One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite bands (The Samples) is stuck in my head as I reflect on a new executive search that my team and I are about to kick off. The search discovery meetings are beginning tomorrow morning and I didn't get my usual 5 hours of sleep because I was pumped up and ready to begin the hunting process. We will be seeking another purple squirrel,* a security executive from a great company in the Valley or beyond. It is what consumes me and drives me. We look for every avenue to locate and build relationships with the very best and most rare executive technical talent. The excitement is tethered by other feelings of concern about how prepared the client will be and how the candidates will perceive the search. I know that the client is closing in on their calibrating but not there and the candidate pool is already looking far ahead in their career progression while contemplating their objections before we make first contact. This excitement and conflict is normal; I have had these feelings many times before. After all, it is the job that I love. But as I mature (depending on who you ask) and begin reflecting on life's lessons in this business I find myself often asking; “are we really progressing and learning from past lessons and mistakes, or are we just repeating the same themes and forgetting just enough to make things sound new and fresh?". Are we a 'traveling mass with a memory loss'? What does history say about that?