7/24/2010
charles hugh smith-An Open Letter to the Millennials/Gen-Y: Where Are You?
An Open Letter to the Millennials/Gen-Y: Where Are You?
(June 23, 2010)
Authors Neil Howe and William Strauss have popularized the view that those born between 1982 and 2000 are the next great heroic generation. If so--where are you? Time's a-wasting to start being great.Defining "generations" based on dates inevitably suffers from the temptation to assign various shared traits to 60 - 70 million people. Clearly, the primary connection between cohorts is shared cultural/social experiences. But to distill characteristics of a generation based on their shared experiences naturally has limits.
Is there a zeitgeist which defines the values and worldview of each new generation? Obviously war affects those who served or were otherwise influenced by the war (or resisting it). Various technologies and cultural movements shape those who are most impressionable at their flowering (i.e. the young), hence the lasting power of rock-n-roll, MTV and its offspring, the personal computer, the Internet, etc.
Many people identify watershed events such as The assassination of President John F. Kennedy or 9/11 as the defining moments of a generation, but these events influenced all generations. To assign any meaningful shared characteristics to a generation takes more work than that.
According to Neil Howe and William Strauss, authors of Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (2000), in the grand scheme of their "four generation cycle" analysis, the Millennials/Generation Y born between 1982-2000 (now between 10 and 28 years old) are the next great "heroic" generation.
According to Howe and Strauss, this group is poised to become the next great generation, one that will provide a more positive, group-oriented, can-do ethos."Millennials," the authors argue, are different from Gen-Xers: they have grown up in a multicultural country and have never known a recession; they are wanted children (as the increase in both birth control and fertility drugs demonstrate); and protected by an unprecedented number of child-centered laws. Since birth, they have been spurred to achievement in the home, by yuppie parents, and at school, by standardized tests and "zero tolerance" disciplinary measures. The authors show how easily Millennials have swallowed all the efforts on their behalf.
They also attempt to link Millennials to the G.I. generation, suggesting that "hero generations" come in cycles.
Generation X (Those born between 1964-1981: 29 and 47 years old) are categorized as a "nomad" generation comprised of children born during a spiritual awakening.
Baby Boomers have apparently been divided into two cohorts, those born 1946-1955 and those born 1956 - 1963 (all dates cited here are in common but not universal useage).
Here is an important book on one aspect of the Boomers' collective zeitgeist which is often ignored/misunderstood: What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer.
Here are summaries of Howe and Strauss's four generational types:
Prophet/Idealist. (Baby Boomers) A Prophet (or Idealist) generation is born during a High, spends its rising adult years during an Awakening, spends midlife during an Unraveling, and spends old age in a Crisis. Prophetic leaders have been cerebral and principled, summoners of human sacrifice, wagers of righteous wars. Early in life, few saw combat in uniform; late in life, most come to be revered as much for their words as for their deeds.Nomad/Reactive. (Gen X) A Nomad (or Reactive) generation is born during an Awakening, spends its rising adult years during an Unraveling, spends midlife during a Crisis, and spends old age in a new High. Nomadic leaders have been cunning, hard-to-fool realists, taciturn warriors who prefer to meet problems and adversaries one-on-one.
Hero/Civic. (Gen Y) A Hero (or Civic) generation is born during an Unraveling, spends its rising adult years during a Crisis, spends midlife during a High, and spends old age in an Awakening. Heroic leaders are considered to have been vigorous and rational institution-builders, busy and competent in old age. All of them entering midlife were aggressive advocates of technological progress, economic prosperity, social harmony, and public optimism.
Artist/Adaptive. An Artist (or Adaptive) generation is born during a Crisis, spends its rising adult years in a new High, spends midlife in an Awakening, and spends old age in an Unraveling. Artistic leaders have been advocates of fairness and the politics of inclusion, irrepressible in the wake of failure.
Which brings up this question for Millennials: where are you? What are you doing that's great and heroic?
I ask this not as a snide slam: I have friends who performed heroically in their early to late-20s. To name but a few:
Dexter Cate: Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, school teacher, political activist, my comrade in the People's Party of Hawaii and congressional candidate, my colleague in the American Friends Service Committee, and environmental activist who single-handedly swam through storm-tossed open ocean at night to slash the nets imprisoning dolphins which had been trapped in order to be slaughtered. Here is a first-hand account. I am proud to say that Dexter was my friend. He was a hero on multiple levels, on multiple occasions, brave in the face of long odds and an aggressively amoral authority bent on suppressing any dissent.
Ian Lind: One of the Kaho'olawe Nine who occupied the island of Kaho'olawe in 1976 in defiance of the Federal government.
"This is an extraordinary example of what looked like a lost cause," Lind said. "How can you possibly challenge this government policy? Officials said if they stopped bombing Kaho'olawe they would have to close down Pearl Harbor; the nation's defense will collapse. They gave one reason after another why it couldn't happen."Here is Ian's slideshow of photos from the landing. The island was returned to the state of Hawaii in 1994--almost 20 years after the occupation.
