The Innovation Paradox: Why Experience Can Hinder Progress

When you're traveling to a new city, who's the best person to ask for advice on where to go? Is it someone who has lived there for 30 years? Or someone who just moved there a year ago?

The conventional wisdom is the former. But the better answer is: Both are valuable in different ways. And neglecting the latter can be limiting at best, and perilous at worst.

The same is true for corporate enterprises like brands, agencies, and the like. And yet, despite this understanding, many organizations still struggle with innovation, still hesitate to value new voices.

So often we favor the old hand; we prioritize experience; and we accede exclusively to the whims, wishes, and ideas of those at the top of the pyramidal structure, the equivalent of the 30-year neighborhood veterans. Meanwhile, we lament our lack of innovation, and our inability to achieve not just incremental but explosive growth – the stuff we love to label "transformative."

While veterans bring valuable experience, they also face certain limitations. We have, over time, developed routines, patterns, and favorites. We have slowly lost our "beginner's mind," replacing it with "expertise." We know where you should go, eat, and dance, because we've already gone, eaten, and danced there. We've created, over time, a life of relative comfort and ease – likely at the expense of novelty and/or discovery.

Meanwhile, the newcomers, those recent arrivers who seemingly lack the deep experience of the expert, also lack something wonderful: deeply contoured preconceptions.

Why does that matter? There's a cognitive component that has the potential to be profoundly limiting.

In his book "The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality," Andy Clark describes how neuroscience has revealed that our brains don't imprint sensory data onto a cognitive clean slate. Instead, they attempt to fit the inbound information into pre-existing shapes and forms – inference models that enable us to make quick, important judgments about our environment and its threats and opportunities. In other words, our "real-time" experience of reality isn't so much real as it is an extremely useful simulation, based on prior data. This insight into how our brains process information helps explain why experienced individuals might struggle with innovation.

Other neuroscientists have also pointed out that our perceptions and the judgments that arise from them happen in our brains before we've even had the sense that we've made them. Sam Harris's "Free Will" provides particularly helpful insights into understanding this phenomenon.

Whereas pattern recognition at speed is quite often an advantage of expertise – such as a seasoned emergency room doctor quickly diagnosing a rare condition based on subtle symptoms, or an experienced mechanic identifying an engine problem just by listening to its sound – it's a true disadvantage when it comes to novelty and innovation. It is, in fact, a literal barrier to new experiences and ideas. 

In our introductory example of traveling to a new city, then, the implications are clear:

Ask the "experts" to give you the tried-and-true neighborhood favorites, those longstanding places that have either stood the test of time and perhaps a few newer places that complement the existing vibe and ethos. But if it's novelty you want, something that either feels or is breakthrough and new, you might be better off asking the neighborhood insurgents for advice.

The lesson for business is equally clear: While maintaining the tradition of granting power and influence to experienced "old hands," don't miss an opportunity to bring in outsiders; to amplify the voices of your newest employees; and to break the literal and figurative patterns that have long served you, and that will also serve to hold you and your enterprise in stasis if you let them.

Let's face it: innovation isn't just about having the smartest people in the room. It's about having the right mix of voices - the seasoned locals who know every shortcut and hidden gem, and the wide-eyed newcomers who see wonder in what others might consider ordinary. Think of your organization as a vibrant neighborhood. The long-time residents give it depth and character, but it's the fresh arrivals who often spark exciting changes and discoveries. So, the next time you're mapping out your company's future, take a stroll around your corporate 'hood. If every idea comes from the same old haunts, it might be time to explore some new territory. After all, the most extraordinary breakthroughs often happen when we venture off the beaten path and see our familiar surroundings through new eyes.