The advantage of being unqualified

“All progress is made by unqualified people.”

“All progress is made by unqualified people.” — Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square

Spotted in my 5 yos notebook: Him and me

I’ve been thinking about this quote for weeks. It’s the kind of statement that sounds obvious until you realize how much we’ve built our entire world to contradict it.

We worship credentials and gate-keep opportunity and demand experience before we allow experience. We convince ourselves we aren’t ready. Ready to be founders, moms, married, whatever it might be.

But McKelvey is right. And the science backs him up in a way that should make every credentialed expert uncomfortable.

TOLERANCE FOR DIFFICULTY > KNOWLEDGE

Your tolerance for discomfort will take you further than your expertise.

When you challenge your brain regularly, the brain literally rewires itself. The anterior mid-cingulate cortex (aMCC) lights up when you take on something hard. This region sits at the intersection of multiple brain networks, integrating signals about interoception, executive function, motor planning, and sensory integration.¹

Doing something difficult grows the brain.

The size of your aMCC is linked to motivation, will to live, and resilience. Higher persistence. Greater meaning. Stronger emotional control.² Your brain is stronger when challenge exceeds comfort.

Neuroscience proves that the unqualified person willing to struggle has a structural advantage over the qualified person avoiding discomfort.

Are you uncomfortable often?

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE WEALTH GAP

Two people can have the same education. Same opportunities. Same starting point. But one was raised by parents who were emotionally regulated. The other wasn’t.

That invisible gap compounds drastically over time.

I was at an indoor play space recently, during some LA rain. One father kept scolding his son, who was probably five. “Stop jumping!” “Give that back!” He didn’t give the child time to play, process, and react out of his own volition. The dad, who was clearly investing in an elite education for his child based on his private school backpack, was likely holding his kid back.

Research shows that parents’ perceptions of their children’s behavior are among the primary determinants of parenting stress.³ When parents perceive their children as burdensome or view their misbehavior as deliberate, they’re more likely to engage in harsh parenting.⁴ This creates a cycle: difficult child behavior impacts parental self-efficacy and stress, which then affects parenting practices, which reinforces behavioral problems.⁵

The kid who grew up being told they were difficult internalized it. They became self-conscious about what’s wrong with them instead of focused on solving problems in the outside world.

The kid who grew up with emotionally regulated parents built confidence. They learned to tackle challenges instead of doubting themselves.

One becomes the innovator. The other spends years in therapy undoing the belief that they’re the problem.

THE FIRST PERSON TO DO ANYTHING IS ALWAYS UNQUALIFIED

McKelvey says it better than I can: “If you think about the first human to do anything in the world, that person is never qualified. The first time man flew a helicopter or an airplane, it was done by somebody who didn’t know what the hell they were doing. By definition, the first person to do it is always unqualified.”

This paradox should embolden us.

We demand qualifications for innovation. But innovation, by definition, can’t come from the already-qualified. The already-qualified are optimizing the existing system. They’re not breaking it.

The Wright brothers weren’t aerospace engineers. They were bicycle mechanics.

Steve Jobs wasn’t a computer scientist. He was a college dropout.

The unqualified have an advantage: they don’t know what’s impossible.

STOP WAITING TO BE READY

The credential trap tells you to prepare more. Study more. Wait until you’re qualified.

That’s a strategy for staying exactly where you are.

The person willing to be embarrassingly bad at something new -- willing to activate their aMCC through repeated challenge -- is building the neurological infrastructure for tenacity while you’re waiting to feel ready.

Progress doesn’t require permission. It requires tolerance for being unqualified.

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1. Touroutoglou, A., Andreano, J., Dickerson, B. C., & Barrett, L. F. (2020). The tenacious brain: How the anterior mid-cingulate contributes to achieving goals. Cortex, 123, 12–29.

2. Touroutoglou, A., Andreano, J., Dickerson, B. C., & Barrett, L. F. (2020). The tenacious brain: How the anterior mid-cingulate contributes to achieving goals. Cortex, 123, 12–29.

3. McPherson, A. V., Lewis, K. M., Lynn, A. E., Haskett, M. E., & Behrend, T. S. (2009). Predictors of parenting stress for abusive and nonabusive mothers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 18(1), 61–69.

4. Leça, A., Sousa, P., Cunha, O., & Almeida, T. C. (2011). Parental stress and risk of child abuse: The role of socioeconomic status. Child Abuse & Neglect, 119, 105076.

5. Baker, B. L., McIntyre, L. L., Blacher, J., Crnic, K., Edelbrock, C., & Low, C. (2003). Preschool children with and without developmental delay: Behaviour problems and parenting stress over time. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 47(4‐5), 217–230.