So said my boss when I wanted to do a negotiation skills course. I tried to tell him that if I could not persuade him to let me take the course, then it showed how much my negotiation skills needed to be improved. My pleas still fell on deaf ears.
How many say this about financial modelling training too?
Many assume that 20-somethings are computer literate. They therefore know all about Excel. They therefore know all about financial modelling. They therefore do not need training.
I have come across this attitude publicly on two occasions recently:
- On a school careers’ day a fellow panellist made the sweeping assumption that all the 16-years olds present “knew all about Excel”.
- On the Today programme (a UK radio news programme) the presenter said “we can assume that our children know all about technology”. Martha Lane Fox, founder of LastMinute.com and leading digital activist, pointed out that this was a dangerous assumption and that a knowledge of TikTok is not equivalent to a knowledge of coding.
Lack of – or “on the job” – training is a high risk strategy. This is how I was trained and how much more efficient (and accurate) would my early models have been if training courses had been available in those days? Targeted training programmes save time, reduce risks and the payback period is rapid. Why would anybody choose to ignore the opportunity?
As Karl Popper said: “True ignorance is not the lack of knowledge but the refusal to acquire it.”
Perhaps we could add “… and the refusal to train those who work for you.”