The Power of the Young

Jill is an entrepreneur. She is a big thinker with big ideas. She is also an idealist. She imagines a world in which companies make their impact on society their primary bottom line and the financial results that follow as their second bottom line. She is smart and articulate and her ideas are really good, but she's struggling to get anyone to take her seriously.

What's the problem?

According to the companies that close the door on her, it's because she's only 24.

There is something about youth that the more experienced often forget and don't take advantage of - their passion. Passion is a valuable currency. Some are rich with it and some poor. Some trade it in over the course of their careers only to be left at the end of their lives with a big house and a fast car but no more passion.  The youth, low on experience, are often rich in passion. More importantly, it is their passion that provides the necessary capital required to make the kind of progress that the financially rich can only look upon and drool.

Steve Jobs was 21 when he founded Apple. Mark Zuckerberg was 20 when he started Facebook. Michael Dell was 20 when his company built its first computer, Bill Gates was 20 when Microsoft became Microsoft. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were  25 when they founded Google and Richard Branson was only 22 when he opened Virgin Records. Everyone on this list was low on experience and even lower on cash when they started.  All they had was an intense passion to pursue their visions and an ability inspire others to join them in their pursuit.

Horatio Nelson, the British admiral made famous for defeating Napoleon's navy  at the Battle of Trafalgar, had an unusual habit when at sea. He would go to the bottom deck and spend time with his most junior officers. In those days, this was just not done...an admiral socializing with the youngest ranks? It was unheard of. But Nelson didn't go down to tell them a thing or two. He didn't go below deck to whip them into shape. Quite the opposite. He spent time with them to get something from them. To get something they had lots of, more than any of his ranking officers: unbridled passion and blind optimism...and Nelson loved it!

As we progress in our careers our passion has a tendency to wane. We get mired in the weeds. We become more concerned about benefits and compensation packages. We make safer and safer decisions for fear we may lose what we've worked so hard to get. Worse, we often forget why we started down the path in the first place. The young remind us why we started. They remind us of ourselves when we were their age. They are like a jolt of electricity that can recharge even the most beleaguered of devices.

Nelson spent time below deck to soak up this passion. He understood that it was the responsibility of the experienced to pass down their lessons to the inexperienced, so that, one day, they would become the great admirals of the seas. But he also understood that the passionate had a vital role to play in the system. Nelson wanted to hear their ideas, their dreams, their optimism. It kept him going. His ability to "stay young" was one of the reasons he became on of the greatest leaders in history - commanding astonishing loyalty from the young and the experienced alike.

To all those people who told Jill you're not interested in her ideas because she has no experience, may I remind you, that's not her job...it's yours.  Your job is to hear the ideas you don't have and figure out how to make them happen. That's the value of experience. And, in the process, you may just achieve something great...just like you dreamed of when you were young.

Download a PDF of this post

Comments

[ray bans]

wo xiang xing yan gan pei

[Herve Leger]

Very cool idea. I think I will have to try this one. I just love the "It's the Little Things" line. Thanks!

[online job]

So cognitive so article! To my mind Nelson was the greatest admiral and commander!
P.S.I will remind you the slogan of English SAS: Who dares wins!

[Gucci Handbags]

Sure, if you have an assistant with really great eyeballs or maybe those miner head-light things that magnify stuff, you won't ever find that stray hair or ten on your chin, the ones that popped up just this morning. I can't afford that crap and I don't plan to. I'd rather just sit at red lights, resist the draw of my iPhone, and try to pluck the offending hairs out of my chin myself

[true religion outlet]

I am feeling a bit dazed by the turn my life has taken in the past month. I was essentially alone in NYC, with little support. And LOD and I were both so stretched by the physical and circumstantial limitations of living there that it felt like a big house of cards. Here, I have much more ease and leeway in everything.

[Tanya Malott, Photographer]

Great story here about Brian Stelter....http://www.towson.edu/main/discovertowson/brianstelter.asp

His passion about the media made him one of the most important bloggers about the media (TVNewser), but he did it anonymously because he was a college freshman at the time, and didn't think anyone would take him seriously.

So young, and so wise.

[Send gifts to pakistan]

I also just wanted to let you know that your blog looks great!!! It is very appealing & easy to read..
thanks for sharing!

[melissa]

http://youtu.be/leCAy1v1fnI

something to share.

[Leonard Mudachi]

This is a brilliant article. Ever since I read Start with Why, I diligently recommend it to anyone who will care to listen. Simon, if your why is to inspire, you really have found it.

[Neliswa fente]

I absolutely love this, I am 25 years old from South Africa and personally very irritated and bored being called a "leader of tomorrow" the statement is patronizing and does not empower!

Africa is in need of new YOUNG leadership.

Thank you for this, it just proves what we always talk about is true!

[Jenny]

I love this! I'm 24 myself and just starting out- a lot of people think i'm naive and i get the typical 'we've tried that before etc)

Determination, passion, bravery and confidence!

[Matthew]

Thank you, Simon. I said it a couple of days ago on Twitter - you don't ever seem to miss.

I find myself at the midpoint between passion and experience, and it's a good thing. My job I have thanks to my experience, the new ideas with which I'm experimenting online have nothing to do with experience and everything to do with passion. It's a good place to be, and a GREAT time to turn a corner in life. Thanks for helping me characterize it, or as they said in "Things to do in Denver ..." - "Give it a name!"
-M

[monika hardy]

passion is a valuable currency.
spot on Simon.
thank you.

are you going to the contact conf in ny in oct? contactcon.com

[Ember Nevill]

Great post. I wish I could share your articles on Twitter easier. This one speaks to SO many! Always awesome.

[Katie]

* I think we are responsible for inspiring them to do what they're inspired to do for others, and helping them -- either by connecting them with other people, or helping them ourselves -- to do this.

[Katie]

I think that... in many instances, the older you get, the more likely it is that you have a child that you are taking care of.

First, it is one thing to take a risk that endangers you, and another entirely to endanger someone so precious to you -- perhaps I only speak for myself, but for me it is better to die than to watch someone you love dying.

Second, however, there seems to be a problem with understanding what it is exactly that we are responsible for in terms of raising our children.

I do not think it is a far reach to believe that when more people believe in a world where we do what we are passionate about and other people join together with us and ensure that we are able to keep doing that to support ourselves and our children... that this kind of phenomenon where older people seem to "get lost" won't happen.... and, best of all, children will be inspired by that, and do the same for future generations.

[Lenore Weller]

You know, I heard that same sentiment from one of our brilliant students at Boise State University during our LITE Blue presentations. His whole idea was to imagine being young and think like a child. Simon was our guest speaker for that event and we appreciated the time he spent with our students. The passion of the Young!!

[Steph Davis]

It's so awesome to hear someone else say what we've been saying to our clients. Follow what you feel called to do - and the finances will take care of themselves. Divert from the original purpose and everything else falls, too. We're young too, and help entrepreneurs regain that passion and develop a strategy (based on heart) to reach their goals :) www.digudesign.com Go Simon and Jill :)

[Jon Hammond]

When is that moment when we start to think as an 'older' person?
When are we expected to be the 'wiser' one?
This great article re-enforces the need to always be open minded - no matter how old we are (or feel)
Well done Simon - keep on holding up the mirror
Jon

[Lifeboat1]

Well into my seventh decade, I constantly seek the inherent wisdom & compassion of the very young, the unbridled enthusiasm & optimism of the not-quite young and the passion of the not-quite middle-aged.
Thanks, Simon: bring on the Brave New World!