In 1999, I started a job with Olive Design as the Design Director. Olive had a unique situation as the staff was mostly young, fresh out of college raw talent, that didn't quite have the experience of running an agency. Kyla Kanz, the owner at the time, likened her situation to a story out of Johannesburg describing the mysterious killing of Rhinos in a wildlife game preserve (bear with me for a few minutes.) It seems that the culprits were young bull Elephants that had been placed in the preserve without adult supervision. There weren't any older, wiser bull elephants to show them the way, and help them get along with their Rhino neighbors. The simple solution was to introduce a few older bull elephants into the preserve and the killing stopped. My point? Without the benefit of age and wisdom, youthful energy can be mis-focused and even potentially harmful.
When I stepped into the creative director position at National Instruments, I found a situation not unlike the Johannesburg game preserve. No, clients weren't being killed, but the team was full of young, inexperienced raw talent with no experience to guide them. They were frustrated that the clients didn't take them seriously. The clients were frustrated that the team didn't listen to them. With no one to guide them, they sheltered in place and adopted a siege mentality.
As leaders of creative organizations, we constantly strive to create the perfect balance of youth, energy, creativity and experience. If you hire too many young creatives with great portfolios, you get new ideas without the ability to sell or nuance the customer experience. Too many grey hairs in your team? Great experience, but are they tapped into the new, the fresh, the innovative?
Balancing a blend of the two is tough. The older generation doesn't understand the work ethic, or perceived lack of one, of the younger generation. The younger generation doesn't always see the benefit of the wisdom and experience of the older. And so it goes. But the best work, the best teams, successfully combine the two, balancing the strengths of each for an unbeatable combination.
In the teams I build, I try to maintain a balance of experience and energy. I find that the younger designers aren't afraid of experimentation. They are willing to push ideas to the extreme, and will often do the unexpected. This can be challenging for the experienced designers, threatening even. But knowing how to channel that energy into a winning concept requires the skill and business acumen of a creative veteran. Both have important roles to play. Both are essential for propelling a creative organization forward. Lean too far in one direction or another, and you may have to explain what is happening to all of the rhinos...