Seeing the world through patterns.Dinner table talks can be interesting, especially when you are like our family and have children that range from elementary school age to out of college.This week, among other things, we had a conversation about why history is taught in school.Our 10 year old loves history. He consumes it every chance he has and is a sponge -- he is able to absorb and remember precise details about even some of the most obscure events that occurred over time.He's basically a chicken finger eating, sports team jersey wearing Alexa.We were all genuinely impressed as he began to spout off things he learned on YouTube or in books he read during his nightly independent reading time.The high school junior (the newly minted driver), while genuinely impressed by his brother's knowledge of these things, wondered aloud about why they were being taught about things that happened in the past in school. It seemed pretty useless.It reminded me of something I had read a few years ago:“The best thing we have going for us is our intelligence, especially pattern recognition, sharpened over eons of evolution," -- Neil deGrasse TysonAs humans we have the amazing ability to process massive amounts information over time and recognize patterns in what we see, experience and we learn. The more information we are given, the more opportunities for us to see more patterns.The important part is not just being able to see the patterns, but take action as a result.I explained this to our kids -- they teach history not just so we memorize obscure facts, but so we can learn about patterns that have developed over time and make sure we don't repeat the same mistakes from the past.As we get older, I think we tend to understand how important seeing the world through patterns really can be.The quicker and more adept we are at seeing the patterns in our daily experiences, the better decisions we can make. While we may not be as "quick off the line" as we once were, we can better avoid repeating the mistakes we may have made earlier in our lives and careers because we can spot similarities in circumstances. I know I totally underestimated the value of this earlier in my career. I always thought that productivity was a result of ambition, smarts, hard work and will. However there was another key ingredient that I now realize that I usually dismissed: experience. I completely discounted the fact that with more experience and maturity we can see more patterns in things that happen before us. We can anticipate problems more effectively and take action sooner because we have "seen the movie before."This allows us to not just work hard, but work better and more efficiently. There is tremendous value in this when it comes to productivity.This seems like common sense, but I think many organizations are missing this as they look to fill open positions or consider how they build their teams. They may think going younger, less expensive and more ambitious is the best path to growth. They too dismiss experience as a critical component to improving productivity and results.I'd submit this is what is creating other problems in organizations that take time effort and resource to manage and offset any cost savings. How do I know this?I guess I've "been there, done that" and seen the patterns.... It's May, and it's Kentucky Derby Day once again, Friends. Enjoy the links below and have a great weekend!XOXODave