Experience Versus Talent

I enjoy watching the Winter Olympics when they come around every four years. This year, the Sochi Winter Olympic games were no exception.

There’s a certain level of intrigue associated with the games – from the idea of “sworn enemies” coming together to battle as true sportsmen, to the idea that these games are the culmination of years of hard work by athletes who dedicate their lives to a particular sport. There never seems to be a lack of excitement as I watch the televised coverage of these games.

If you watch closely, there are often lessons to be learned from the Olympics. The concept of losing gracefully is, of course, one of the big ones, along with the idea of humility. An example was U.S. hockey star T.J. Oshie who, when asked about being hailed as an American hero, stated that, “The American heroes are the ones wearing camo. That’s not me.” Humbling indeed to be reminded who the real heroes are.

Then there’s the topic of this column — taking note of what it takes to win, or to “make it to the podium” in aircraft maintenance terms. More specifically, how to know to recognize and develop gold medalist mechanics who will help your maintenance business grow and keep your aircraft flying safely.

As I sat one evening this past weekend watching snowboard cross, one of the newer events at this year’s Winter Olympics, I was impressed by a young lady named Lindsey Jacobellis who was poised to take the gold medal for the women’s snowboard cross event.

She was by far the fastest competitor in the event, seeming to always take the lead by a couple of seconds, which equated to 50 to 100 feet in this particular event. She had a method that was working, somehow timing the landing and applying just enough force to propel herself faster than anyone else.

In what was sure to be a walk-through semi-final event, she found herself more than 20 yards ahead of the competition.  Then she did it ­ she made the rookie mistake. She let up just a bit and landed short on one of the final jumps of the event, causing her to fall briefly. This cost her just enough time for several competitors to ski past her and take their places in the finals. The games were over for Jacobellis.

She was talented in this event, to be certain. It occurred to me that the one thing that she lacked was experience.

This is something that I’ve experienced in my own career. In fact, when it comes to fixing and troubleshooting things mechanical, I’ve always had a knack for finding the quickest and most clever way to get the job done. However, this has also gotten me in trouble. On more than one occasion, I have made mistakes that have damaged equipment and or tooling. I never wanted to admit this, but it got me fired once. After damaging one item that was quite expensive, I was promptly dismissed.

As I grew up and looked back, I realized that this was a good lesson for me and I was actually glad that it occurred. This was a lesson that made me more careful in my future endeavors, and one that made me realize that I needed to respect the experience of those around me and ask for advice, direction and oversight. Fortunately, those who were my superiors when I was younger recognized that my youth and lack of experience made me a risk, and they stopped me before I hurt someone else or myself.

Losing an Olympic event may be heartbreaking, but the athletes are not holding the lives of other people in their hands every time they compete. As mechanics people depend on us for their lives. Every bolt that’s tightened and every repair that’s made must be done correctly. There is little to no tolerance for error!

Some new hires will be experienced, some will be talented, and some will be talented and experienced. We need to remember that talented people who have no experience will require diligent oversight and perseverance in the beginning.

I have learned that talent alone is not enough. Doing it “right” all the time, every time, requires experience, training and oversight.

Understanding and accepting this as a manager will help you to produce gold medalist mechanics who will be the leaders of the future.