Ageism is the creative industry’s dirty little secret. An industry that is frothing for (boasting, cheering, promoting) diversity and inclusion is absurdly and, so far, intransigently ageist. Age is seen as a disability and age is the only “disability” that it still doesn’t fight for.
Creative, Rich Wakefield, brought a great idea to The Stable. “Ask people like me to write what it was like to be beaten up by this business, for good-for bad-for better. I can write an open letter. Maybe younger people could learn something, or maybe we could learn something from them?“
So The Stable is. Nothing is going to change unless older people fight for it. Women had to bust the myths. So do you.
Here is Wakefield’s open letter:
I’m 60.
I’m not ashamed of it.
It happens to all of us.
(Well, not if you’re dead at 59.)
I’m alive and well. Even though I should eat better and not drink so much.
But I’m actually in better shape than anyone who is 30 years younger.
And I’m not alone.
I’m talking about being in better shape creatively.
Ask anyone my age and they will say the same thing.
I’m from the generation of “good enough is not enough” not “good enough is enough”.
I’ve been built for stamina.
I’ve been built to do more and not take no for an answer.
I’ve been built by mentors to write 100 more headlines (even though I’m not a writer, but that trained me to be).
I’ve been built by clients who hate everything and pushed through to have them love everything.
I’ve been built by early mornings and late nights and late nights and late nights.
Only to fail and come in second place.
I was taught that if you don’t come in on Saturday don’t bother coming in on Sunday.
I love this business even though it can be brutal.
True story: When I was young in this business. It was 8:00 AM. I worked late the night before and had been in the office for an hour already – like every morning. I was admiring the wall of ideas I tacked up, feeling pretty good about presenting to the creative director later that day. Then he walked in unannounced and started taking down my ideas. He didn’t just tell me why they were wrong, he added comments like, “You don’t know what you’re doing.”
He ripped down my favourite idea then wiped his ass with it. He told me I sucked, then left.
This is what we now refer to as “feedback.”
Last week, I heard about a group of creative people whose creative director rejected their ideas and they complained to HR.
I’ve been thinking about these two extremes lately and, as a senior creative, I’ve tried with all my might to avoid grand proclamations and start every sentence with, “In my day…”
The feedback I received was brutal.
In fact, back then, all young creatives got beaten up pretty badly.
A lot of people quit the business, and for all I know are still in therapy.
I’m not saying that people’s jobs should be putting them in therapy.
The rest of us, 30 years on, we’re still at it. And while I would never recommend cruelty as a motivator, the treatment taught me valuable lessons:
- Resilience: Whenever we got trashed, it motivated us to work harder and, “prove that asshole wrong”. It gave me the grit and belief in myself that I have used to have a career that’s been successful by every measure. Even today when a client kills an idea I love, my first thought is, “Let’s do a better one.”
2. You can always be better: Maybe you’re a genius creative person who nails it on the first try. But usually, the people who succeed are the ones who work harder. Coming up in the business, it was unthinkable to arrive after or leave before the boss. We worked a lot and when we thought we had a great idea, the goal was to beat it with a better one.
I teach classes to younger creatives and recently when one had a great idea, I directed him to develop headlines. I suggested 100, he came back with eight. His response when I asked where the other 92 were: “Nah, I think this is good.”
So, here’s my pitch to anyone looking for creative help:
Go direct to senior creatives, you don’t have to pay for expensive agency overhead. You don’t have layers of people between you and the work. Most agencies don’t care about solving the problem, they just want to bill more hours.
While considering a younger team, too often people look at the cost coupled with the perception that younger minds are “fresher” and choose the young ‘uns. Here’s what I know. I work with some brilliant young creatives. I also work with brilliant older ones. The older ones give me more solutions that are thought through. Their ideas tend to be great and bullet proof. If a client has revisions, they come back with something unexpected that also answers the client’s concerns. I get the problem solved faster and have a happier client. In the end, that saves the client money and they get a better product. With younger ones, not so much.
Let’s finish with a truth. Coming up with new and better ways of saying something is not easy. It’s a process that tests you constantly. So if you’re looking for creative help, I’d suggest hiring people who’ve passed the test many times.
