Photo by Claudio Schwarz, Unsplash.

In many Eastern cultures, we learn to respect people who are older or have more experience. At its best, this tradition shows humility, gratitude, and appreciation for those who came before us.

However, respect should not take the place of critical thinking.

Picture a workplace where someone has done the same job for 20 years. People see them as the expert just because they have been there the longest. But for all those years, they have kept using an inefficient or even wrong method. Then a newcomer, with less than a year on the job, looks at the problem, challenges old ideas, and finds a better way.

Should we keep the old method just because it comes from the most experienced person?

• Experience should be appreciated.
• Getting things right should be recognised.

The same idea goes for age.

Someday, we will all be part of the older generation. But there is an uncomfortable truth to keep in mind: people can get older without getting wiser. Age happens to everyone, but wisdom does not.

Respect should be earned by showing integrity, humility, and a willingness to keep learning. It should not be given just because of age or years on a résumé.

The people who deserve the most respect are not always the ones who have lived or worked the longest.

Instead, it is those who keep learning, keep questioning themselves, and never think their experience means they cannot be wrong.

• Experience matters.
• Wisdom cannot be measured.
• But experience and wisdom are not always the same thing.