Know Thyself
I have had an incredible journey over my career. I've been able to have a front row seat at what has become an incredible sea change in the way businesses run.
Straight out of college, my classmates were eager for a job in the banking industry. The prestige and astronomical pay was commonplace. Conversely, to feel like you were contributing to society, typically meant working at a non-profit and wondering how you could make ends meet.
Fortunately for all of us (well, aside from my friends that went into banking and slaved their 20s away for bonuses that vanished in the bank meltdowns), there has been a monumental shift. Gone are the days of single-company careers and we are shifting away from the ethos of "greed is good". This being replaced by a compassionate mold of business that is meant for good. Lives can be enriched not by greed, but by happiness.
For all the good that has come of this slow moving revolution I've also noticed a change that in my mind isn't as positive.
We've started to see the emergence of the new generation of aspiring business leaders with a unique perspective.
This is the generation that I saw growing up. I worked at a summer camp that didn't allow counselors to keep score for fear that losing would hurt a kid's feelings. A generation that has always been connected and knows little of the analog universe available to them.
We all have strengths and weaknesses. Each one of us. Sometimes we play and win- but guess what, sometimes we lose! Sometimes your great idea...well, it's not so great.
I fear that we are training the next generation of leaders in an overly coddling fashion - one that actually hurts their leadership potential.
It should be ok to point out flaws in logic and ideas without having to always "sandwich" that criticism with complements. In the highest performing teams I've assembled, there is a sense of raising the team above any of the individual team members. There is an understanding that to perform well everyone needed to be open to critique and open to share feedback with anyone on the team.
This dove tails into what I see being an even larger problem - the myth and mystique of the entrepreneur.
Seeing the incredible fortunes and successes of products, services and companies post-dot-com bubble we have elevated the humble entrepreneur to unfairly high levels. Remember, these digital natives never signed on to AOL using a modem and didn't feel the crash of the tech-drive stock market. The number of times I've seen the altar of Zuckerberg/Jobs/start-up visionary exhaulted in the name of "anyone can do it" is incredulous. Of course the media has continued to eat this success and others like it.
The problem is that for every Facebook or Apple or Uber or AirBNB success, there is a wake of unmitigated, highly financed companies that have flamed out. The tide has turned as we are collectively waking up from this digital utopia fantasy world and realizing that in the real economy there are real lives, money and real things at stake.
Not everyone can be a CEO - and that is OK.
With this curmudgeonly ranting aside, I also need to be clear. I believe that there is so many incredible things going on in the global economy and right here at home. The lower barriers to starting a company, the higher value in the individual's rights and opportunities and the time in which we live is absolutely astounding. The focus on companies with a consciousness and proliferation of good that comes from the for-profit sector is so uplifting. To see all of these changes in a short timeframe and being part of that sea-change gives me hope in the future of the economy and world.
I also have met, mentored, trained and am fascinated by 200+ interns that have passed through my offices. These up and coming leaders are going to do incredible things in way still can't a fathom.
But, as seasoned executives, it's also our duty- nah, privilege to guide these leaders. It's on us to give them the tools, skills, lessons, information, war stories, and celebrations that accompany life as a leader. We need to help them understand their strengths, while pushing them to grow in areas of weaknesses.
This is how we help them rise to the occasion and responsibility before them. In the meantime, we will learn more and more about ourselves and how we can make a mark on the next generation of leaders and businesses.