Gen Y Choosing Entrepreneurship
Employers, already faced with the prospect of Boomers starting to retire in droves, are now also faced with the prospect that today's college students and recent graduates, often referred to as Gen Y, are turning away from a life in the corporate world and toward entrepreneurship. As reported by the Boston Globe, 30 to 40 percent of those who graduate from colleges such as Harvard and Carnegie Mellon are choosing to start their own businesses.
My paternal grandfather was an entrepreneur. My father is an entreprenuer. I'm an entrepreneur. And I hope that my kids are too if it will make them and their families happy. I love the feeling of creating something out of nothing and continually making decisions that haven't been made before. Yet running a small business can also be difficult as that business sometimes lacks the size or resources to be competitive against larger organizations which are in the same space. Fortunately, I was able to learn value of strategic partnerships pretty early on. Too many entrepreneurs don't. They're entrepreneurs first and foremost because they can't or won't work with others. Rather than collaborating, they internalize. Rather than looking for solutions beyond their own walls, they look for reasons why they can't help a client with a particular need. Rather than assuming success, they assure failure.
Gen Y take note: entrepreneurship is a difficult but incredibly rewarding career path for those who are well suited to it. But do not for a minute think that running your own business means that you get to work less or will make more money. Some entrepreneurs do one or other, but rarely are they successful. Those who do both almost always fail.
And employers need also take note: the desire by Gen Y to be entrepreneurs does not mean that those candidates are lost to you. To the contrary. If you understand and embrace that need, you may use that as a competitive advantage. Create intrapreneurship opportunities. That is, create opportunities within the structure of your organization that will allow those with entrepreneurial skills and aspirations to leverage those talents while also providing them with the resources and support system that so many small businesses lack. Rather than forcing employees to climb the corporate ladder, instead create project-based units. Move employees from project-to-project. These quasi start-up organizations will appeal to this generation, many of whom see themselves more as entrepreneurs than corporate cogs and most of which see themselves more as free agents than lifers for any particular organization.
If they're not always working on something new and challenging, then they won't be working for you. And with the Boomers about to retire en mass, can you afford to lose both your most experienced employees and the next generation of your leaders?
"My paternal grandfather was an entrepreneur. My father is an entreprenuer. I'm an entrepreneur. And I hope that my kids are too if it will make them and their families happy."
They run in families, as do employee status folks - when companies understand this and begin to cultivate and farm the genetic offspring of their own employees they'll have a leg-up in fostering an effective future employee pipeline.
It takes thinking 10 - 15 -20 years before the need and might include some type of tutition-based aid (maybe in trade for a term of service -hey other countries do it/the Armed Forces do it) - why not corporate America?
I love this blog! Thank you commenting on how Gen Y are becoming entrepreneurs.
Anything is possible in life! All it takes is the right mindset.
Gen Y see the truth about the 'corporate ladder'. I was working a "J.O.B." (Just Over Broke) in one of the best accounting firms in the world and decided to take a stand for me and my family's life. I saw how the people in that environment gave up their dreams and accepted their positions along with the low pay. The fact that I was getting paid 1/10th of the amount that the company is charging to the client made me realize that I was worth much more than I was told. Also, I was trading my time for money. The more hours I worked, the less price per hour I was making ("salary"). Enough said.
Make it an incredibly amazing day.