Old Dogs Don’t Create New Tricks

I read another inspiring essay by Ron Baker called “Old Dogs Don’t Create New Tricks”

Here are a few quotes and the link to the essay

“If firms, not to mention the profession as a whole, want innovation and dynamism in tandem with attracting the best and brightest talent, they will have to give more authority and responsibilities to their youthful team members. Organizations, like arteries, tend to calcify with age, and young team members––far more prone to adventure and risk-taking––can keep the blood pumping at an extra vigorous pace. No doubt they will make more mistakes and incur more failure, yet risk is where profits come from. The alternative is continued irrelevance of a once proud profession, more and more dependent on regulatory revenue rather than wealth creating innovations that add value to its customers. Ossification is not an option."


“The question for today’s firm leaders is will they allow their young team members the opportunity to create path-breaking services and experiment with new approaches for the benefit of the firm and the profession as a whole, or will they continue to reject too much and adventure too little, remaining satisfied with a settled mediocrity of success and the illusion of security. The posterity of our profession depends on letting the new dogs create new tricks. History proves no one else will."

For the whole essay click here