I doubt there is any other industry that values experience like construction. It just seems to be all about how many years you've got under your belt.
"How many years you been doin' this Bill?"
"28 Tommy, and I've grinded every bit of the way."
"Well, my 30 years trumps your 28, so I think I'll take charge here."
While this is probably an over-dramatization of actual conversations that take place on construction job-sites (and more subtly in boardrooms), experience trumps everything in construction, especially education. If you tried to play the, "but I've got a master's degree" card, your well-educated behind will be cured in concrete in the very near future.
But the question really is if this experience and perceived superiority in the business is in fact warranted. Has anyone really explored this or is it just a forgone conclusion that experienced personnel are better than inexperienced or less experienced? Well, the answer is maybe (to both questions). However this investigation in the construction industry is shallow at best.
While experience can certainly be advantageous, I'm often puzzled by the choices experienced people make. The folks that loaned money to people to buy a house when it was clear that they could not sustain the payments was certainly done by experienced people. Experienced people were behind the accounting scandals, and let's not forget that the now infamous Bernie Madoff was 65 years old before his crooked operation was put to bed, much to the disadvantage of his investors.
But it's not only in the national news that I find experienced people doing questionable and unethical things. In my experience on construction sites, I have seen millions of dollars thrown out the window by very experienced people. I don't think this is because of their lack of intelligence, but more attributable to the way in which their performance is measured. Or perhaps because that is that way they were taught, and therefore the way that is reinforced and rewarded by their organization.
There is an old saying that I learned growing up playing golf that I think applies across the board in life - "Practice does not necessarily make perfect; practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect."
In order for experience to be truly more valuable, the experience one holds must but be of high operational, managerial, and ethical standard. Else, experience is nothing more than a reinforcement of bad practice that is more difficult to undo.
If you are banking on resting on your well seasoned and perhaps unethical laurels to push you through to the end of your career, I'm afraid that you are sadly mistaken, and I mean this when I say it - you should get out now.
We cannot allow the "experienced" decision makers in our industry to continue down an unethical road (if they are of course). I know that I will have to evolve in my career as things change over the years and I will not be able to coast along upon reaching a certain number of years. Our business is in dire need of change and we can't wait another ten years for this to happen. Old dogs can certainly learn new tricks, if fact, they must.
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