Ian is a free-lance journalist/blogger who does the hard work of journalism, digging through obscure public documents to hold elected officials to the laws of disclosure, campaign finance and ethics. He inspired me to launch oftwominds.com and I am proud to call him my friend.
Jeff Blair: Jeff publicly torched his draft card to resist the Selective Service Act (the draft) on the basis that it was illegal and an infringement of constitutional rights. I happened to be present when the FBI arrested him, and I visited him in Halawa prison. He defended himself in Federal Court at the age of 21 against charges that carried a five year sentence in the Federal pen. He was also the key instigator of the People's Party of Hawaii, a fully legal third political party ruled by "The Triumvrate" of Jeff, Dexter and myself. I was 20 years old in our first election (1974) and had only gained the right to vote myself when the law changed the voting age from 21 to 18. Jeff also served with Dexter and I in the American Friends Service Committee.
Jeff teaches college in Japan, and I am proud to call him my friend.
Ken Ellingwood: Career U.S. Marine, served on the ground in Vietnam where his hearing was shot to hell. Retired to join the People's Party of Hawaii, and became an anti-nuclear activist; later, he went to Harvard Law School to do more for the causes he believes in. (I think he must have been the only Vietnam-era Marine in the place.)
I am proud to have worked with Ken and to call him my friend.
These are just "regular" people I have known for a long time; none are "famous." All did extraordinary, important things which required great courage in their 20s. They set a very high standard for what can be counted as idealistic, deeply informed, important, courageous, and requiring great personal risk.
I live in Berkeley, California, home to one of the great public universities in the world. As a result, I meet dozens of Millennials from all over the world and have the opportunity to observe hundreds more. The students at UC-Berkeley are certainly among "the best and the brightest."
My brother-in-law has taught at another public university for over 30 years. He has been well-placed to observe hundreds of Millennials pass through his department.
Here are my first-hand observations of Millennials:
1. They can't/won't recycle. Here in a "green" capital of activism, very few American students can be bothered to recycle cardboard, paper or even aluminum. They stuff a cardboard box (unfolded) into a trash container, filling the container, and then pile the garbage on the side since they are too lazy to recycle the box (the recycling containers are right next to the trash cans) collapse the cardboard box or even press it down to make room for more garbage.
2. The males generally own their own vehicles; on my street, that includes Mustangs and Jeep SUVs sporting bumper stickers like "The environment is all we have." The Millennial owner is apparently blind to the irony.
Most of the students who recycle with any sort of consistency (i.e. demonstrating their belief via actual action instead of bumper stickers) are Europeans.
3. At the end of the Spring semester, Millennials stuff dozens of huge 20-foot long containers with their waste and tossed-out "stuff"-- trash bags full of barely worn shoes, perfectly good beds, desks, books, etc. I have no direct knowledge that any graduating student took all their perfectly good shoes, etc. to the Goodwill, a few blocks from the university. From my informal dumpster diving, I can attest they throw out tons of high-quality food--whole unblemished fruits, canned goods, etc. Based on my direct observation, I would say the Millennials are the most wasteful, profligately consumerist generation in history.
4. My brother-in-law reports that the vast majority of his students are in active denial about the economy or the interlocking problems of the nation and world. They express little to no interest in environmental issues or actions, or in Peak Oil, etc., even though it will most certainly impact them.
5. Local "progressive" politics is still completely dominated by Boomers and Gen Xers. If there is a Millennial political movement or zeitgeist, it is currently invisible in one of the great political hotbeds of the nation and world.
6. The over-arching emotion of the Millennials I have met and observed is fear: fear that they won't get a cush job with bennies, fear that the "good life" which apparently means a secure job with high pay might not open up, fear that life might not work out easily.
It's over, so move on to something better. The whole cheap oil, Savior State, consumerist/media/facebook solipsism has no future. Clinging to it in the hopes you can extract some meaning, security or swag is a losing proposition. Where is the excitement about changing things, rather than fearfully hoping the swag lasts long enough for you to get your share? Fearfully clinging to Mommy, Daddy and the Savior State is no path to greatness.
One of my favorite stories about my friend Richard Metzger of Dangerous Minds (a Gen-Xer with a deep appreciation for the 60's counter-culture and much much more) involves the week after he was expelled from high school in a small town in West Virginia at the age of 17. He announced to his parents that he was going to Europe that very weekend, and they responded (in a superior tone, I gather) that he needed to apply for a passport first--a rare thing to have in small West Virgina town in those days. He pulls out his passport, his parents' jaws drop, and he's in Amsterdam a few days later, living in a squatted flat, having foresaken his slot in a prestigious Ivy League university.
That's just about as cool as being harrassed and questioned by the FBI (my experience at 19 years of age)--and certainly a lot more fun.
I am sorry if I offend anyone's tender sensibilities, but I am quite tired of hearing about another 20-something living at home or sucking off Mommy and Daddy for his/her rent, car insurance, medical insurance, travel costs, beer money, etc. Please don't cite the recession; there were also deep recessions in 1973-75 and 1980-82. Yes, perhaps not as systemic as today, but unemployment matched or topped today's numbers.
