Experience vs. Innovation

I have had the opportunity to work closely with a number of administrators on a variety of issues this year. Many of these administrators have been involved with the university for decades and have been present for a number of changes and their long-term results. often this is in stark contrast to myself, a student who has only been here two years, will leave after four and obtains institutional knowledge only through personal experience and the accounts of others.

I have noticed that they significant experience amassed by many administrators has left them jaded in a way. For nearly every given situation they can regurgitate a comparable one in the university's history, complete with outcomes. Students such as myself, on the other hand, tend to believe that lasting solution can be found to a current problem if the right decisions are made.

This brings about a conflict of perspectives that I have yet to determine how to resolve. Am I naive to believe that the same problems experienced in the university's past need not recur? Does the wealth of knowledge held by many administrators help them make better decisions now, or does it make them less likely to try something innovative to resolve an old issue?

It may be a product of my youth, but I believe that there are solutions to problems. Because something similar didn't work in the past in the past is not a reason to try a tweaked version in the future. Perhaps the timing was off or a small detail was missing - but so long as no superior solutions has been found, it is worth trying. Maybe my views on how the university could improve are similar a product of my position in the opinion cycle. I like to think I am being innovative and finding creative solutions to our problems.

Call me arrogant, but I think my perspective (and those of others in my generation) is the one that is poised to inherit the future. We do not fall into the trap of believing that because something happened in the past, it will happen in the future. Experience is valuable and we need to learn all we can from our mistakes, but if we let our pasts cloud our ability to be visionary we cease to be effective.

I challenge my colleagues in the administration to try and view the university as organic. As it grows and develops we must be open to different ideas if we want to adapt and remain relevant. It is the institutions (both academic and otherwise) with the ability to change that will thrive - the others will flounder, realizing their fate only when the window of opportunity has long since closed.