What My Younger Friend Has Taught Me

I am on my way to Raleigh right now to meet up with my friend Sam. He is about 20 years younger than me, and over the years he has taught me more about storytelling, filming, entrepreneurship, and gear than almost anyone else I know.

It would be easy to assume that age runs one direction when it comes to learning. The older person has the experience, the younger person absorbs it, and the lessons flow downhill. I do not think that is true, and Sam is a big part of why I do not think that.

Some of the most important creative decisions I have made over the past several years came from conversations with him. Camera choices, how to actually tell a story instead of just recording footage, which pieces of gear were worth the money and which were not. Every time I have taken his advice seriously, it has paid off. That is not a small thing to admit. It would be simpler to credit those wins to my own instincts, but the honest version of the story includes him.

I think there is a real temptation, especially as you get older or more established in what you do, to assume the learning is mostly finished. You have put in the years, you have the track record, and it is easy to start treating every younger voice as someone to mentor rather than someone to learn from. I do not want to fall into that. Some of my best decisions have come from staying teachable with people who have less experience than me but sharper instincts in specific areas than I do.

Trips like this one matter for that reason, but they also matter for a simpler one. Friendship takes maintenance. It is easy to let a good friendship go quiet simply because life gets full and nobody is forcing the issue. Driving to Raleigh to spend a day with Sam is not really about the drive. It is a way of saying that this relationship is worth the time, on purpose, not just when it is convenient.

I am grateful for this guy. Grateful for what he has taught me, and grateful that staying close to him has kept me a little more humble and a little more willing to learn than I might otherwise be.