Where is the greatness in that dependency? The much-maligned Gen-X looks damned fine by comparison with Gen-Y, sorry. I see Tommy K. over at Freedom Guerrilla and Chris Sullins (Garden SERF) as heroes--Gen-xers, by the way, vets who served in Iraq, who are doing great and important things in their own communities. As far as I can see, gen-Xers rock. More power to you, the 4% Gen-X Remnant; keep leading by example.
By all means blame the blubbering Boomers if you're of a mind to (I am 56); certainly the Boomers have botched every opportunity to provide political leadership, and many have become whiners who have descended to one-upping each other on who's the bigger "victim."
But my Boomer friends are evidence that at least 4% of the Boomers did something real, important, worthy and personally risky in their 20s and beyond. We did not need big money to push forward with our passions; we lived in crappy studios, in old Quonset huts and made our own food, our own parties and our own music. We worked extremely hard and had no debt. We were self-reliant and owned little. Bourgeois excess and pride in owning lots of "stuff" were anathema. We did insanely impossible things with little to no support from the Status Quo world. If you doubt it, please re-read the brief bios of what my friends accomplished with essentially no support.
According to the Pareto Principle, those 4% of the Boomers, the 4% of Gen X and the 4% of the "artist" generation who are older than Boomers--the Remnant-- have the potential to exert outsized influence on 64% of the populace.
My question is this: where are the 4%--the leaders by example--of the Millennials? They must be out there, doing great, daring, courageous and important things against long odds and the dead weight of bureaucratic State authority. How have I missed them?
I make two humble requests of Millennials: please tell me about the great things your friends are doing, the projects designed to make a difference, the projects that require resourcefulness, courage, resilience, and a desire to learn from those who blazed paths before you. I want to know about the 20-somethings who are doing things on the same scale as my friends did in their 20s.
The second request is that you read my blog. Maybe you'll learn something, and if not, then you can teach the rest of us through what you contribute to this blog. We need to hear your voices somewhere where important ideas and actions have an audience.
I have started a new thread on the Daily Java forum for you to share the projects being pursued by Millennials. It's called Great Things Being Done by Millennials and you can find it under "Of Two Minds-Charles Smith" in the forum.
We need the 4% of the Millennials who are ready and willing to step up and be leaders by example to become the Millennials' Remnant. Not later--now. You're plenty old enough to start doing great things. Time's a-wasting and the need for greatness has never been more pressing.
I recently engaged one of our good friend's daughters, a 16-year old Millennial, about some semi-weighty topics, and her response was funny and sad at the same time. I asked what her generation would do, and she said in a mocking voice, "We'll just keep playing with our Facebook pages and then we'll all die."
It was a joke, but it left me pondering all the subtexts of her quip.
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For more about each book, please visit the Operation SERF Trilogy page and the Survival+ page.
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Chris Sullins' Strategic Action Thriller Operation SERF was first serialized here on oftwominds.com. If you missed the story, here is a summary:
A Strategic Action Thriller set in the United States of America in the year 2023. After many years of economic depression, a terrorist act fractures the country. The stage is set for another Civil War as three factions battle for control of the pieces. The story takes place in many areas across the country, but centers on one extended family caught between the struggles of the rival factions. The reader will glimpse into the minds of the leaders of the factions, as well as common Americans, and travel along with them. "Operation SERF" is Book One of the trilogy.
Chris just completed Book 2: Horsemen of the Red Hand:
Book Two of the Operation SERF trilogy continues the complex saga of the breakdown of America in the year 2023. As the Shroud family continues to struggle with the threat of attack on their rural home in Michigan, powerful political factions conspire from Chicago and Phoenix to divide up what remains of the shattered nation. More pieces move on the chessboard as the military decides to leave the sidelines and become involved in the action in order to secure the President and restore order. During the course of all these events, a nebulous man named Mond continues to manipulate the strategic situation nationwide and a deadly man-made virus begins to make itself known.Substitution options: If you already have a copy of Survival+ The Primer, I will send you a signed copy of Weblogs & New Media: Marketing in Crisis or any one of my six novels.
If you would like to post a comment where others can read it, please go to DailyJava.net, (registering only takes a moment), select Of Two Minds-Charles Smith, and then go to The daily topic. To see other readers recent comments, go to New Posts.
