I do not have many pet peeves. Very few, in fact. Some of the few include:
-Chewing with your mouth open
-Blissful ignorance
-People wasting their talent
This post is dedicated to the third on the list. Nothing bothers me more than to see people blessed with amazing talent and opportunity to excel in whatever they want, and for some reason choose not do to so. Whether it is intelligence, an invention, or having an influential network, I am continually astounded by the lack of drive some people have. And nothing disappoints me more than seeing my peers- Generation Y- fall into this mix of mediocrity.
By no means is this my version of Colbert’s “Wag of my Finger”, this is supposed to be a rally cry for Gen. Y to start changing the business environment the way we see fit. Below are the reasons and the Gen. Y’ers that should get this movement in full swing.
Smartest Generation…EVER
Okay, according to Pew Research, the number of Y’ers in higher education and those that graduated, we are supposed to be. You and I know plenty of Y’ers that shouldn’t cross the street by themselves, but overall we are a bunch of smartypants. If that is the case then, where is all the brainpower? Why are Y’ers spending hours a day looking for entry-level positions that are beneath them, instead of spending that same amount of time creating? Let’s divert the energy to expand our environment, not looking for a space to fit in it. We’re better than that.
Follow the Path Before Us
In the fantastic book of SUPERFreakonomics, it talked about the probability of a person being a professional athlete, specifically one becoming a baseball player. What was the most accurate predictor? If their direct line (parents, grandparents, etc.) were professional athletes. The same can be applied to starting and running your own enterprise. If your parents, brothers, close cousins started their own idea, that same gene is in you. My father started his own business before, and I observed how he ran it; the ups and downs of management, the trials and tribulations of small business, and yet the pure joy he had while he was doing it. Hence, when I saw the opportunity of starting a company, I seized it.
With the Baby Boomers and Late-Boomers running this system, there are plenty of Gen. Y’ers that have that entrepreneur gene. I’ve seen it. Here in Area Fifteen, we’re doing a study about entrepreneurs. Not only are the majority of people here under 35, but more than 90 percent of them were the eldest child of the family. And with my hypothesis being that someone in their family owned and/or started their own business while they were growing up, I hope to have quite the fascinating white paper.
Competition is WIDE Open
If there is any time to test your ideas, the time is now. The market is demanding new products and services, new methods in doing business. This is the time when we can take the torch and starting building a new economy.
Community
We have several options: we can let this Great Recession beat us into submission, we can rise up, join together and build something new, or we can choose to do nothing, and rely on others to bail us out.
If I know my group of folks, there is only one option above that’s salient. So let’s do something about it.
We are in a transitional period in the economy people. We got to keep Society’s Baton from hitting the ground.
Goodness forbid if we willingly eliminate ourselves from the race.
Now Waite a Minute! 