Did I ever tell you about the time I.......?

"Costa Coffee since 1971"   I saw the sign while I was sitting enjoying my capuccino and almond croissant.   Since 1971?...well that's no time at all I thought. But then looking around at the other latte and capuccino sippers I realised that most of them wouldn't have been born then!
I thought when it comes to going back in time you just haven't been born! (My thinking grammar is never very good.) And I know I was being condescending. But I'm of that age when we can't stop ourselves regaling people with stories of how things used to be...like:

How the dustmen used to come round on a horse drawn cart. Which is why we call them dustcarts (although I suspect that people aged under 50 don't!)
How trolley buses were powered by two long arms connecting to over-head electric cables.
How Woolworths sold biscuits loose from large tin boxes arranged on wooden counters.
Stories which when first told drew feint smiles of amusement...but when told again seem to leave us talking to ourselves!
And if truth be told that scenario isn't so different to what often occurs when we "mature executives" go on about our experiences in business. Reminding colleagues that "in our day we managed the salesforce perfectly well without mobile 'phones!" is about as useful and relevant in today's world as horse-drawn dustcarts! 
So clearly...keeping our wise advice relevant and in tune with a rapidly changing world business world is the first thing we should think about before offering it.

And the other thing is...have a point to what you're saying. Just like a story, if there is a point to it then people will listen and will appreciate its point.   And there is a point about experience. It's in that maxim about communication  ...we forget what we hear ...remember what we see...but understand what we do.
It is the understanding that comes from doing that gives experience its point.

• The mistakes and dead ends....their causes and their costs.
• The tactics that worked...the short cuts worth taking.
• The issues that deeply affected people.
• The financial and emotional gains from success.

And it is the quality of understanding of these relevant issues that gives experience its value...
Not the quantity of things remembered... or the number of years we go back!