“Income, Profit, Equity.” September 2009
Mentoring the Geezers!
As a ‘Baby Boomer’ entrepreneur, I often believe that I’m actually still in my college years. After all, that was only a few years ago… or maybe a quarter of a century. How does a Revolutionary Entrepreneur think about the difference between entrepreneurial generations?
We are at a unique point in history. While it’s always been true that the youth create big dreams with an open mind and a blank sheet of paper as Michael Gerber says, today they have an unprecedented edge.
They were actually born with a new kind of DNA… technology DNA. If you are a baby boomer (herein referred to as a Geezer) and you don’t believe me, just try and teach someone under the age of 21 something about the internet.
In recent months while working on an e-Commerce project, I thought it would be a good idea to teach my oldest daughter about the site. As I settled in with a cup of coffee and my instructor hat on, I realized the last thing she needed was me to teach her anything about the website.
GEEZER ALERT
All I really needed to provide was the URL and then simply get out of the way. What did I take away from this encounter, other than a bruised ego?
Revolutionary Entrepreneurs must think differently about our young people. Although I can’t keep the generations straight, Xers, Gen Y, Millenium, or Tweeners, anyone that’s not a Geezer is part of the ‘younger generation’ as far as I’m concerned.
In days gone by, it was commonplace to have apprentice programs for every part of business development. While there are certainly important places for teaching, technology is an area where us Geezers need to seriously consider putting the youth on a peer level.
While this may not seem like a particularly revolutionary idea, consider this. What impact would a conscious decision to treat someone who is 25 years younger as a peer have in certain areas of your business?
I believe this one decision can revolutionize our businesses. Not lip service, but real honor and respect for what they know. I submit that if we don’t actively decide to treat our youth as peers in the technology realm, we’ll shut down their input… and that’s a bad idea.
Ask yourself:
- How do you listen to peers?
- How do you respond to their input?
- How do you speak with them?
Look around your office, your business, or perhaps even your home and ask one of the ‘youth’ to ‘Mentor a Geezer’ on some technology issue. You’ll be surprised at what you learn…and have fun.
Here’s to becoming a smart Geezer!
Cheers,
Steve
Steve Olds
Founder and CEO
www.STRATWORX.com