I keep a close eye on Grant McCracken’s postings, his insights on culture are always fascinating. Grant is the author of Chief Culture Officer, and I’ve alluded to him here before.
He recently made some interesting comments about the fallout of hiring Barbara Lippert as “curator of pop culture” at the ad agency Goodby Silverstein. Reactions to her hiring included several age-ist comments about how a 55 year old woman couldn’t possibly be on top of trends. McCracken pointed out, among other things, that trends are only 20% of culture to start with. In his view age is actually an advantage when it comes to the broader task of culture watching. Do read his very pertinent comments.
Lippert did a noted column in Adweek related to advertising and culture for nearly 20 years prior to her recent hiring. She’s a noted culture expert and has been on Oprah, Charlie Rose, and Nightline among other things.
I agree with the esteemed Mr. McCracken, and would add — that it’s about context. The emergence of graphic novels might be a trend, but understanding how that trend connects with William Blake and the French revolution, and why and how that’s relevant now, is another. An older person, a more well read person, who has studied the topic could make those connections, could make that meaning. He/she would better understand the context more completely than a 20-something who has only experienced one aspect of it. Nothing wrong with young people’s thinking — they also have relevant insights, and might understand current subtleties. Having said that, there are trends and there is the culture they fit within, and broad knowledge of culture takes years to cultivate.
Age is an advantage in culture watching, and I believe, it’ s an advantage in Innovation process. Innovation is often about combining things. Yes, a 20-something has the advantage of not knowing that you can’t combine two things, and that can be powerful. Young people are not as “in the box” as older people can be. Then again, there is this concept of knowledge across several domains. Think of it as a Very Big Box, so big, it seems like the thinking is “out of the box” but in reality it’s just very, very good in the box thinking, very original connections. At the end of the day, you have to know the elements, the factors, the market, and the context in order to combine old elements into a meaningful new innovation. Knowledge really does matter.
In my business novel, Jack’s Notebook, I chose to have an older mentor character with a lot of knowledge and structured problem solving experience purposefully. Manny Gibran knew deliberate creative process AND he knew how to apply it to real life challenges AND he was able to improvise with a structured process on the fly using skills he’d learned over the years. Someone just learning a process doesn’t have that fluidity.
In other words, you can’t connect the dots if you don’t know they are there.
Kudos to Goodby Silverstein, and good luck in the new gig Ms. Lippert.
10 responses to “Age, Context, Knowledge = Innovation Advantages”
“Think of it as a Very Big Box, so big, it seems like the thinking is “out of the box” but in reality it’s just very, very good in the box thinking, very original connections.”
Love this – now off to identify and connect a few dots!
Thanks for your comment. I’ve heard it called domain “width” as well. Best of luck with the dot connecting!
Love and agree with the line “You can’t connect the dots if you don’t know what they are.” It’s what Steve Rubel/AdAge column defined as a “generalist”, someone who understand the ecosystem and how they fit together. He was talking specifically about media in this regard, but I think it holds true for creativity and innovation, too. He’d agree we need more of these type of thinkers. Great post, thanks. (fyi – Lisa Robb’s tweet brought me here.) @susanborst
Yes, I think it’s often generalists that get there first, simply because of awareness. Buckminster Fuller, original king of the generalists called them “comprehensivists”. Lately you hear the terms scanner and also polymath… They all mean about the same thing and those folks have a real advantage in invention and innovation. Thanks so much for your comment ( and thank you Lisa for leading you to my blog! )
“Having said that, there are trends and there is the culture they fit within, and broad knowledge of culture takes years to cultivate.” You could also make the point that it takes more knowledge and experience to recognize and differentiate between trends and actual sea-changes in cultural thinking. Not every trend is important; most have a way of disappearing very quickly and it does take a developed and possibly somewhat jaundiced eye to sort through the onslaught. Terrific post. Thanks.
You’re right Nancy, having a sense of what’s important and why is just what I’m talking about. As you say, some trends and behavior changes border on the trivial. I mean, who really cares if teenagers are wearing boots sprouting hair. Noticing a shift in dress away from sectarian dress to religious garb in Malaysia is a whole other kettle of fish. Thanks for your insightful comment.
When I was a young bachelor, my out of the box thinking resulted in my apartment being a mess all the time.
Barbara Strauch summarizes a number of studies on the aging brain in her book “The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain – The Surprising Talents of the Middle-aged Mind”. One fact is that the brain becomes better at connecting seemingly unrelated concept/ideas. It is a great read and explains aging brains from ages 40-65.
Very interesting, I’ll look into that. Thanks for your comment Carol.
[…] Gregg Fraley notes in his article “Age, Context, Knowledge,” innovation is about combining things. The more knowledge that one has, the more one is able to […]