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What Makes Entrepreneurs Tick?
Sacrificing hands on experience for the digital one
I recently read an article in The Week magazine (21st Jan 2012) saying how it was possible the disaster of the Costa Concordia could have been averted if the officers had looked out of their windows rather than being so focused on their digital screens.
How often can one say, if only one had looked using eyes and done a sense check, rather than purely relying on the digital screen? For example when planning a route for a journey and just typing in the destination code in the Sat. Nav. without checking the route. What if the tool one is using is not calibrated correctly eg weighing scales. This increasing dependency on digital equipment means we are forgetting some basic skills like reading a map or remembering telephone numbers. Now we just look for the contact details in our mobile phone and press “call” without ever actually having to dial the number. The same could be said for other business tools, but it is important to remember basic skills, to sense check and to believe in ones experience. What if you have created a business model, but entered one of the formulae incorrectly? Some simple sense checking will spot this. Similarly, reading a map, not just depending on Sat. Nav., will increase the likelihood of one being able to find ones way if the digital equipment should fail. The cause of the digital equipment to fail maybe simple like the machine ran out of power or a simple human error like entering an incorrect digit into the Sat. Nav.
Relying purely on digital equipment at the expense of hands on experience can lead to incorrect decisions and may turn out to be costly. Digital tools can be a great benefit, but should not be at the total sacrifice of hands on experience, but work in conjunction with experience.
Melissa Grafton