbies, activities do they participate in?  Based on what I’ve been reading the 20-somethings of today are more connected and more active than ever before.  That would seem to equate to more experiences.

The bottom line is that us Boomers need to look at the subsequent generation through the lens of activities – not time – when determining experience.  I’m betting in many cases the younger person has much more experience than the older person.

Or am I senile?