Experience VS. Energy and Inspiration
March 3, 2008 by Darlene McDaniel
Filed under Careers
If I could brain wash people in this current election season here in the United States, I would help people to believe that they get to hire the next President of the United States. Why is this soooo important you may ask? Because like any hiring manager, hiring the right person is critical for the future of the organization. For America, this election is more weighty than what a hiring manager wrestles with, when hiring to fill an open position.
So is experience more important than energy and inspiration? Before I go any further, let me write this disclaimer, I am not a Hilary Clinton fan nor am I a Barak Obama fan. If given a choice neither of them would get my vote. But I digress. Is experience more important than energy and inspiration? As the hiring manager, you have to consider this question. Barak Obama has incredible energy, fresh perspectives and a “hope” that the best will happen if we all work together. Hilary Clinton on the other hand “preaches” about her experience. What experience is she talking about? Being President Bill Clinton is not a core competency that should be considered in making this hiring decision. So what experience is talking about? Her job as first lady of this great country, though she had the opportunity to do a lot of amazing things, how does that qualify you to do the job?
So when I am looking at experience, or listening to Hilary Clinton’s speeches on her experience versus Barak Obama, I am personally still grappling with the experience she is speaking of.
If you have any thoughts on this, I would love to dialog with you. Scroll down and leave a comment. My question, is experience more important than experience?
Whether experience or energy is more important depends on the job. For the President of the United States, I want to see LOTS of BOTH. You need energy to build consensus and make things happen. But without experience, a leader may be quite effective in making the wrong things happen. That’s dangerous. I am a fan of neither Clinton nor Obama, but Clinton definitely has experience in terms of having deep political connections, knowing how politics works, knowing how to get things done. Besides what she learned as First Lady, she has been an effective U.S. Senator from a major state. Her energy seem up and down to me, but she does have quite a few enthusiastic supporters. Some may like Obama strictly for his energy, which is inspiring, but his lack of experience makes him an extremely risky choice.
Hey Brad, Thank you for visiting Interview Chatter. What a powerful comment. I truly appreciate you beginning the dialog on this topic. I do agree with you that an effective leader needs both experience and energy.
The place I don’t agree with you as much is the experience of Hillary Clinton. I see both her and Obama in the same place. She has seen more and she certainly has been effective in her role as Senator, but that oval office they are vying for…; I am not sure either of them truly understand the depth of experience they need to walk into the position prepared to handle whatever major issues this country faces on January 20, 2009. Who can prepare for that? How does one get the experience? It can’t be from observation. If so, she beats Obama hands down. She has certainly been there. But think about your own work experience. I don’t know you but I suspect you have been around for longer than a minute. I am sure you have been in a job where you thought, I could do that job better than my boss. And then one day you get promoted and all of a sudden your perspective changes. It’s one thing to see the job, the duties, the issues from a subordinate role, it is another thing entirely to be in the position and the buck stops with you - you are accountable.
Your thoughts are welcome!!
Darlene, you may be right that neither Hillary or Obama may have the experience to step into the job “on day one”. And I think you’re definitely correct in saying a job usually looks easier when you’re an outside observer. Whoever wins the presidential election will have to be a quick study - he or she is bound to be in for a challenging four years. I think most Americans know this and that’s why this election is generating so much interest.