Many leaders have been wrestling with a tough hiring question: experienced professionals or hungry fresh college new grads? It turned out my answer is different from most startup CEOs and hiring manager. Most people I talked to lean toward experienced people. The logic seems sound - domain experts who can leverage AI tools become 5-10x more productive than before. Deep knowledge plus AI acceleration creates incredibly effective team members. I know founders running 15-person companies that would have required 50 people just a few years ago. Most of these high-leverage teams are built around experienced professionals. This makes sense. But I think we're missing something crucial. Throughout history, the people who drive transformational change are typically from the next generation. Google, Facebook, and the defining companies of the internet era weren't built by optimizing existing approaches - they were built by fundamentally reimagining how technology should work. Young people bring something irreplaceable: fresh thinking unconstrained by "how things have always been done." The challenge for young talent today is obvious: without deep domain knowledge, even great AI skills might not translate to immediate productivity. But here's what I've learned: learning velocity often matters more than starting knowledge. If someone has exceptional curiosity, self-drive, and learning ability, they can close knowledge gaps incredibly quickly - especially with AI assistance. The question becomes: can they learn fast enough to justify the investment? In my hiring, I focus intensely on intrinsic motivation. Are they genuinely hungry? Do they have the curiosity that Steve Jobs called "stay hungry, stay curious"? Are they self-directed learners who push themselves without external pressure? If someone is brilliant, hungry, and curious, I believe they can often accomplish more than experienced professionals who may be operating within established mental frameworks. The ideal team probably combines both: experienced people who bring domain wisdom and young talent who bring fresh perspectives. But if I had to choose one characteristic above all others, I'd choose learning velocity over existing knowledge. The future belongs to people who can adapt and grow faster than change itself. #Hiring #TalentStrategy #AI #LearningVelocity #YoungTalent #Experience #Innovation #Leadership #HumanResources #FutureOfWork

🚀 The New Growth Hack Metric: Learning Velocity 🚀 Forget traditional KPIs—what’s your learning velocity? The faster you learn, the faster you can scale. But how on earth do you measure it? 1⃣Track Experimentation Cycles: How fast are you iterating on new ideas? Measure the time from hypothesis and brainstorming to execution. 2⃣Speed of Knowledge Sharing: Monitor how quickly your team learns and shares insights across departments. Faster collaboration = faster adaptation. 3⃣Pivot Rate: How quickly can you pivot after identifying a problem or potential improvement? Agile decision-making is key. 💼 Leverage these insights by fostering a continuous learning culture in the business. Train your teams to adapt, fail fast, and iterate quicker. It’s not about what you know today, but how fast you’ll learn tomorrow. This can be another key competitive edge you build into your business? #Entrepreneurship #LearningVelocity #ScaleUp #growthhacking

“We want people with black belt skill set and a white belt mindset”…#LearningVelocity @SteveJonesSPK with a phrase that I am 100% stealing…@TFConsortium incredible speaker…incredible message!

One of the biggest changes I see in the future of work is that we will soon hire more based on what they can learn vs what they know. Jobs, companies & industries are all changing faster than ever so its all about #learningvelocity #workquake

RT @JenniferSertl: Teaching smart people how to learn is perhaps our steepest learning curve hbr.org/1991/05/teaching-sma… #learningvelocity #a3r

Nominated by @heathermcgowan, I am sharing the 10 business books that have made the most impact on my point of view. 1/10 Shift - The User’s Guide to the Platform Economy by Haydn Shaughnessy mitchelllevy.com/blog/how-to… #readtolead #learningvelocity #platformeconomy

Vodafone Ziggo Netherlands will be running ~250 experiments in 2020. How many will you run this year? #learningvelocity #emercegauc20

RT @JenniferSertl: Force Function: You actually won't hire for skills any more, you will hire for propensity to learn ~ Ginni Rometty afr.com/technology/business-… #learningvelocity #a3r

Teaching smart people how to learn is perhaps our steepest learning curve hbr.org/1991/05/teaching-sma… #learningvelocity #a3r

Force Function: You actually won't hire for skills any more, you will hire for propensity to learn ~ Ginni Rometty afr.com/technology/business-… #learningvelocity #a3r

Friday mental java & the future of work linkedin.com/pulse/future-wo… @agility3r @rossdawso @mbauwens @P2P_Foundation #futureofwork #a3r #learningvelocity ♫ youtu.be/GhKm_SdHsLs ♫

It is the first day of school for many. Wishing all students young and old a remarkable year of depth, curiosity and connection. links for learners --> linkedin.com/pulse/learning-… #2ndAve #a3r #learningvelocity #edu #readtolead

Sending extra love to all parents sending their kids to college this weekend! We are headed now for @HWSColleges: Let us all invest in our #learningvelocity #AQ #4IR linkedin.com/pulse/learning-…

Bono And Thomas Friedman Reveal Three Skills American Workers Need Today forbes.com/sites/raquelbalde… #learningvelocity

When you have an accelerated pace of change, the most competitive advantage is to be a lifelong learner, @NYTFriedman hubs.ly/H0jyYpf0 #learningvelocity #2ndAve

I am on @2ndAveLearning team with @Toryvanv one of the best learning journey architects i know. #4ir #2ndAve #learningvelocity

Great read! “Contrast this with a competency-based learning model in which time becomes the variable and learning becomes the constant.” #innovation #giftoffailure #learningvelocity #startwiththewhy

Does your organization measure how fast it's learning? How much time have you spent working and how much have you learned during this time? #InnovationAccounting #LearningVelocity #KPIs #MetricsThatMatter

Once experimenting becomes a habit, deliberately recording your discoveries regularly takes practice and discipline #startups #LearningVelocity #innovation

Build a team of people who bring diverse knowledge bases, tools and analytic skills buff.ly/2FyBUFG @aeonmag #LearningVelocity #collaboration #innovation