Knowing most versus learning most

Two electricians in Ras Al Khaimah have worked the same neighbourhoods for twenty years. Both are good. One knows more than anyone in the emirate about the old wiring in villas built in the eighties, and he will tell you so.

Then homeowners start asking about panels on the roof, chargers for an electric car in the garage, switches that answer to a phone. The first electrician tells them it is all unreliable and that the old way works. He is partly right. He is also protecting twenty years.

The second one knows little about any of it. But he asks. He watches the installers, takes a short course, admits on the doorstep that he is still learning, and asks the family what they are actually hoping the new system will do for them. He is more interested in their house than in his reputation.

Within a couple of years, the calls go to him.

This happens far beyond wiring. In almost any trade, the person who knows the most ends up competing with the person most willing to keep learning, and the learner usually wins. Knowledge stops growing the moment we start guarding it. Curiosity, joined to a real interest in the other person's problem, keeps moving.

I would rather hire the second electrician, even on a day when the first one knows more.

Being the expert is a position. Staying useful is a habit.