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.
Read more ...
