How well are we preparing the next generation?

“There is only one problem with common sense; it is not very common.”

– Bryce’s Law

We have some very bright and ambitious young people joining the workforce now, but they come at a very different time in the corporate world. Thanks to technology, we now live and work in a much faster-paced society than the one I joined just three decades ago. It is also a much more competitive environment due to changing economic conditions. True, the Older Generation has basically moved on, but the Baby Boomers are still firmly in place and unwilling to retire anytime soon. This means that the class of 2007 will compete not only with people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, but also with people in their 50s and 60s who cannot afford to retire.

This made me think about how well we are preparing the next generation of workers. Are we really setting them up to succeed or are we setting them up to fail? Sure, they may be well educated in their professional area of ​​expertise, but I’m finding a notable number lacking in basic street skills. Somewhere between the safety of home and school, and the bitter realities of the real world, there is a void in preparing our youth for adulthood. In a way, it’s like being a paratrooper for the first time, except you get pushed out the door with no instructions on what to do. This can be very traumatic for young people who tend to feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities of adult life.

At school, students only cared about attending class, absorbing material, eating, and their social life. But now, in adulthood, they suddenly have to deal with issues like insurance, taxes, housing, transportation, banking, investing, retirement accounts, healthcare, nutrition, paying bills, corporate cultures, etiquette, clothing, career development. , business ethics, office. politics, networking, employment, management, etc. Oh yeah, and it works. They may have received the appropriate training for their profession, but no one is preparing them to make the transition to adulthood.

Parents have not prepared them. If anything, they have protected their youth from reality for far too long. For example, many children today have not had to mow the lawn, clean a plate, push a broom, or have a part-time job. Instead, they were free to focus on their homework and video games. In other words, parents have failed to instill the concept of simple responsibility and the value of a dollar. Nowadays, many parents do not step in, which means that they are content to let others raise their children for them, be it a family member, a babysitter, a coach or a teacher, which gives them some free time to rest. and relax. .

The teachers haven’t prepared them either, but in their defense, this shouldn’t be in their job description. Instead, they should be concerned with teaching academic subjects, such as math, literature, languages, science, etc. However, since many parents have dropped the ball, teachers have been forced to become surrogate parents, something they are not necessarily trained or suitable for.

Ultimately, this means that today’s corporate managers are inheriting a generation of naive young people with unbridled enthusiasm who have a hard time adjusting to the corporate world. Many of this generation seem to believe that they are uniquely different, that the old established rules of today’s corporate culture no longer apply to them; that corporations should adapt to them, not the other way around. Such naivety can be dangerous and lead to your demise when reality sets in.

To overcome this problem, perhaps we can help our youth by coming up with a new type of curriculum that teaches things like:

• Personal organization: for example, managing finances, insurance, housing, transportation, etc.
• Adapt to Corporate Culture – how to understand culture and adapt to it. This would include discussions on business ethics and study of change.
• Professional development: teaching craft concepts, continuous improvement, and basic business skills.
• Social skills: how to communicate and socialize effectively in an office environment.
• Dos and Don’ts in the Workplace: Discuss the realities of employment, company policy manuals, and other legal issues.
• Management 101: teaching basic management concepts and rules to help “newbies” integrate into corporate culture.

In fact, none of this is new. We’ve all had to learn it through the Hard Hit School. However, if the next generation is to have a chance in today’s fast-paced world, we have to put this process in place for them. Otherwise, they will have a hard time surviving. Basically, what is needed is simple advice from parents.

If you want to discuss this in more depth, feel free to email me.

Keep faith.