The novice advantage

Most people struggle to pronounce my name.

It’s Ijesha—a dialect of Yoruba—but when pronounced with the default Yoruba intonation, it ends up meaning the opposite of what it should.

Native Yoruba speakers I’ve tried to teach rarely get it right. But one day, I demonstrated the right pronunciation to my colleague Wilfred, who’s Deltan—and he nailed it on the first try.

That moment reminded me of something I once read from Richard Branson: the power of being a novice.

Wilfred had no prior ‘rules’ about how Yoruba should sound. So he processed it with a blank mind. But the Yoruba speakers had subconscious biases they couldn’t easily unlearn.

And suddenly inexperience becomes an advantage. Because it’s not weighed down by assumptions.

Two notes I am taking from this reflection:

— Invite fresh eyes into what you're building.

— Don’t be afraid to step into fields where you’re the beginner.

Sometimes, the freedom of not knowing is exactly what helps you see clearly.