What Experience Do You Value?

2009 July 14
tags: , ,
by Michael Leis

It’s the kind of question everyone faces: Do you have experience in this specific industry? I see it time and again, and as an opener, I think it’s fatally flawed.

Of course, asking people if they’ve worked in the sector speaks to a few things, whether they’ve seen some of your similar challenges, whether they’ve been vetted by a competitor, competitive insight they’ve gleaned previously, and a certain learning curve on similarly structured organizations and jargon. The list goes on and I understand every bit of the logic.

This shortcut often cuts out what businesses need most: the breakthroughs. The ways of approaching challenges in a way no one else usually does it, talks about it, or achieves it. Yes, there will probably be some more education at the onset. If you’re in business for comfort: to support the bureaucracy, lower the political friction; bringing in fresh eyes, brains, and ideas won’t work.

But if you’re trying to get someplace new, and understand that business is about unexpected perspectives provided by experienced professionals with a track record across industries, you’re creating a path of competetive advantage. You will have a better chance to lead the sector, blaze new trails, and propel brands to places no one considered.

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  • I think this will be more relevant as we move into the future when company dynamics are changing and the way people do business is changing. Social media is an entirely new territory for most companies, especially in India. This is where I see the real experts coming in and leading the way. The only challenge now is to weed out the "snake-oil sales people".
  • larryirons
    Michael, absolutely!
  • larryirons
    I totally agree. First, professionals with multi-disciplinary experience aren't likely to provide vertical expertise specific to one industry or functional area. Second, what any company needs, if it is interested in at least innovation and perhaps even transformation of a product or service, is a professional with T-shaped experience...deep in one area of expertise (preferably knowing how to learn from others and collaborate) and wide in exposure to projects across either industries or functional areas.
  • Larry, you're adding yet another important aspect, which is that "T" shaped experience. As I mentioned to Yu Yu above, this comes from the insight I gained from someone who creates cultural change as a negotiator for the UN.

    When he negotiates conflict, his goal is to come out with something completely new through the discourse. This resonates as with digital strategy, the result is often a completely new way of relating to an audience. His method to create this change and the new result is by only focusing on similarity. As soon as parties talk about differences, change and progress are impossible.

    I say this because it's this kind of "T" shaped experience that allows folks like us to find similarities between media and industries that people on the client side would have never discovered on tehir own, and then making those intersections work in ways for them that builds new, valuable connections.

    Make sense? Thanks for your thoughts!
  • i actually think being an outsider provides a rare opportunity: outside perspective and insight, ability to ask naive/stupid questions and get away with it, ability to stir things up and get away with it, and the fresh thinking that only comes during one's first exposure to a client.

    my experience time and again is that direct industry experience provides the consultant with the ability to *recognize* industry-specific issues, but that experience across multiple industries provides the consultant with the ability (if nurtured) to *make new connections*.

    personally, i don't have new ideas with familiar material -- it generally takes an encounter with something i don't at first grasp. and in all of my client gigs, the ones in which i deliver the highest value are those in which we create new value together.

    i was advised by a consulting firm once that i did some work for that the best route taken by management consultants is not "you have a problem we're here to fix for you" but rather "we have a problem understanding what's going on, can you help us?" allowing a client to take that time to take a step back, reflect, articulate problems and explain them experientially is an invaluable intervention, not to mention, an opportunity for shared transfer of knowledge. and that's how we make new things.

    on the same page with you!
  • Thanks Adrian, I like that take on reversing the roles a bit. The issue it also solves is being able to understand the deeper reasons why something isn't working, instead of having to reverse-engineer from your own imagination after only being presented with the final problem.

    I've been taking a somewhat similar approach in that teams feel like they have huge problems, complicated by internal communication and political issues. So I try to maintain a "one step at a time" to uncovering the motivations of the internal and external audiences to drive strategic solutions that work for everyone.

    Always great to get your take. Thanks for making the time to weigh in.
  • It's out-of-the-box thinking for some folks, especially those in the management/decision making positions. You hire people because they're good at coming up with strategy and implementing them i.e. social media marketing. But if that person is stuck to just one industry it won't be good for his/her career neither will it be good for the company the person is serving. You won't be reaching out to new people with new habits, new customers. It's a difference between an ok company and a great company.
  • Great perspective, Yu Yu. Growth comes from being able to look at a problem with multiple perspectives, not merely a single industry, but what has worked in other places with similar dynamics. Thanks so much for adding yours!
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