The New York Times has an interesting op-ed piece on Gen Y social entrepreneurs called "The Age of Ambition." Key quote:
"Today the most remarkable young people are the social entrepreneurs, those who see a problem in society and roll up their sleeves to address it in new ways. Bill Drayton, the chief executive of an organization called Ashoka that supports social entrepreneurs, likes to say that such people neither hand out fish nor teach people to fish; their aim is to revolutionize the fishing industry."
One of the reasons I really like this pro-Gen Y article is that Gen Y has been getting a lot of bad - and I think very unfair - press. There have been multiple articles in the popular accusing Gen Y of being narcisstic, shallow and and unable to fit into the work world. Several articles call Gen Y the Entitlement Generation.
We spend a lot of our research time with Gen Y and young adults, and because they are very entrepreneurial we post on them often. What I posted on Gen Y last year still holds for me:
"I've had the opportunity to participate in a fair amount of research on Gen Y and young adults over the years. I've also worked with quite a few young enterpreneurs and young adults in Silicon Valley. Based on both my research and work experiences, I think the Entitlement Generation is a generation of enormous talent. They are smart, aggressive, innovative and make things happen. I wish I entered the workforce with their skills and abilities. Yes they have big expectations - and yes they can be difficult to deal with - but they also have what it takes to deliver."
It's nice to see this generation starting to get credit for their efforts.
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