So do the VC's have it correct Good Judgment or Credentials and experience what matters ?

So do the VC's have it correct Good Judgment or Credentials and experience what matters ?





Interesting post by Carleen Hawn on the two sides of the founder coin, Judgement Vs Experience, for my books I would rather work with a team that has both, less for me to teach and and watch over. The Zen statement was interesting in that a fresh mind is more willing to change, that is so very true, my wife was talking about setting up a Christian book shop in the area, I was already away down the road of why you can't do it, and had nearly buried the idea because of the "experience " I have in starting businesses, it took me back to my first business I started it was a Guest house, now real capital, haggling for everything we bought, paying cash to get best price, etc.....I did think have I lost something important, with all this experience or gained ?





I will be traveling next week over in the land of the rising sun, so posts will be infrequent, so to the post below..good reading and have a great weekend











Credentials? Nah. Judgment is what counts.



For your company’s prospects, Marc Andreessen says “the market matters most“ — more than product, team, and even b-plan.
For your prospects as a leader, a terrific Op-Ed in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal illuminates the reasons why personal judgment trumps every other criterion — even experience.
“Leadership is, at its marrow, the chronicle of judgment calls,” write the authors, two business school professors, Warren Bennis (University of Southern California) and Noel Tichy (University of Michigan).
It begins as a comparison of presidential candidates Hilary Clinton (cast as experienced) and Barak Obama (not so experienced), but the thesis is even more relevant to business leaders — especially young founders who likely have ‘less experience’ and, therefore, must rely on their judgment to succeed.
The piece is behind the pay wall (Rupert, where art thou?), so here are its key points.



With good judgment, little else matters. Without it, nothing else matters. Take any leader, a U.S.president, a Fortune 100 CEO, a big-league coach, wartime general, you name it. Changes are you remember them for their best and worst calls … [Kennedy: Cuban Missle Crisis; Nixon Watergate.]



We are not discounting the importance of experience. Seminal and appropriate experiences must be drawn on and understood before judgment can be informed. But experience is no guarantee of good judgment.



In fact, there are numerous times when past experiences can prevent good judgments … generals tend to fight the last war, refusing to new realities, almost always with disastrous consequences.



We need to understand what Zen Buddhists call the “beginners mind,” which recognizes the value of fresh insight unfettered by experience. In this more contemporary view, the compelling idea is the novel one.



Judgment isn’t quite an unnatural act, but also doesn’t come naturally. We’re not sure how to teach it. (We know it can be learned.) Wisely processed experience, reflection, valid sources of timely information, an openness to the unbidden and character are critical components…

Slainte

Gordon