Archive for the ‘Sector’ Category
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
A recent article in the New York Times by Robin Marantz Hening explores the evolution of adolescence and how psychologists are struggling to describe the “unfinished” nature of twentysomething adults. According to some, like “Emerging Adulthood” author, Jeffrey Arnett, the twenties are an under-recognized stage in adult development, created by a rapid change in our economic and cultural space. In an information-based economy, Arnett sees“…the need for more education to survive in an information-based economy; fewer entry-level jobs even after all that schooling; young people feeling less rush to marry because of the general acceptance of premarital sex, cohabitation and birth control; and young women feeling less rush to have babies given their wide range of career options and their access to assisted reproductive technology if they delay pregnancy beyond their most fertile years.”
These realizations have lead to the creation of the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood. Others aren’t quite so sure, nothing that the period of adult rootlessness that this life-stage is not universal – many, in fact, skip it, and progress towards marriage and child-rearing right after adolescence. Development scientist Richard Lerner believes that to be a “real” life-stage (in clinical terms), it has to be universal, meaning that there need to be real measureable consequences for those who skip it.
This debate has real significance. If a new life stage exists, societies need to design support services around the needs of an emerging population, who may not be defined around a specific age range. This has a real impact on how we spend our money on things like health care and education, or how companies market their products. If it’s not universal, however, it’s going to be difficult for institutions to get these activities right.
Whether strictly applicable to the field of developmental psychology or not, we at DECODE have been noticing the impact of the life stage on everything from civic participation to employee expectations and consumer behaviour. Young independents, as we call them (those out of school, and not with children of their own) are less likely to say they’ll vote or volunteer. It’s a period that appears to me marked by a distinct lack of connection to broader community.
Hening’s article raises as many questions as it answers, particularly for those in the demographic being discussed. But kudos to her, and to the Times, for at attempting to describe the demographic in an empathetic and considered manner.
Monday, July 19th, 2010
There is nothing worse than being stood up. But in the next 10 years, that waiting, wondering feeling will be gone.
Generation X, like the generations before it, came of age in a world where meetings for business or pleasure had to be committed to in advance, and could not be cancelled at the last minute via mobile or digital technology – at least not without the risk of standing up the person in question. A change in time of a business meeting required being able to get through to a contact’s office well enough in advance to catch them at their desk or leave a message that was guaranteed to get to them before they left for the meeting. A change of heart over a date required calling a home landline and leaving a, “Sorry but …” message days in advance. Failure in any of the above situations resulted in one half of the proposed meeting left waiting under the designated tree, in the designated café, or by the designated street corner, until they resigned themselves to the fact that the other half either was in mortal danger or had no intention of showing. Standing someone up was the ultimate slam (and sometimes revenge). Being “stood up” was the ultimate in hurt and humiliation, not to mention wasted time (and money).
For generation Z – the children of gen X, born in the Mobile Internet Age – the concept of being stood up, either in business or in romantic life, simply will not apply. One may say someone “bailed at the last minute,” even though the suspicion is the excuse given was actually code for “I want to cancel,” but one is never, literally, left standing. (The same is of course now true for most of generations Y and X too – apart from those older gen-Xers who stoically refuse to wholly embrace the digital age.) But what impact has this ability to organize things “on the fly” and to be “ultra-spontaneous” had, not only on the way we organize and behave within our social and business connections, but also on our psychology as individuals and society?
First, while commitment may well be just as strong, the desire to change one’s mind interferes with how this is lived out. The business deal may be a definite go, as may the conviction of a possible romance, but the desire to be “free” to change our minds has been promoted to the number one spot. Second, the inclination to banish fear has been given legs. We now no longer feel it is part of the process to experience an element of uncertainty in regards to the other person’s intention (although of course it still is, we just hide it under layers of reassuring last minute texts – “gonna b L8 c u in 10”). Freedom and fear are key here, yet perhaps horribly misunderstood. After all, one person’s “freedom” to change things at the last minute forces the other person to do the same thing. So begins a spiral of spontaneity where no one in the ”chain” of meetings can absolutely commit to anything. And a person’s fear in “taking the risk” of being at the designated spot regardless ought to perhaps be part of the self-recognition that we really care about this date or this business opportunity. Fear of failure (and dealing with it when it happens) is perhaps a useful part of human interaction.
On the other hand, perhaps a separation of business and pleasure is necessary here. While it may still be the case that a potential romance is better served by the kind of promise and conviction that last-minute changes via text message simply cannot substantiate, perhaps today’s business world is more productive given the tools for added spontaneity and contingency. Global transactions, mobile offices, flexible practices, and entrepreneurial partnering would certainly struggle to thrive as they have in the late 20th/early 21st century without the ability to arrange and rearrange with ease. If the obsolescence of being stood up has taken some of the stomach-churning fear/excitement from dating, it has simultaneously removed some collateral damage from the world of business.
So maybe no more of that looking-at-your-watch-every-minute-sinking-feeling for Generation Z. But for their own good, let’s hope they can stand up for spontaneity in spite of the risk … even in business.
http://www.themarknews.com/articles/1873-being-stood-up
Thursday, August 6th, 2009
Tyler Cowen in his new book, “Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disorderd World” makes a very insightful assessment of the future of higher education.
Working as a proffessor of Economics at George Mason Univeristy, he poses the question: “Why do my students need me?”
As great an economist Mr. Cowen might be, would the students not benefit from listening instead to a Nobel Prize winner in ecnomics to deliver a lection on options pricing and market elasticity? Or how about someone who is faculty at Harvard, MIT, or Princton?
