Millennials: 20/30 Somethings Come Into Their Own
There’s been a powerful inner restlessness stirring in my mind for months. It began during Leadership Network’s 25th Anniversary Celebration in January. That event seemed like a “line in the sand” begging the question “what now? what’s the next big initiative for me, for us?”
That evening I sat next to Tom Tierney who, after years as CEO of Bain & Co. (the number one consulting career choice for many elite school MBA graduates) left a pile of money behind to form Bridgespan which does Bain-level consulting for nonprofits and foundations. I was stunned when he told me that Bridgespan had 2,500 applications for 17 new jobs. He also told me that the largest club at Harvard Business School was the Social Enterprise Club. Hmmm – huge demand and lower pay – a quest for meaning over money amongst these well educated 20/30 Somethings. A hundred times more demand than supply. Sounds like a big unrecognized opportunity to me!
Last week The Drucker Institute hosted a group of super-star for profit and nonprofit CEO’s convened by A.G. Lafley, Chairman of Proctor & Gamble. The venue was Claremont Graduate University. I had a chance there to speak to Wendy Kopp, the founder of Teach for America. She told me that 15% of the Princeton graduating class applied to spend their first two years teaching in inner city schools. Two-thirds of these kids remain in teaching after their two years. It was the same story as Tierney told me – meaning over money, mean streets over Wall Street.
That same night, I flew east in an accommodating friend’s jet to join George Gallup and Tim Keller, Senior Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, for three presentations the next day hosted by New York City Leadership Center. Keller’s congregation now numbers 6,000 weekly attending. That’s really an exceptional number for the East Coast – actually double what it was last time I attended Redeemer! The average age is 30, and 45% are young well-off Asian professionals. Seventy percent are single. There was a break between sessions which gave me the opportunity to pull Keller aside and get a terrifically well informed briefing on how 20/30 Somethings are processing life. I said, “Just tell me some stories.” There was a thoughtful pause, and then he told me three stories.
Keller said that Halftime comes early for these super bright kids and that they go about it differently. They integrate it with their work through a whole variety of social enterprise initiatives. For example, a 28-year old female in Keller’s congregation, described herself as “bored to tears,” practicing corporate law. She negotiated a deal with her big Wall Street law firm, “Every five years,” she said, “I’ll practice four for the firm and the firm donates a year of my work to theInternational Justice Mission.” The firm agreed. Eighty percent success, twenty percent significance. A parallel career.
Keller then told about a 34-year old Harvard Law graduate, named Heather, who took a $150,000 a year pay cut to work as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan for the last seven years. I can just imagine the difference in her “clients.” A side note: There is a very compelling television series called “Raising the Bar” on TNT that is about young lawyers. Half of them are Assistant District Attorneys in Manhattan. The other half are public defenders. Great characters. Great writing. Linda and I love it. You learn a lot about the poor. It is produced by the veteran, Steven Bochco.
Keller went on to tell me about “the MBA oath.” He said, “In an unofficial ceremony the day before they graduated, nearly half of the 2009 class of Harvard Business School promised to “act with the utmost integrity;” resist “decisions and behavior that advance my own narrow ambitions;” and to work in such a way that “enhances the value my enterprise can create for society over the long term.”
Keller’s commentary: “The signers were arguing that profit had become a counterfeit god – a good thing turned into an absolute value. The result has been moral and social breakdown. The oath was an effort to take on a cultural idol that has had a broad, systemic influence on how society is ordered.”
If you think I sound a little breathless and jet-lagged about all this 20/30 Something stuff, I plead guilty. It really is too early to tell. But these stories demonstrate that there is the potential for a powerful new movement here. I love movements. Maybe I have one more left in me. My mission is “to accelerate the impact of 100X leaders.” The leaders do the rest.
Next time I want to continue this subject with the research I have read using my new Kindle DX
“Americans are increasingly yearning for community. The Millennial solution will be to set high standards, get organized, team up, and do civic deeds.
“Millennials will also correct for what today’s teens perceive are the excesses of middle-aged Boomers – the narcissism, impatience, icono-clasm, and constant focus on talk (usually argument) over action. Millennials can do this over time, by turning toward community, patience, trust, and a new focus on action over talk.”
These are the signs to me that a profound and mostly unrecognized change is happening.
Wise Counsel
“There should be no less support or attention for an earnest Christian young person who has been accepted to the Julliard School of Music than for one going off to seminary. The church needs writers, performers, artists, speakers, politicians, businessmen, and workers in every craft and trade. In God’s eyes there is no hierarchy. There certainly should not be in ours.” – Bob Briner, Roaring Lambs: A Gentle Plan to Radically Change Your World
So What about You?
- Is this what you see when you “look out the window?”
- What can we do to give permission and encouragement to 20/30 Somethings who want to change their part of the world?
- I really need some feedback on this one. Am I engaged in an exercise in wishful thinking?
