A Responsibility Impetus
75% of Millennials believe it is their responsibility to make a difference in the world. That is 60 million difference-makers. Even though most of us in leadership, education and business are enablers of short-termism, we need to instill the importance of long-term thinking at an early age. Or maybe we need to honor it as a core attribute of this “hopeful” generation?
The youngest Millennials today are in high school. If they aren’t already thinking about their future, they are being asked about it by teachers, counselors and peers. This future focus seems to be happening much earlier than it did for me. This is a good thing. I was simply asked during my Senior year “What is your major?” A clear Gen-X message of credential creation.
Facilitating Paths to Impact Business
Recently I had the honor of speaking to two groups of business curious high school students. The Future Business Leaders of America or FBLA is a national organization that helps high schoolers learn and prepare across various elements of business. They were able to attend various workshops and mine was focused on ‘Starting Your Own Business.’
“If you could start a company today, what would it be?” opened our session. I heard varying ideas from medical solutions to software to smart technology. Then I asked “Why would you want to start your own company?”
- Passionate about, enjoy doing – could do for livelihood,
- Gives purpose to work,
- Gap in marketplace,
- Influence others,
- Address non-renewables,
- Build for future generations,
- Prevent death.
Social Is
The majority of ‘whys’ were about others – about what the world needs. When asked, they defined ‘social’ as having to do with their network, their friends and followers. Yet, their ‘why’ is deeply social. Social impact is predominately what they are thinking about. We non-Millennials seek to categorize these types of impact or attributes to make sense of our experience with their emergence into society and business. Maybe asking them to define social seemed redundant to a generation in which social impact just is?
“In my work with over 4,000 high school students every year, I hear them discussing careers in bioscience, art, cyber security, finance, marketing…you name it. But when I ask the follow up question about why they want to pursue those arenas, in almost all cases it’s to solve a significant world problem they are passionate about. I am amazed by their passion and conviction to lead in a time of great uncertainty.” – Lindsay Andreotti, Executive Director, Future Business Leaders of America, Washington
Finally, I asked them about the challenges their generation faces in the next 10 years, as they enter college and society as adults:
- Pollution,
- Increases in technology,
- Competition of ideas,
- Over-population,
- On-line security,
- Increase of human interaction with technology,
- Space – money for, global warming based,
- Water shortages,
- U.S. debt.
There is a mountain of responsibility upon our next generation. For all of the various influences on this generation, they answer with social impact responsibility as their entrepreneurial ‘why’.
What are we as leaders, teachers and business owners doing to ensure we facilitate and engage this generation in this impact? What do they need from us? How can we ease the process and lessen the barriers to entry? How can we develop their sense of purpose within society?
We would love to hear about others or ideas about how we respond to these questions. To learn more about how you might support FBLA, click here.
A Responsibility Impetus
75% of Millennials believe it is their responsibility to make a difference in the world. That is 60 million difference-makers. Even though most of us in leadership, education and business are enablers of short-termism, we need to instill the importance of long-term thinking at an early age. Or maybe we need to honor it as a core attribute of this “hopeful” generation?
The youngest Millennials today are in high school. If they aren’t already thinking about their future, they are being asked about it by teachers, counselors and peers. This future focus seems to be happening much earlier than it did for me. This is a good thing. I was simply asked during my Senior year “What is your major?” A clear Gen-X message of credential creation.
Facilitating Paths to Impact Business
Recently I had the honor of speaking to two groups of business curious high school students. The Future Business Leaders of America or FBLA is a national organization that helps high schoolers learn and prepare across various elements of business. They were able to attend various workshops and mine was focused on ‘Starting Your Own Business.’
“If you could start a company today, what would it be?” opened our session. I heard varying ideas from medical solutions to software to smart technology. Then I asked “Why would you want to start your own company?”
- Passionate about, enjoy doing – could do for livelihood,
- Gives purpose to work,
- Gap in marketplace,
- Influence others,
- Address non-renewables,
- Build for future generations,
- Prevent death.
Social Is
The majority of ‘whys’ were about others – about what the world needs. When asked, they defined ‘social’ as having to do with their network, their friends and followers. Yet, their ‘why’ is deeply social. Social impact is predominately what they are thinking about. We non-Millennials seek to categorize these types of impact or attributes to make sense of our experience with their emergence into society and business. Maybe asking them to define social seemed redundant to a generation in which social impact just is?
“In my work with over 4,000 high school students every year, I hear them discussing careers in bioscience, art, cyber security, finance, marketing…you name it. But when I ask the follow up question about why they want to pursue those arenas, in almost all cases it’s to solve a significant world problem they are passionate about. I am amazed by their passion and conviction to lead in a time of great uncertainty.” – Lindsay Andreotti, Executive Director, Future Business Leaders of America, Washington
Finally, I asked them about the challenges their generation faces in the next 10 years, as they enter college and society as adults:
- Pollution,
- Increases in technology,
- Competition of ideas,
- Over-population,
- On-line security,
- Increase of human interaction with technology,
- Space – money for, global warming based,
- Water shortages,
- U.S. debt.
There is a mountain of responsibility upon our next generation. For all of the various influences on this generation, they answer with social impact responsibility as their entrepreneurial ‘why’.
What are we as leaders, teachers and business owners doing to ensure we facilitate and engage this generation in this impact? What do they need from us? How can we ease the process and lessen the barriers to entry? How can we develop their sense of purpose within society?
We would love to hear about others or ideas about how we respond to these questions. To learn more about how you might support FBLA, click here.
