Age or Experience? The Creative Divide Between Young Geniuses and Old Masters

I recently discovered the work of economist David Galenson. He analysed creative careers and discovered an intriguing pattern. According to him, those who do their best work at a young age tend to be conceptualists, driven by a single breakthrough idea. Contrarily, those who produce their masterwork late in life are generally experimentalists whose work is the gradual product of trial and error.

This means that tech founders Mark Zuckerberg, who started Facebook at the age of 19, Bill Gates, who started Microsoft at the age of 23, and Jeff Bezos, who started Amazon at 30, are boldly young geniuses. Young geniuses like them find their inspiration internally and formulate their ideas conceptually, which leads to producing their best work/invention in their twenties or early thirties.

Meanwhile, the likes of Henry Ford, who created Ford at 45; Reed Hastings, who started Netflix at 36; and Charles Ranlett Flint of IBM (International Business Machines Corporation), who started it at 61, are old masters. There is no doubt that ideas also fuelled them—however, they were different because they drew on real-life experiences observed in their daily lives and careers, leading to them producing the best work or starting their breakthroughs in their forties or beyond.

The creativity age divide between young geniuses and old masters is not merely peculiar to multinational company founders. Intellectually and in every other area of life, this divide can be observed. However, some careers may favour young geniuses more than old masters, especially athletics, where the likes of Lamine Yamal, who is barely 17 years old, are showing the world how football is to be played. Youthful vibrancy and energy could advantage them and demerit older players.

Pablo Picasso was a young genius. One of his notable works, "The Old Guitarist" (1903), was painted when he was 19 years old. In contrast, Leonardo da Vinci, although relevant almost all through his life, started painting one of his most famous works to date, the Mona Lisa, around 1503 or 1504, when he was approximately 51 to 52 years old.

Conceptual novelists or young geniuses like Chinua Achebe, the author of "Things Fall Apart," wrote his evergreen novel when he was 25 to 27 years old. However, old masters or experimentalists such as J.R.R. Tolkien wrote his famous work "The Lord of the Rings" at 62 when the first volume was published.

In intellectual/academia, music, acting, etcetera, you will always find young geniuses who made remarkable discoveries at very young ages and then old masters whose remarkable and evergreen work came to them when they were near their careers' end.

Simply put - conceptualists (young geniuses) find. Experimentalists (old masters) seek. It is comforting to my wondering young adult mind to come across this creative career analysis. I hope that regardless of who you are and where you are in age and your career, this discovery which I have just brought to you, if you only came across it now or that I reminded you if you have before now, brings you a beam of hope or encouragement in whatsoever you are into.

Article originally published on Substack.

Many thanks for reading my perspective and giving feedback.

My fervent wish is for the personal growth of everyone and the success of all young professionals who put their hearts and souls into finding their purpose in life.

Copyright ? Ekene Moses, 2024. All Rights Reserved.

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