The Creativity Suite. Episode 154: Retrospection
Interview with Andres Bernasconi, SVP, IT and Product Development Fintech at Mercado Libre.
“What do you do?” is perhaps the most common question when we meet someone new. We want to know their profession. But perhaps we should ask “What have you done?” as that might be a much better way of understanding who someone really is. Our acts create who we are. Not our titles.
And “What have I done?” is also a great question to ask oneself much more often than we actually do. Retrospection – the action of looking back on or reviewing past events or situations, especially those in one’s own life – is what builds judgment.
Unlike simple reflection or evaluation, retrospection is a deliberate, past-oriented practice aimed at honing our understanding and strengthening our judgment.
As creatives, we should engage in retrospection more often about the work we have done. While ‘retrospect’ is not commonly used as a verb, perhaps it should be. As creatives, we need a clear call to action: not only to reflect, but to actively ‘retrospect’ on what we have done to refine our judgment.
Too many people put too much emphasis on a person coming up with ideas, but it is the person who has the ability to judge if an idea should actually be tried, that has the real creative skill. And that skill – the skill of understanding if an idea is worthy of being pursued – is a skill that comes from having good judgement.
And good judgment comes not just from having experiences, but from having spent time retrospecting on those experiences.
This text was inspired by a conversation with Andres Bernasconi, SVP, IT and Product Development Fintech at Mercado Libre.
With over 80,000 employees – 6,000 of whom report to Andres – Mercado Libre is Latin America’s leading e-commerce and fintech company. Working in such a dynamic, fast-growing fintech environment across multiple, diverse countries, Andres constantly relies on retrospection.
What has been working well? What did not work well, and why? What has changed in the market, how does the strategy need to adapt? How is the culture of the organisation changing over time? What does that mean?
In a world so focused on the future, we should actually be more focused on the past. Not to use it as a rear-view mirror, but to use it as a catalyst of insights that we will only find if we make an active and conscious decision to really find the lessons hidden in our previous actions and acts.
In the words of Andres: “Most people are so caught up in what they need to do next that they forget to learn from what they have already done. But if you do take that time, you build judgment. And with judgment comes the ability to make the right decisions.”
In summary: Creativity is not about “having ideas”, it is about having the ability to have ideas, develop ideas and making the best ones happen. Having the judgment to know which ideas to develop and how to is arguably the thickest cornerstone in the creative process. And this judgment comes from really learning from previous experiences and from understanding the present so that we can see the future. The people who are the best of doing that are the people who are the best at retrospecting.
04
Apr