Inexperience is no bad thing in business and politics
If anyone needed more evidence that the 21st century was going to be one where women take on new levels of prominence, Sarah Palin’s nomination as Vice Presidential candidate on John McCain’s ticket was there to bring home the point.
What an odd choice you say? A heart beat away from the Presidency and no international experience.
Americans pride themselves on believing in the potential of individuals who show early promise without gold-plated pedigrees and years of experience.
That is one reason why Silicon Valley works so well. Youth is given a chance. Armed with a Stanford University degree, mathematicians can come up with a better way to do online search, enter a crowded a market, be given venture money and go on to create Google. They may not look like media moguls, but Americans know how to suspend disbelief. “Maybe, just maybe this is going to be the next big thing.”
Americans have the audacity not to be cynical about integrity. When I moved to France at 21, I was told that what people got up to in their private lives bore no importance to their professional. But in truth you can’t compartmentalise integrity – on Tuesdays, I’m honest, but not on Wednesdays.
Smashing Corruption
Palin seems to have that rare gift of speaking truth to power. Her time in Alaska has been one of uncovering corruption, reducing government, provoking the Republican establishment while remaining very popular.
Or consider Ronald Reagan. Despite having been one of the most successful governors of California, and a leader of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan was dismissed as merely “an actor” with international experience it was claimed.
Yet he played a crucial role in the busting up of the Soviet Union. He knew how to project strength, and surrounded himself with intelligent advisors.
Thatcher’s Children
When I lived in Cambridge in 1986 for my junior year abroad, Margaret Thatcher was busy transforming Britain. She was so successful that her changes have been integrated into the culture, and are taken for granted by people today. She is one of the most important Britons of all time.
Yet one of my snooty classmates at Insead once referred to her by saying, “thank God we don’t have a shopkeeper’s daughter for Prime Minister anymore”. I thought about that for a long time. It is very destabilising for the ruling classes to realise that the best talent might come from outside of the establishment. They might have values which are honed by the frontier or the family rather than top schools. Their advantage might be that they don’t know everyone, and that they think like an outsider.
People want authenticity and good stewardship of taxpayers money. Look at the current state of Britain, and ask yourself: what benefit are you getting from the so-called experienced?