Our Experience is Their Inheritance

I was watching a show on TV the other night during which a world-renown musician and conductor was interviewing a world-renown professor of musical composition. During their conversation, the professor made a statement about classical composers and their works that truly gave me pause (and I paraphrase):

“Their music is our inheritance.”

In a word where experience and accomplishment are sometimes (often?) brushed aside in favor of youth and novelty, the notion that the trails blazed and the lessons learned by those who came before us are GIFTS we should VALUE—rather than burdens we must bear—was EYE-OPENING.

Why is it that so many people—employers, in particular—fail to see that?

Just last week I was talking with yet another person who was rejected by a potential employer because they said she was “overqualified.”

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BEING OVERQUALIFIED.

A person simply cannot have TOO MUCH experience. Talent. Skill. Expertise.

In fact, the idea is absolutely stupefying. Can you imagine not hiring someone because they’re “too good”? Or “better than we need”? Or “beyond our expectations”?

“Sorry, Ludwig. We’ve decided to go in different direction. Your hearing’s not what it used to be. And besides, that Ninth Symphony of yours is so good, we think you’re actually overqualified.”

Honestly.

I suspect that by-and-large, most people consider experience to be a valuable asset. It’s a product of successes and failures, mistakes made and lessons learned, of intention and surprises.

The thing is it’s also a product of AGE. In fact, you can’t really acquire experience without it.

So I say to all those employers out there who consider older age to be a disqualifier for a new hire—or a promotion, for that matter: WAKE UP.

Our experience is your inheritance. And it’s WAY more valuable than you think.