90 Shoeboxes of Napkins: Wisdom Doesn't Wait for Age

I was in my twenties when I was given the opportunity of a lifetime. I was a young executive at Sunkist, asked to relaunch the Sunkist brand line of juice products. I traveled across the United States and other parts of the world. And to be honest, I didn't really know what I was doing.

So every night on the road, I called my mom and dad.

My father was 50 years old when I was born, and he had already rebuilt his life more than once. He was a wise man, and I leaned on that wisdom. I would ask him questions like: Dad, what does this mean? What's really going on here? How can I be more in service?

And while he talked, I wrote down what he said. On whatever I had in front of me. Usually, a restaurant napkin.

From Napkins to a Book

I kept every one of those napkins. Over time, they filled 90 shoeboxes.

Those 90 shoeboxes of restaurant napkins became my first book, Earning Serendipity.

Underneath every napkin was the same lesson my parents taught my brother and me from the beginning. After losing their country to Castro's revolution and starting over with whatever was in their back pockets, they knew that it's not about what you have, but who you are. My father wasn't handing me business tactics. He was teaching me how to see.

I never set out to write a book. I simply knew that what my father was teaching me was different from what anyone else was teaching. The way I was raised was different, and what it gave me was wisdom. I wanted to share it with the world, especially knowing he might not live to meet my first child one day. In fact, he didn't.

Then one day, in a board meeting, someone asked me if I had ever thought about putting these ideas into a book. The rest is history. It is the idea behind one of my core beliefs: opportunity must be earned.

Wisdom Has Nothing to Do With Age

Here is what those napkins taught me. I don't believe you have to be old to have wisdom.

I was a young twenty-something with little experience, and yet I was gathering wisdom every night. Not because of my age, but because I was paying attention, asking questions and writing things down.

Today I believe wisdom comes in all shapes and forms, and much of it is coming from our next generation. Too often, organizations treat young people as if insight is something they will earn later, after enough years have passed. That assumption wastes some of the clearest thinking in the building.

I notice how much more is written about what the next generation is not than about who they are. When leaders take those judgments at face value, they stop listening before the conversation even begins.

Letting Younger People Help You See

I put this belief to the test in my own company. Six years ago, I made a decision to hire younger people. And then I made a harder decision: I decided to let go.

I allowed them to help me see what was coming before I was able to see it myself. They noticed shifts in how people learn, communicate and make decisions that I would have missed. They challenged assumptions I didn't know I was holding.

Letting go didn't diminish my experience. It multiplied it. My wisdom and their wisdom, together, saw further than either could alone. It is the same reason the best mentors discover you rather than clone themselves.

Start Your Own Shoebox

You don't need a wise father on the other end of the phone to begin gathering wisdom. You need a habit. During this time of uncertainty, here is what I ask people to do.

Write down what's bothering you. The frustrations, tensions and questions you keep circling. They are often pointing to something important.

Write down what you see as the next big opportunity. Your answers don't need to be perfect. The act of writing them down trains you to see.

Ask someone wiser one question a week. A parent, a mentor, a colleague, or someone half your age. Then capture what they say.

Revisit what you've written. Patterns appear over time. That is when notes start becoming wisdom.

I believe everybody has great ideas. Most people's ideas aren't missing. They are simply never written down, never shared and never acted on.

What Your Napkins Could Become

I had no idea, sitting in those restaurants, that the napkins in my pocket would become a book, a career and a body of work. I only knew they mattered.

Yours do too. Whatever you are learning right now, at whatever age you are, is worth capturing. Wisdom doesn't wait for age. It waits for you to pay attention.

Want to explore these ideas further? Learn more about my work on leadership, identity and conviction at www.theglennllopis.com.