Context

You look back — because that is where the answers lie. You look to the past to make sense of the present. Faced with new people and new situations, it will take you a little time to orient yourself. Until you understand the history and underlying structure of something, you might see the present as an unstable, confusing clamor of competing voices. But when you look back, your mind sees original plans, initial intentions and lessons learned. Knowing this history brings you confidence.

You make better decisions because you know what has — and hasn’t — worked in the past. You become a better partner because you appreciate how your colleagues became who they are. And counterintuitively, you become wiser about the future because you won’t repeat the mistakes of the past.