Order Survival+: Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation and/or Survival+ The Primer from your local bookseller or from amazon.com or in ebook and Kindle formats. A 20% discount is available from the publisher.Of Two Minds is now available via Kindle: Of Two Minds blog-Kindle
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charles hugh smith-Trends for 2009: Generational Optimism
Trends for 2009: Generational Optimism (January 5, 2009)
The Millennials (those born between 1980 and 1990) view the future not with doom-and-gloom dread but with optimism. While this could be written off as delusion or "mere youthful optimism," the younger generations' optimism may well be an accurate assessment that the patterns, ethics and lifestyles of the older generations have run aground; as a result, the U.S. economy's deadwood (self-indulgence, moral dysfunction, solipsism/narcissism, debt-based bogus "prosperity," etc.) can finally be tossed out, along with absurdly impossible National debts and pension/Medicare obligations.In a recent "conversation with Richard Metzger," we discussed the Millennial generation's optimism as per this research: Millennials Anxious Now, Optimistic About Future:
Despite a failing economy, employment woes and countless other concerns, a key segment of Millennials, people born between 1980 and 1990, remain confident about what 2009 will have in store for them. According to an omnibus survey conducted by StrategyOne on behalf of Pepsi, four out of five Millennials are hopeful about the future as the New Year approaches, and nearly all surveyed (95%) agree that it is important for them to maintain a positive outlook on life.How much of this youthful optimism is just, well, youthful optimism? Is the study too small to be judged accurate? Perhaps the sample is small, but the responses seem to reflect a real difference between generational views of the future.Lisa Orrell, generation relations expert and author of Millennials Incorporated, says "Children of the '80s and '90s inherently feel a strong sense of optimism in the future and their ability to shape it. This age group feels refreshingly unencumbered by history or tradition, a feeling that they can accomplish anything they resolve to achieve."
According to the survey, Millennials spend more time enjoying life than worrying about it and this group is most optimistic about their overall well-being and relationships with friends and family. Other findings include:
74% find that supporting causes make them feel more optimistic
77% of Millennials report having a strong sense of optimism about their careers
95% of Millennials make positive associations when they think of the word "change," associating it with "progress" (78%), "hope" (77%) and "excitement" (72%)
67% of Millennials say that the election of Barack Obama is making them feel optimistic about the future of the countryThose feeling "excited" about the future include:
57% of Millennials
49% of Gen Xers
38% of Baby Boomers
27% of Post-War Americans
We all have been inculcated with American culture's basic optimism; yet where is this optimism in the older generations' responses?
Perhaps these numbers reflect a true generational divide: the older generations which counted on tapping younger generations to pay for their retirement pensions and Medicare are no longer optimistic because they are finally absorbing the reality that their $66 trillion (or is it $90 trillion? Nobody knows above about $60 trillion) in unfunded liabilities are essentially uncollectable/unaffordable/ain't gonna happen.
Meanwhile, the younger generations are more optimistic because they sense that these unsustainable burdens will inevitably be lifted from their shoulders, freeing them to get on with the work of fixing all that's wrong with the U.S. economy, infrastructure and society.
Richard made these insightful comments on the study:
What I make of the optimism is that is it FAR better to be an optimist than a pessimist.Thank you, Richard, for directing our attention to this research and for your commentary.In terms of your health, everything. Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson have written extensively on this. Why perform the "loser script" when you can be following the "winner script"? What's the point in being gloomy all the time? You only get one life. You've got nowhere else to go, you're stuck here for a passage of time on Earth, make the best of it. Fake it until you make it!
Simple but sage advice.
Taken in generational terms, the Millennials haven't, at this point, aged enough to have either a) firm political opinions or b) any sort of real, muscular political power. Both are coming, but in due time. I've been saying this to anyone who'll listen to me for the past few days, that I have complete faith in the up and coming generation, especially if 75% of them see reason for optimism! This is good news indeed.
Here's the key statement:
"95% of Millennials make positive associations when they think of the word "change," associating it with "progress" (78%), "hope" (77%) and "excitement" (72%)"
... which translates to me as a fair degree (putting it mildly) of more OPEN MINDEDNESS in the young and a greater WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE AND IMPROVISE as events require them.
95% associating "change" with "progress" and not the backwards thinking reaction such a word inspires in, say, the hardcore GOP/Pat Buchanan types out there, well, this is good news to me. It means that the, the twenty-somethings of today, will not hesitate to throw out the BAD and try something new. It means the reactionary element of American politics is on the run.
I don't think this means that a new "New Left" manifests itself, far from it, I see this generation as being largely NON-ideological. It'll take the form of Pragmatism, in it's truest sense, the ultimate American philosophy. Or else there will be a cult of personality that will spearhead it. I don't think that an "ism" is necessarily what we'll be dealing with, but maybe. More of a "meme" methinks and anything "green" will be on the ascent, but again, I don't see any new "ism" on the horizon. except pockets of populism in some of the Red States.
And another thing, I simply do not see the young accepting the massive debts that we accrued before their birth or when they were young children for them and for their children to pay off. If memory serves, I didn't sign up for this either, did you?
Why should the productive capital of a generation be held up in debt when all it ever was was were digital "values" predicated on DEBT (i.e. fractional reserve lending --I borrow $1000 and so now the bank has $9000 to lend out) in the first place? The concept of money has become very, very fragile. Three percent of all "money" is in paper form, the rest is digital.
It doesn't GET any more arbitrary than THAT and yet this is what the world is basing its collective economic systems on... something that doesn't even stand up to common sense or "balancing your checkbook" math!
