talking about this generation

Images-1 The headlines these days aren't exactly positive.  There is an air of change on some continents yet an underlying fear of what comes next and then there are stagnant economies and frustrated citizens elsewhere.  If we look back and wonder how did we get here, there are a million reasons but as history has shown us we are ever evolving based on the need for change. 

Our world has become flat, for lack of a better word.  We are all connected and the internet has been the link.  Social media has changed the game.  The strength of the internet has changed the way we shop, the way we communicate, the way we connect with other like minded people across the globe.  It has always changed the way we have started to think about how our lives should connect in real time, face to face, within our local communities.

I look at my kids and the young entrepreneurs I meet as well as recent college graduates and I am incredibly bullish on this generation.  Many of them are focused on changing the world for better.  That means anything from disrupting education to building new products that will replace old ones to creating local restaurants that are smaller and more intimate for community, they are thinking about the environment and new technologies, they are rethinking the way we are going to live in the future.  I could go on and on but I like what I see.

What I see more than anything is the desire of this generation to find happiness and balance in their lives.  It isn't so much about making money but finding happiness in the field each of them choose.  There are ones that want to change the world with a non-profit that can be sustainable through their mission to embracing and changing volunteerism, there are others who want to build the next biggest media company but making sure there is a social cause connected to their mission.  I have met people who want to be cobblers, jewelry makers and chocolate makers too. 

Many of the kids appear to be more in tune with who they are.  Many see what is in the inside of each individual person not on the outside.  There will be many mixed marriages of this generation because they embrace everyone just as gays and lesbians are applauded for being able to marry because why shouldn't they.  We are becoming a true multi-racial world.  As social media is helping break down barriers in the Middle East, it is working at home too. 

So regardless of all distrubing news on the front page of the paper every day, I am very excited about this generation of kids.  I know that many of them are having a hard time finding a job but perhaps it will force many of them to be creative and become scrappy entrepreneurs because they have no choice but to be creative in their job pursuits. They seem to have looked at the world around them and are taking the good and tossing out the bad to create new communities, economies and environments.  The next ten years will be interesting to watch and I believe life changing. 

Perhaps I am too much of an optimist based on the political landscape but the one thing about America that keeps us coming back is the ability to create from within.  We are always trying to build a better mouse trap and in the end that is the key to our success. 

Comments (Archived):

  1. Rohan

    ‘In this world, things are getting worse and better at the same time, although the worse is more apparent because it makes so much ‘noise” |Eckhart Tolle (Source: http://www.alearningaday.com :))

    1. Rohan

      Felt nice putting my own blog as the source.. haha. It is from his book ‘Stillness Speaks’ –  fabulous book

    2. Gotham Gal

      i call that the minor majority. the worst stuff bubbles to the top.

      1. Rohan

        Yup. that makes sense! 🙂

  2. TanyaMonteiro

    great to read such encouraging words, should be posted at places of education to encourage and enthuse people to build new things and think in new ways. am in Berlin at the moment and it reminds me of NY only without the speed. I hope that the US uses all it has and its amazing ability for speed to create new ways of doing and thinking.

  3. Andy Ellis

    Refreshing perspective on my age group.  I think it’s exciting as a trend and am particularly interested in seeing startups emerge in more serious industries as this generation gains expertise.  I would love to do something in healthcare but as yet am not deeply enough involved to have a real perspective; I’m hoping that comes with time.

    1. Gotham Gal

      Us too

  4. Julietrblake

    I’m sure you’ve seen this, but certainly worth reposting in the light of your post above.Juliet xohttp://www.ted.com/talks/ch…

    1. Gotham Gal

      very cool

  5. steven germain

     Interestingly it sounds more like a description of your generation. The boomers who stopped to smell the roses (flower power) were not overly materialistic and tried to figure out what condition their condition was in. That is more or less the description you wrote about this genration of kids. But with the political climate and social changes of the boomer times,  a real genrational divide existed resulting in the boomers growing up somewhat distant from their parents and rebellious with a real sense of separation from what came before. I wonder about this genration of kids who were not left to “go outside and play” to do their own thing. They have been scheduled up the wazoo, coddled, and fussed over. I think they are burdened by a genration of parents who have saddled them with expectations of achievement and fullfilment that may have less to do with the kids and more to do with their parents. I think that makes for very un-self aware, unfulfilled, unrealistic and entitled off spring (genrerally) which is how I would describe this generation of kids. But,  as you suggest, all such generalizations may say more about the observer (optimistic or pessimistic, for example) than the observed.

    1. Gotham Gal

      my generation were those insane parents which were a knee jerk reaction to their parents. although their parents might not have been as carefree as my generation as parents they were very hands off. this generation has seen both and i would guess come up with a better balance of the two. you learn from the past.

      1. Stevengermain1

        Really agree and it does seem that some in this generation are gaining real maturity that comes from tolerance and compassion which is nice to see. I think it is too soon to know what is really going on in the world economically to say with any certainty what the landscape generally or it’s impact will be. But as a wonderful former gang member I met the other day said to me “me if your happiness comes from outside of yourself you have no good way to deal with life’s disappointments”. I think there is a lot of disappointment around the bend. As the Dead sang, “when life looks like easy street there is danger at your door”. But, as I you have said elsewhere, “failure is a gift”. I am optimistic that this generation will rise to the occasion, whatever it may be.

        1. Stevengermain1

          Can intake this back, I do not know what inam talking about. Thissays it better:Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibiDon’t ask (it’s forbidden to know) what endfinem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babyloniosthe gods have granted to me or you, Leuconoe. Don’t play with Babyloniantemptaris numeros. ut melius, quidquid erit, pati.fortune-telling either. How much better it is to endure whatever will be!seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,Whether Jupiter has allotted to you many more winters or this final onequae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum:which even now wears out the Tyrrhenian sea on the rocks placed oppositesapias, vina liques et spatio brevi— be wise, strain the wine, and scale back your long hopesspem longam reseces. dum loquimur, fugerit invidato a short period. While we speak, envious time will have {already} fledaetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future.