Having a fresh perspective on an existing system can be a great thing. With GreenMellen, I attribute part of our success to the fact that Ali and I never worked for another agency before starting ours, so we weren’t saddled with bad practices and messy ideas.
Related, this is why we love that fact that most of our hires DID work at another agency; they can help us find the gaps. The combination is great, and it allows our fresh approach to shine will still getting guidance from others.
In a recent Founders podcast episode about John D. Rockefeller, the host shared a quote from Marc Andreessen that talked about people trying things for the first time. He said:
“I’m a firm believer that most people who do great things are doing them for the first time. Returning to my theory of hiring, I’d rather have someone all fired up to do something for the first time than someone who’s done it before and isn’t that excited to do it again. You rarely go wrong giving someone who is high potential the shot.”
The balance between “it’s our first time” and “we hire people with experience” goes back to the idea of Chesterton’s Fence. We make it very clear to our team that we want their ideas and suggestions, but only after they understand why we do things the way we do.
The right blend of those can be magic.