The idea of being 43 in an era of what I believe will be incredible REVOLUTIONARY change in, not just the young, but in all societies sick of what they've become, is to me, a blessing. I used to always think that I was born a few years too late for "the Sixties" and then punk (true, but I got post punk 1979-83 which was even better in hindsight) and then the dotcom era came along and I had quite a ride on that current.
But to be an adult, with the benefit of experience and age and all the (ahem) wisdom that confers (knowledge of history, old enough to have seen how little things change over time, seeing trends of all sorts come and go, old enough to know better and old enough to know that I will never, ever understand womankind) is, I think a good place to be in during a transition of sorts, for society.
I've always thought that the US needed a revolution. I think we're going to get one. I didn't think I'd see it during my lifetime, but now I'm sure of it will happen.
I can think of a number of positive things that are just around the corner, not the least of which is (as we discussed two weeks ago) is the fact that there should be a LESSENING of stress in terms of the tremendous "fees" and hidden taxes of life in America.
If housing costs and rents drop dramatically... If the leases on automobiles drop dramatically... If there is anything even close to universal healthcare in America (and this MUST BE, they have to do it with the kind of unemployment we face), well, these are three tremendous reasons for the common man to rejoice.
I mean, if universal healthcare, for the most part, just looked like these walk-in clinics that Wal-Mart and Target have opened, and $10 generics, I'll TAKE IT.
Imagining this doesn't sound all THAT BAD to me. If a LOT of people get pushed off the hamster wheel of modern living... I think a lot of them will LIKE IT.
It's the monetary system that has gotten society to where it's gotten (in terms of the modern world, world trade, wealth creation) but that same system to led to such bounty has been abrogated beyond all repair. When that system is understood (as is now starting to happen) by average people, the game is up. WHO would stand for it and WHO would agree to set themselves up again with the same stupid game with the same rules?
When 97% of the world's financial assets are held by 3% of the population or whatever that number is, the idea of private property and inherited wealth is idiocy for that 97% to put up with.
I would summarize the situation thusly. The "generation that won World War II" is now roughly 82 years of age or older (any younger, and you couldn't have served in World War II). There is a largely unspoken "social contract" to continue to provide the care which these citizens were promised for the remaining decade or so of their time on Earth; they saved Democracy, and this care is right and just.
But the 76 million-strong baby Boomer generation has no such "social contract" for the simple reason it is demographically impossible for 130 million workers to pay the pensions and horrendously costly Medicare benefits for 75 million retirees.
Yes, I know millions of Boomers will be working past 66 years of age, and so on; that is all just statistical noise in the long view. Two workers cannot pay for one retirees' benefits when a week in the hospital costs $120,000. (My friend's father recently exited the hospital after a modest procedure and that was the bill paid by Medicare--the equivalent of three year's pay or decades of Medicare taxes blown for one week without major surgery.)
Then there's the undeniable fact that the Boomers were front and center in the past two decades' orgy of debt, lies, obfuscations, greed and bogus "prosperity." Not just the Wall Street crowd, but the "flippers" who leveraged multiple homes on shaky credit, etc. Yes, the younger generation tapped the same vein of greed and malice, as did a few enterprising oldsters; but the Baby Boomers flocked unskeptically to worship the gold-veneered gods of rampant debt-fueled consumption and unproductive speculation.
So what "social capital" was built up by the Boomer's experiments in narcissitic consumption and political/financial self-destruction? Not a whole lot, and I say that as a Boomer (I just turned 55). Exactly what have the past two Boomer presidents and their political cronies accomplished to win the accolades and gratitude of the generations which follow? Borrow trillions and squander it on unproductive wars, speculative excesses and benefits which should have been paid for responsibly out of net National income via taxes.
I can already predict that some readers will chastize me for this moral-tinged outrage at the squandering of the nation's wealth and the Boomers' role (either active or curiously passive) in that destruction of wealth, trust and credibility, but to claim that this level of self-indulgence, destruction and willful myopia was "always the norm" is simply not true.
Two decades ago there was widespread outrage that Chrysler was extended $1.7 billion in Federal loan guarantees; now an $850 billion bailout of the most corrupt and venal elements of our economy drew muted cries, and a $14 billion bailout of the auto industry now seems picayune and modest in scale.
This is the Boomers in charge, and there is very, very little to be proud of in my view. It has been a parade of shame for well over a decade: a shamelessly neurotic and remarkably ineffectual trash-TV drama (the Clintons) was replaced by a simplistic charade of "strength" which masked raw stupidity, ignorance, greed and a willful looting of America's environmental, global and financial assets for private gain.
Guess how well the "privatization of Social Security" would have worked out. That was the ultimate ideological end-game of this administration and its minions on Wall Street--the privatization of immense profits and the socialization of risk.
I have long suggested the Baby Boomers should prepare to gracefully accept that the benefits we promised ourselves are simply unaffordable. Boomers, Prepare to Fall on Your Swords (June 2005):
Now it falls to us to fix the finances of our foolishly bankrupted nation. Either we sacrifice our freebies (every recipient of these programs has extracted far more than they paid in, even including accrued interest) or we leave our children and their children burdened by an impossible debt. I say we go out with idealistic panache, and fall on our swords with grace and dignity.For more on the demographic impossibility of the Boomers receiving the benefits of their parents' generation, please read A Generational War We All Lose (March 19, 2008).The loss of these retirement benefits is rather naturally a source of pessimism for Boomers, but perhaps the nation needs to start looking at its future through the lens of the challenges ahead rather than the broken lens of what was irresponsibly promised in the past.
