You know, I really appreciate this response and perspective; because it makes total sense. It's human to want to stick to what you know and only natural to be hesitant of the unknown, especially when you have the tenure to have seen it all over the course of a career. That experience is valuable and it's why in many cases I do lean upon this senior guy for input on specific topics I know he is the best resource for.

That said, in this specific context of tech (or at least in my wheelhouse of Ops), this is surmounted by creating and fostering a culture where it's okay to experiment and fail.

Where we've been handicapped in this regard is specifically not doing that, and the particular individual who makes this difficult having the mentality that any new approach spells doom and actively working against initiatives to put us in a better posture of experimentation in environments that don't sacrifice stability and reliability of our stack (hence the sarcastic comment about giving up my first born child for server immutability--I don't even have kids, haha).

But that said, I think you're absolutely right. I'm not quite greybeard yet-mostly because I yank out every grey hair I see trying to establish residency on my chin, but nonetheless your point is accurate, well taken and definitely that has immense merit.