FYI...to all entrepreneurs

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Another Gen Y perspective...from annaivey.com

Gen Y: Too Much Focus on Process vs. Outcome?

December 3rd, 2008

I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine who works (as I do) with lots of twenty-somethings. When we got around to the gratuitous praise to which Gen Y/the "Praise Generation" has become accustomed (phony praise that inflates their sense of achievement and rewards them for process rather than outcomes), he had this observation to share:

On all of this, I'll point out that, having worked with a literally never-ending stream of recent college graduates--half of everyone is 22 in my world--I notice that the people who consistently are the best to work with are ex-elite athletes. If you spent a substantial chunk of your life in sports, how could you:

• Think fairness is relevant? Losers talk about fairness.
• Fail to put stock in hard work, hoping to hide in the pack instead?
• Think hard work guarantees success?
• Fail to appreciate the importance of natural talent?
• Fail to focus on outcomes?
• Over-focus on process to the detriment of outcomes?
• Get confused by multiple goals and so fail to achieve any of them?

I say this as someone who frankly is more committed to the arts than to sports, but it has become clear to me that those who live a life in the arts and/or academics are prone to *ALL* of the fatal mistakes outlined above, and these are failures of outlook that wouldn't last past your first varsity season in high school, let alone college.

The difference is simple--top athletes are trained to focus on outcomes, period. Everything else is whining. Business is about outcomes, period. Non-athletes are shocked by that.

As an addendum, I was amazed when I got to [college] how many kids arrived there believing they had genuine artistic talent. They were going to be performers, or artists, for a living. They thought themselves that good.

No similar problem with sports. But in the arts, it's subjective. If you are the best in your high school, well, as far as you can tell, you're Kristin Chenoweth. There's no mechanism -- or incentive -- to level-set. In individual sports, there's no chance of this at all. In team sports, there's a little self-delusion, but not too much. [Anna asks: But what about teams where everyone gets a trophy? Helicopter parents invented that rank stupidity. Makes sense though that *elite* athletes don't suffer from this syndrome.]

Can I speculate that this problem is more an issue in law school, where kids majored in subjective disciplines like Poli Sci, Religon, and other stuff, and that math and physics grad programs don't have these problems? Even med schools probably don't have the problem as much?

Fascinating. Thoughts? Please comment.

Call to arms, and a glimmer of Hope

In a recent article published by Market Watch, it was stated that the Millennial Generation (aka Generation Y) will be the key to rebuilding the economy, if only because we are young and just beginning our lives in the real world.

As a member of this influential group, I am taking a stand and asking that my fellow Y'ers take a proactive role in ensuring that we make the most of this powerful responsibility and become active in our economic future. Our parents, the Boomers, have hopefully raised us right and set us out into the world to make our mark. We also have a new President who has the ability to offer this generation a powerful head start in life, ( home purchase assistance, education tax credits, workforce innovation, etc.) if we hone in on the opportunities. We are coming into power and as the article states, are not stressing as much about the current economic downturn because we don't have the much time or as many resources invested in the issue.

The number of people between the ages of 20 and 30 are staggering, which has exceptional economic implications. With so many individuals in this age range entering the workforce, there is the potential to see large job growth, and with the current job shortage this generation can demand higher wages, which will aid in our desire to spend money on clothes, new technology, eating out and other social life treats. Not to mention we are going to be the next generation to be getting married and starting families, so naturally we will eventually want to acquire large assets like homes and cars. This speaks well for the future of our economy.

Even though times are tough and things look bleak, look towards the future leaders of this world and have faith that with our shear volume and blind ambition and energy, we can help save the day. So, all you Millenium babies out there, go out and prosper, your country depends on it.


"The Millennials are on the move, and like their Boomer parents will be an unstoppable force in American economic and social life for decades."