As a 20-something, I admire your boldness and in this post I think you illuminate a larger issue that extends beyond the PR and marketing world.

Think about some of the world’s great thinkers (at least in the West in the past couple hundred years). So many of them were making bold, highly provocative statements in books or articles, the stage or in film (and even television).

Hector Berlioz wrote the groundbreaking symphony “The Fantastic” when he was 26, Alexis DeToqueville was in his 20s when he wrote Democracy in America, George Sand and George Eliot all wrote masterpieces in their 20s, Frederick Nietzche published many bold ideas in his 20s (which were slaps in the face to many older German philosophers), Einstein did some of his best work in his 20s, Bob Dylan helped revolutionize America in his early 20s … Jesus Christ–dead by 32–changed the world … The list goes on (and it’s starting to make me feel like a failure).

These people (and countless others) all kicked their elders in the balls, metaphorically speaking of course. Evidence suggests that if you haven’t overthrown your leader in the field by the age of 30, you won’t ever do it. So if you have the power to rebel then you better do it NOW!

But you can also bet that Nietzche had read all of his predecessors before he kicked them in the balls, same for Christ, Berlioz, DeToqueville, Sand and Eliot, Einstein and Dylan. They knew the literature of their respective fields backwards and forewards before they destroyed it with their ideas.

The point is Parker (and others), as long as you’re educated and not personally insulting anyone then keep the ideas flowing. Let’s just make sure we keep our eye on the ball and talk about the important stuff. As youngsters, we hurt our credibility when we spend more time spewing forth about Britney Spears’ “comeback” performance than General David Petraeus’s ridiculous song-and-dance before the impotent U.S. Congress.

Michael

Therin lies the dilemma. But it is the same one communicators deal with on a daily basis: what message to deliver to which audiences by which spokesperson in which way.

As I wrote in a follow up post:

Education gives you skills and critical thinking abilities. Experience teaches you how to best apply them.