What a Wheelchair Ramp Taught Me About Experience
Recently, I posted an article on LinkedIn, What an Assassin Taught Me About Experience. In the comments, Nicola added that she notices wheelchair access wherever she goes, not because of her work, but because her sister uses a wheelchair. Like Jason Bourne, her experience had trained her attention. I replied that this was a great […]
When Experience Becomes Intuition with Maria Di Pietro
After more than 25 years as a psychologist, Maria Di Pietro often knows something about the person sitting in front of her. She can’t necessarily explain how. She calls it intuition. But, “It’s intuition with experience.” What happens to our experience when we’ve accumulated so much of it that we no longer consciously think through what […]
What a Glassblower taught me about Experience
It takes years to become a master. But is the amount of time the crucial element? As US artist Rick Strini said, ‘You don’t get good by doing anything once.’ Rick has more than sixty years working with glass but for the first 30 years he made the same thing. Then Rick went to a […]
I Can See Your Potential Before You Can with Maria Di Pietro
Sometimes other people can see something in us that we can’t yet see ourselves. After more than 25 years as a psychologist, Maria Di Pietro says she can often see the potential in people before they can see it themselves. Earlier in her career, that frustrated her. If she could see what was possible, why […]
What an Educator Taught Me About Experience
Most people assume education is the transfer of knowledge. But in my On Experience conversation with educator and facilitator Linda Gidlund, I realised I may have misunderstood education altogether. After four decades as a teacher, facilitator, instructional designer and community leader, Linda rarely spoke about information. Instead, she kept returning to something much deeper. Most […]
The Danger of Thinking “I’ve seen this before” – Michael Henderson
What happens when a familiar pattern makes us too certain about what we’re seeing? In this short extract from On Experience, corporate anthropologist Michael Henderson tells a story about walking into a situation convinced he’d seen it before. What happened next reveals something fascinating about expertise, assumptions and getting things wrong. ? Edited Transcript Geoff: […]
What AFL Football taught me about Experience
When I was studying in the US, after my friends went to bed on Friday nights, I would head to the TV room to watch Australian Rules Football on ESPN. One night, Brian stumbled in. He was from Baltimore, studying for a PhD in either physics or chemistry. He sat down and we watched together […]
What Alone Australia taught me about Experience
Ten people arrive in Arctic Finland. Before the first episode even begins, I started trying to predict who will win. I looked at their experience: military, survival, fishing, hunting, endurance, bushcraft, even previous Arctic experience. Who has the best preparation? But as the series progressed, something strange happened. The more I learnt about the contestants, the less […]
When Your Way of Working Stops Working with Dr Patterson Stark
What happens when the way you’ve learned to succeed is no longer a way you’re willing to live? After a life-threatening illness, Dr Patterson Stark didn’t simply recover and return to his old working life. He stayed away from clinical practice for 16 years. He was afraid that going back would mean returning to the […]
What Travel Taught Me About Experience
Several decades ago I was on a bus trip winding through the Black Hills of South Dakota on the way to Mount Rushmore. On board were twenty-four students from eighteen different countries. It was my first time travelling overseas and my first time spending extended time with people from so many different cultures. I found myself […]