Why years of expertise can actually work against you
Read time: 5 minutes
You always hear people being described as having "X years of experience".
It sounds impressive, and in most cases it is. But I've started wondering whether the number of years you've done something can actually be a hinderance.
Because there's a difference between having 20 years of experience and having the same experience every year for 20 years.
And in a world where technology, industries and ways of working are changing so quickly, some of what made us successful five or ten years ago might actually make it harder to adapt today.
Essentially: experience is valuable, but only if we keep updating it.
Here's what I mean.
1. Experience can make us overly reliant on what worked before
The longer you've worked in an industry, the more patterns you recognise.
Usually, that's an advantage: medicine, for example, is really about recognising a constellation of symptoms and signs.
The dowside is you can end up approaching new problems with old solutions.
I actually caught myself doing this recently: assuming something should be done a certain way because that's how I've always done it.
in reality, sometimes the beginner in the room has an advantage because they haven't learnt the "rules" yet.
2. Some expertise is depreciating faster than we realise
AI has accelerated this: things that previously took years to become good at can now be done reasonably well by someone with the right tools in weeks or months.
That doesn't make experience worthless, but it does change its value.
Knowing how to produce something becomes less valuable when production is easy. Knowing what's worth producing in the first place becomes more important.
3. Being an expert can make it harder to become a beginner again
I think this is one of the most overlooked downsides of experience.
Once you're used to being competent, being bad at something again feels uncomfortable. You go from knowing the answers to asking basic questions.
But almost every major shift I've made has required some version of this: leaving medicine, moving into consulting, building a business.
Starting again is humbling. But it's also where the growth is.
4. Staying current actually requires unlearning too
We talk a lot about lifelong learning. I personally think lifelong unlearning is actually just as important.
Old assumptions can hang around long after the world in which they were created has changed.
The challenge is noticing which parts of your experience are still useful, and which you're carrying around just because they've always been true.
The takeaway
Experience is still valuable. But I don't think wracking up the years and just accumulating more of it is enough anymore.
The real advantage is being able to take everything you've learnt, keep what still works, let go of what doesn't, and stay open to learn again.
Because sometimes the biggest risk isn't having too little experience.
It's becoming too attached to the experience you already have.
Speak soon,
DupƩ
PS: If you're building a business and want to become more visible online, I help founders turn their expertise into content, credibility and opportunities. Reply to this email and let's chat.
