Lack of experience...

I have been doing a lot of pondering about folks and their fear of “lack of experience”.  I blogged about video game giant EA’s new COO and his lack of gaming experience.  I just read a great article on Barack Obama’s use of social media in his campaign (Fast Company magazine) and thought about how often his lack of experience gets brought up.

While trying not to have my political leanings too much on display, I have often considered Obama’s lack of experience to be one of the least important debates on his ability to be our next president.

It is my belief that predjudice, due to lack of experience, is extremely shortsighted.   What sort of experience does the person in question lack?  What experience *does* the person have? Obama has been a leader and an effective one for quite some time.  He is inspirational, intelligent and influential.  Three very important I’s to have as the leader of the free world.

Your political leanings aside, at the end of the day the wisdom to run the country isn’t coming from only one source or one person.  There are three governing bodies we learned about in the fifth grade, legislature, judicial and executive.  However, a wise leader surrounds him or herself with folks that complement their strengths and ultimately get the job done.  Not to mention that the people with new, fascinating and working ideas make the most progress.  Prove you can get the job done and “lack of experience” will never be noticed.