Youth vs. wisdom
At The Pop Up Agency we consist of young, passionate and driven people; something that has taken us far but not close enough to where we would like to be.
About a year ago we had just passed on a second opportunity to get an investor. Whilst both of the options were interesting we didn’t believe that it was the most important thing to take on at the stage that we were in, so we pleasantly declined.
However after this we found ourselves in a place where, we realised that we needed some guidance in terms of where to take the company next and how to make that possible.
Upon reflection we realised that whilst we were full of energy, we needed help in having the wisdom to channel that energy in the right way. This led to us deciding that the time was right to start building a board of advisors. We needed people who had a greater understanding and experience of the creative industry to work with us to create synergy between our youthful passion and delivering the best results for our clients, and it that has already started to make a huge difference for us.
There are many times that we take people for granted, failing to appreciate the true nature of helping and the benefits of lending our wisdom in times of need. An article written about Adam Grant, the thirty-three year old lecturer and author of ‘Give and Take: A revolutionary approach to success’ speaks of his mindset being ‘helping is not the enemy of productivity, a time-sapping diversion from the actual work at hand; it is the mother lode, the motivator that spurs increased productivity and creativity’.
In the age of the millennials we live in an ecosystem that relies on the nurturing of the relationship between both the experienced and the younger risk-takers of the industry. The twentieth century author Louis L’Amour captures this idea perfectly in his 1989 novel ‘Education of a wandering man’, he said ‘Knowledge is like money, to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value.’
There is a special relationship between helping to develop growth in others and our own personal growth, being as young as we are; we have been fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to bring a different approach to some of the biggest companies in the world, but what we gained was far more valuable; the belief to launch our own company and grow as creatives.
We are lucky enough to be alive in a time where, wisdom is not necessarily born out of experience, and growth is not a reflection of the hours you are putting into your own personal ambition. We have the tools and resources to be able to grow beyond our expectations by just sharing and trying to build up those around us in whichever way we can. Knowledge is not only learnt in classrooms anymore, we all have the capacity to bring change to the lives of those around us, regardless of the age we are. However it is important to know and appreciate that the industry started somewhere and whilst we are striving to bring change and innovation to it, we still need to tap into the wisdom and understanding of the older generation, like the great innovator Kanye West said ‘ It’s the youth and the og that has to come together. You need the energy of the youth and the knowledge of the og’. Power is not power unless you use it to empower.
