In February I went skiing with my family. It was a salutary experience, reminding me that I am not as young, fit or flexible as I once was. And yet I still bring something to the table. Despite the fact that on our second morning, my daughter stopped half way down the slope and enquired plaintively, “mum, can’t you try to go at least a bit faster?”, she also still wanted my advice and input.
The experience of knowing which slopes to go down, which lifts make more sense, how to deal with moguls (“don’t”) and so on, is vital. Guiding my children down the mountain, stopping to pick them up when they fall over, knowing when it’s wise to stop for schnitzel and recovery time, and giving them advice on how to be more effective at getting down without skis crossing – or crashing into anyone else – are important lessons that I have learnt over years of skiing.
Accumulated knowledge and wisdom are always important.
At a recent evening to consider GCSE options for my son, he and a friend were contemplating the history course and its content. They were unconvinced about the value of studying “old stuff” so I pointed out how these things connected over time, how treaties signed in the 19th century affected who was allied with whom in the first and second world wars, how colonial lines drawn fairly arbitrarily on maps have caused huge political upheaval right up until the present day and so on. My son’s friend gaped at me and demanded, “How do you know all this?”
The simple answer is, “I’ve been around rather longer than you have”.
Despite the unflattering teenage gawping, it was rather encouraging to realise that nearly a half century of curiosity, education, nosiness and observation mean I regularly do know what I’m talking about.
It’s a bit like consulting – in its best sense. In the job that I do, as communications advisers, we come in to advise because we have accumulated knowledge through long experience that provides value and insight for others to benefit from.
The fact is that experience (often combined with age!) bring wisdom and knowledge, along with confidence and a calmer approach when issues arise. We have seen it before, we understand the market cycle, we are clear eyed on the issues, we are sensitive to how various stakeholders such as boards, internal teams, journalists, investors etc. will react, and we can respond and advise appropriately.
A team needs a variety of experience to truly offer a rounded perspective and to ask the searching questions that our clients may need to consider, which is why our team here with its background of brokers, journalists, in-house communicators and more is so well regarded. But seasoned perceptive counsel that pulls together all the threads whether in planning a campaign or leading the reaction to a crisis will never go out of fashion.
(And it’s always me that remembers to bring the Haribo…)