I am way behind on my email--I appreciate your patience as I strive to catch up from a few days visiting family.
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Thank you, Peter F. ($20) for your much-appreciated donation to this site. I am greatly honored by your support and readership. Thank you, T.L. ($8) for your book order and generous donation to this site. I am greatly honored by your support and readership. Or send him coins, stamps or quatloos via mail--please request P.O. Box address.
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Management tools for generational communication: “Millennial Starter Kit” for understanding Millennial motivation | Breaking stone to be success
- Millennial SeriesTM Starter Kit for understanding Millennial (Gen Y) motivation includes:
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- Millennial SeriesTM “POTENTIAL” Module: Audio CD & 7 Quick Reference Cards
- Millennial DeckTM – 52 cards provide weekly ideas to engage and lead Millennials.
Product DescriptionSage Leadership Tools provide the information you need to manage and motivate your business team through generational insights that are specific to each group. Included in this kit are the following tools:
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A quick reference tool about generational characteristics that provides a framework for communication. This Leadership Compass is to be used as a guide as you determine where you and the members of your team best align. It includes the. . . More >>Related posts:
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Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative hosts workshop to certify minority-/women-owned businesses
Originally published July 23, 2010
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Share Print story Notre Dame, Ind. — The new Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative (WEI) at Saint Mary's College will host a workshop for entrepreneurs seeking to certify their new or existing business as minority- or woman-owned. Such certification can offer businesses a competitive edge in obtaining state, federal and corporate contracts.
The State of Indiana’s Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises Division will conduct the workshop. Attendees will learn how to complete the Minority Business Enterprise/Woman Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) certification application and industry experts will be on hand to help demystify the process.
The workshop will take place from 9-11 a.m. on Thursday, August 5 in Room 145, Spes Unica Hall, Saint Mary's College. Immediately following the workshop, an advisory panel of experts will hold an open forum titled "Making the Winning Bid." The event is open to the public and the cost is $25 (refreshments and lunch are included).
To register, click here or email wei@saintmarys.edu or call (574) 284-5262. Registration is requested by Friday, July 30. For a campus map, click here.
About the Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative (WEI): In 2009, the College received $245,000 Small Business Administration grant to support women’s entrepreneurship in the South Bend community, which led to the creation of WEI. The initiative was developed through the collaborative efforts of the Department of Business Administration and Economics (BUEC) and the staff of the Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership (CWIL). Through WEI, which got underway in the spring semester, the College is partnering with community businesses, non-profits and organizations to provide a number of financial and business education services to women entrepreneurs.
About Saint Mary’s College: Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Ind., is a four-year, Catholic, women’s institution offering five bachelor’s degrees and more than 30 major areas of study. Saint Mary’s College has six nationally accredited academic programs: social work, art, music, teacher education, chemistry and nursing. Saint Mary's College ranks among the nation's top 100 liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report's 2010 annual survey. Founded in 1844, Saint Mary’s is a pioneer in the education of women, and is sponsored by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
Customer Motivated Entrepreneurship and the Lean Startup | Zvi Band
Customer Motivated Entrepreneurship and the Lean Startup
Posted: July 24th, 2010 | Author: Zvi | Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Structo | 6 Comments »As a hacker-founder (an entrepreneur who develops their own products), how familiar does this sound to you:
- Have an awesome idea. Don’t tell anyone about it.
- Decide to build it, convinced that everyone will love it.
- Still don’t tell publicize it.
- Keep working on the product. Not as wild about the idea anymore.
- Come to some milestone in the product. Show it to one or two people.
- Start to think about marketing. How are you going to market this? Haven’t really thought about this before…
- Bleh, so many little remaining things to do.
- Come up with another really great idea – even better!
- Give up. Not like you had any users who gave a crap…
- Move onto the next idea. See step 1.
I’ve been through this half a dozen times in the last two years alone. It sucks, as I look back on all the dead web applications and “startups” I’ve done. I still look back and think that some of them are still great ideas – in fact, similar products have come later that have been very successful.
No more. I’m not doing that again.
One of the main “lean startup” tenets is a focus on ensuring that customers want your product, making customer development more important than product development itself. As I was thinking about my next product (having built an awesome product previously, yet completely missed how to market it), I was interested in following this path myself.
Knowing how I work, an initial focus on customer development meant more than knowing that I’d be building a product that people wanted. Far more important than that, my belief is that, by gathering a following and users who actually want the product, I’d be motivated to continue it. I can’t give up if I have actual users, I’ll see it through to completion.
Here’s a generalized view of my method:
- Come up with idea. Yes, this rocks.
- Talk to as many people as possible about it initially. Gather feedback, generally positive.
