I’m realizing as I grow older that one of the greatest gifts my father gave me is media literacy.
I’m specifically talking about old school movies.
Being able to sharply quote a film from a previous generation or two gives you a level of credence with senior level colleagues that is otherwise unattainable . If you can quote or at least recognize films and TV that the old heads at your company know and love, they start to see you not just as a dumb kid , but as a dumb kid who was raised on a diet of culture they can relate to.
I can’t underestimate how far that goes in developing rapport with people much older than you. It’s really a magical thing . Even the most memorable and over quoted lines from older movies lands you major brownie points every time.
You’d be surprised how man millennials even can’t quote caddyshack, Ferris bueller, napoleon dynamite, Star Wars, you name it .
Whether he did it consciously or not, gotta hand it to my old man for putting me on a steady diet of classic American cinema from a young age