06-22-2008

Does wisdom have a “best before” date?

As professionals and successful business people, how much advice and guidance do we seek out (or even appreciate) from older generations?

Sure, trends change; thinking and ‘accepted wisdom’ is frequently challenged or updated; but does *all* advice ever become outdated? What kind of resources can our parents - even grandparents, if they are still around - be?

Do you ever seek the opinion or input from your parents in business matters? Or do you think their wisdom is beyond it’s “best before” date?

I would love to get your thoughts.

By Vanessa Deakin

Answers:

By Peter B.Giblett
Wisdom should be timeless, however as with many things today it all to inevitably has a sell-by date.

From my observations in life:

When I was young I wanted to learn, sure I had my ideas - but I was warned to listen to those that had experience. I did this, but always added my own feelings about how we should approach things.

As I grew older I found that I would make suggestions that would be dismissed by my elders, but when the result was achieved, it was my suggestion that was adopted (albeit claimed by someone else - I did not mind as I knew the truth).

Now I am the elder, and have a wealth of experience to offer. The youngsters are determined to ignore me and just get on with it, usually to their detriment. And when, occasionally, they succeed you are accused of being negative.

By Hamish Taylor

For me wisdom has no “best before date” - you can always learn from shared wisdom, even if the times have moved on; the genuine wisdom should have a relevancy that you can learn from.

Often times, it may have an “ahead of its time” date and those are the real pearls that are worth connecting with and harvesting - the challenge is in spotting them….

Links:

By Merlyn Sanchez

We have a saying in Spanish, “Mas sabe el Diablo por Viejo que por Diablo”, which literally means, the devil is wise not because he’s the devil but because he’s old.

There are some things that only experience (often through age) can teach you. Whether you can learn from someone else’s experience is another matter. My mother was a very astute businesswoman and I respected her advice even if I didn’t always agree with it. Sometimes I was able to learn from her experiences and other times, I needed to take my own risks and make my own mistakes.


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