- Think heavily about my ideal customer, and figure out how to reach them.
- Develop minimum viable product – in this case, a well designed landing page and screencast.
- Make initial push to get users (and by users, I mean people signing up for updates via landing page).
- Engage users.
- Continue to network with anyone who is interested.
By step 6, something very different has happened. Without writing a line of code (for the real product) yet, I had interest – customers. Some findings:
- I’ve gained a strong following of people interested in the product.
- I’ve gathered commitments from a number of people to really use the product.
- I’ve validated my idea as well as I can without having an actual product to use with.
- Received interest from potential investors.
- Downside: With my particular product, I’ve received a good amount of feedback that in order to continue pursuing costumers, I really need to have something people can tinker with. However, I can continue with product development knowing that I’ll have people willing to give it a spin.
Looking to learn more? Check out my startup Structo – we’re a hosted database that enables web developers to build web applications faster.
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Reality And Entrepreneurship (Red Pill Entrepreneurship) | Business44.Com - Business Site
Reality And Entrepreneurship (Red Pill Entrepreneurship)
By admin on Jul 24, 2010 with Comments 0
Reality And Entrepreneurship (Red Pill Entrepreneurship)
This article is a selection from the book Red Pill Entrepreneurship. Future selections will come in an 8-part series. Please email sample@redpillentrepreneurship.com to receive the free pre-published sample of Red Pill Entrepreneurship.
Red Pill Entrepreneurship Introduction
This book is for those individuals contemplating owning or starting a business. Information contained in Red Pill Entrepreneurship is not meant to cast a shadow of pessimism on entrepreneurship. I love and have loved being an entrepreneur, but entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Over the years, I have felt a need to expose the reality of business to those who are wasting away their lives dreaming of having that “little shop” on the side of the road that they think will make them rich. Not to say that it is impossible to become rich from a new business, but it is definitely requires taking a second look.
My hope is that you can eagerly join me in recounting a stream of funny stories and broken dreams of multiple entrepreneurs. Understand these stories not as bitter rants of failure, but as grand learning experiences. Learning from such turbulent experiences will facilitate your building of a bigger and brighter future for yourself. In short, setting foot on the right track now will allow you to finally live your dreams, or to change your dreams before it is too late. Be prepared before the hand of reality smacks you senseless.
Your Dream
To begin, I want you to participate in a visualization exercise. Vividly think about your dream to buy, start or join a business (in reality, this exercise can be done for any dream). Close your eyes now and imagine that dream in detail. In essence, dream your dream. To help you get started extracting detail from your dream, start imagining the individual components. What is the main goal of your business? What is the product or service you are selling? Does the image in your mind consist of a large office with modern furnishings, secretaries and assistants, and maybe a large boardroom with suit-clad business people negotiating a million dollar contract?
Or, does your visualization include a restaurant, retail store, etc.? Each of your dreams should be highly detailed and include imaginations similar to my colleague Tim’s. Tim was a restaurant entrepreneur who imagined walking through the door of his eclectic restaurant with waiting customers filing out into the parking lot. He imagined smiling at polite employees churning out thousands of dollars worth of food and pouring over a front-page newspaper feature that entailed his restaurant’s success in the local newspaper.
Perhaps you are not visualizing so much the details of the business, but what you stand to gain from the future business. For example, does your dream include buying whatever you want and having a comfortable life? Some dream of having the prestige of talking about their business with friends and acquaintances. Others find motivation in proving their success to naysayers who have opposed or have been cynical about their business aspirations. Regardless of your dream, the act of dreaming is healthy. Dreams allow us to achieve greater things. As in all facets related to success, dreams need direction and some logic. So, let’s develop a map for your dream using the information provided within Red Pill Entrepreneurship and establish some logic, if any.
Dream Or Medium To The Dream
In order to establish a direction for your dream, ask yourself the following question. “Is having a business your dream or is having the benefits that are commonly linked to business ownership your dream?” The idealistic benefits generally associated with business ownership for the average person consist of more money, more free time, more freedom, etc. than one would presumably have while working for someone else.
Why is this distinction between your dreams focused on the benefits of the business or the business itself important? The answer to this question will determine your levels of satisfaction and success associated with owning a business. A true entrepreneur is one that loves his business and accepts the benefits and consequences. Many of us just want the benefits. If you are still unsure of your answer (benefits vs. love of the business), hopefully you will find your answer through Red Pill Entrepreneurship. If you are sure of your answer, hopefully Red Pill Entrepreneurship can still give you more information to increase your chance of success.
While dreaming, it is common to overlook present opportunities. Rather than improving current situations, dreaming entrepreneurs often look for change. Hence, this benefit vs. business distinction is especially important to those (want-to-be-business-owners) who are looking forward to just the benefits of a business. Change can be beneficial while trying to increase energy and passion, but you must be careful while initiating change. Oscillating from opportunity to opportunity can be detrimental. Each time one initiates change, there is a loss of focus and a need to start over.
Carefully consider whether a business is the way or a way to achieve your dreams. If not, assess what improvements and changes within your current scope or situation may be a more feasible approach before setting out to turn your life upside down. Do not be afraid to change the medium of your dream! Life is too short to jump around from failure to failure.
The Scope of Red Pill
Assuming that you have decided on owning a business, the experiences and advice contained within this book will be invaluable. Red Pill Entrepreneurship gives an interesting perspective on some areas of business organizations commonly overlooked (consciously or subconsciously). Some may find that they have been focusing too much on the dream of having a business and that all they really want is more money and more freedom. These people will read some of the points within Red Pill and rethink their timing, preparation, and motivation behind owing a business. While others may find that owning a business really does suit them well.
The chapters of this book begin by assessing the motivations of having a business and follow through with key components of business ownership. Application of the information provided could determine the shaping of the rest of your business career.
In an attempt to fully analyze the reality of your business dreams, write down, in as much detail as possible, your dream, as previously tasked to envision, in the space below.
In general, if your dream can be achieved in a day, week, or month then you need to rethink your dream. Small, easily achievable goals are only practical if they aim toward a larger, long-term accomplishment. Throughout this book, this larger goal will be assessed. It has been said that you should shoot for the stars and you will capture the moon.
Hard Fact: Just because a certain dream enters your mind, there is not anything that says that you should strive to attain it. For example, I once thought I could sing, but it does not mean that I should or could become a rock star. Fame of being a rock star may have been appealing, but singing is definitely not the way to achieve success for me. Trust me and trust all of the broken ear drums from my attempt at singing.
Thank you for taking the time to read this selection from Red Pill Entrepreneurship. Please contact me to receive subsequent selections of the book. This 8-part series will be released over the next few months.
Benjamin David Lee
Benjamin was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He spent most of his life in Oakley, Utah where he was influenced by a large amount of migrated business owners. Despite being from a small town, Benjamin always had a love for commerce in general. From a young age, there was no question on the direction he was going to take his life. Over the years, Benjamin has owned several businesses which include Federation Marketing LLC, 5 Buck Pizza of Holladay, The Red Room Eastern European Cuisine, and Foamiture of Utah.
Benjamin completed his higher education by receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Utah in Business Administration, Cum Laude. Benjamin is currently the Vice President of Customer Relations at an Excess and Surplus Insurance Company.
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Tags: Entrepreneurship • Pill • Reality
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Empowering Business Entrepreneurship with Effective Strategy | Business Tip
Empowering Business Entrepreneurship with Effective Strategy
There are only two factors critical to the success of business entrepreneurship. These are:
Identifying opportunities Minimizing the risks inherent to these opportunities
Both these factors are greatly influenced by effective strategy. Hence, effective strategy plays a very vital role in entrepreneurial ventures.
Business Entrepreneurship: Creating a Powerful Strategy
A structured approach to business entrepreneurship should involve these steps:
Devising a business plan: A business plan represents the concretized version of an entrepreneur’s business idea. The plan formally sets out business goals and how to attain them. The plan covers products/services offered, client base, target audience, business processes and procedures in detail. It also describes the availability of finance and future engagements. A business plan that focuses on promotion and branding is called a marketing plan.
Business structure: It is essential to define the business structure during the initial stages. A business can be a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or limited liability company.
Pitching: Venture capitalist and financing companies endorse business ideas that have substantial profit generation capacity. Paul Graham said, “Distraction is fatal to start-ups” to highlight the difficulties an entrepreneur faces while arranging finances.
Spotting market opportunities: To identify an opportunity and exploit it to the maximum is fundamental to business development. Often this opportunity presents itself as an inherent inefficiency in the market. Devising possible solutions for this inefficiency leads to profit potential.
Internal operations: Decisions need to be made on internal management, like hiring people, establishing processes, managing revenues and communication with clients.
Marketing product/services: This involves the understanding of consumer behavior and determining the USP (unique selling proposal). An efficient advertising and marketing plan works as the backbone of sales and subsequent revenue generation.
Business Entrepreneurship: Hiring Consultants for Strategy Development
The expertise of professional consultants can prove to be critical in the success formulation of effective strategy. Consulting agencies offer help in identifying market inefficiencies and means to exploit them to one’s benefit. They specialize in developing business strategy, marketing and managing finances. Consulting agencies seek to strengthen both internal and external processes which are fundamental to the long term success of business entrepreneurship.
Level Six Partners offers substantive support in terms of business strategy development to entrepreneurs. They bring professionalism and industry experience to their client’s business. The firm has experienced business professionals with sound educational backgrounds with enterprise experience, delivery experience and a track record of success.
Entrepreneurship Education – Level Six Partners provides workforce management software/tools & recruiting tracking services that are needed for the contingent workforce sector and which are deployable in global organizations.
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Two lions and a dog! - Soul Hang Out
Beautiful! Two lions and a dog. The dog actually fed them since they were born. A lesson in harmony from the animal kingdom
Inner Child Inspirational quote of the day. | Soul Hangout
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Have a soulful and playful day/night my beautiful friend on both sides of the sun.
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