It wouldn’t take much resources; a video camera, lighthing, a DVD player, and an internet connection. Easily acquriable, to say the least.
There is a lot of buzz around digitized education, and every serious post-secondary institution around the world wants to be leading the innovation in delivering education. Be it distance courses, on-line corresspondance, univeristy created applications for the Blackberry of iPhone, you name it, and someone is trying to add it to their repotoire.
Being an undergrad student potentially thinking of going down the long road of academia, the thought my classrooms might be empty while I deliver the lecture for recording, while students are sitting alone in their dorm rooms viewing my video. With the capacity to rewind, pause, and altogether stop me from speaking about a topic I spent years trying to gain expertise in, scares me a little.
Tyler Cowen notes that the demand for top colleges, and the price of college tuition, has taken off at exactly the same time as the internet revolution. He’s not suggesting that the spread of the internet caused the boom in quality higher education, but he says it does indicate the internet will not displace such education.
Students could technically watch YouTube vidoes on topics related to their study and gain their knowledge that way. But which employer when glancing through a CV would select someone who spent 4 years watching YouTube videos?
The necessity of human interaction in the role of education makes the point that “education” as it is recognized by the larger economy cannot be attained in isolation, but rather it is acquired just as much through face to face communication as through a text book.
So the next time you’re wondering why is that I have to go to class when I can just download the lecture on my computer, keep in mind that the illusion of control a video presents to you will only harm you in the long run when you come to discover that life can’t be fast forwarded, rewound, or paused at the whim of your finger tips.
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
H1N1 might save pork producers, but swine flu is a better label for protecting young people. In a recent Globe and Mail Article “Flu disproportionately targets young and healthy” it appears this flu is targeting a non-traditional group – youth. Part of the essential communication about this virus will be the use of comedy. For all the right reasons -from a health promotion standpoint anyway- swine flu has a lot more comic potential than H1N1. First the duel label for the pandemic virus has now served to confuse the general public. Second we might be losing a powerful communication weapon by switching to a benign alphanumeric label.
That comedy works for communicating to young people is common knowledge. In DECODE’s international study of young people’s general interests, comedy was only topped by music and film. Young people love to laugh, even about serious things. Its the way they get the story across. Its the way they learn about events. Political strategy 101 seems to state that lead candidates (or the candidates in the US case) should strive to appear on all late night shows at least once to get the youth vote.
Some of the best case studies in communicating information about Sexually Transmitted Infections to young people use comedy at the core to make sure the message has sustaining conversational power.
The World Health Organization contemplates closing schools in September to slow the spread of swine flu, they and governments around the world must supplement drastic measure with effective communication. A crucial part of good communication is good memorable branding. Swine flu is simply a better brand.
The next step is creating ways to inject the right amount of comedy into swine flu to help quell the anti-viral injections that loom large.
Tuesday, July 14th, 2009
According to Bram Van Den Burgh at the Rotterdam School of Management, those purchasing green goods derive more personal benefit from image enhancement than the actual result of their purchases.
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
As Conor Clarke notes “this piece gets written every year.” Educational professionals have long fretted about how First World countries with fewer days of school (U.S., Canada, New Zealand) compete against those with more (Japan, South Korea, etc.) Kids have long been shown to forget what they learned the previous year in the summer months. Going back to school requires some reorientation. As Clarke notes, he length of the summer break amplifies a class divide.
Those children of wealthier parents benefit from all sorts of edifying experiences — lower class kids don’t. In the U.S., the Obama administration has already expressed its displeasure at the status quo. Time will tell if the U.S. is able to muster the political will to change.
Saturday, June 6th, 2009
The future of software is online; home computing is rapidly losing relevance. For one thing, software that connects us to each other can provide dramatic benefits (just ask Scott about Twitter, or consider Wikipedia). Additionally, software is increasingly providing enhanced usefulness by connecting us with enormous databases.
The Internet itself is a database, which predominantly served as reference source for some time. By storing enormous amounts of information in a distributed fashion, the ‘database’ is accessible, but not personally own-able. With the advent of Web 2.0, new means of interaction with databases necessitate supercomputers (as opposed to PCs) to process queries and responses: consider “Wolfram|Alpha“, a multi-disciplinary computing machine, and “Shazam,” an iPhone application that takes a short recorded clip of music and determines the title in about 30 seconds total. The processor and storage capacity required for these applications to function will likely not be available on our increasingly miniaturized computers without some dramatic technological breakthrough.
Our devices are progressing towards connected, human-computer interfaces, relying on remote servers for full functionality. They are no longer complete by themselves. Their identities are invisibly intertwined with society as a whole, now more tangibly than ever… one might even go so far as to call the term “iPhone” a synecdoche. Besides sounding cool, why is this important?
Ownership versus subscription
As an individual, and even as a larger organization, it is becoming impossible to “own” the infrastructure required for participation in the modern world. Buying temporary rights to participate is the only feasible option. Generational values may either clash or embrace this fact; few would dispute that there is variation between generations in how they react to this. However, willingness to purchase a subscription may not be as simplistic as being savvy and grownup digital [yes, that was intended to be a jab at Tascott being uncool]. In fact, younger generations often expect free content*. Youtube’s popularity despite lack of financial success with ad-supported content is a testament to this fact, and a testament to the elephant in the room: something has to give.
If accepting subscriptions is akin to accepting dependence upon society, then individualism and entitlement and other deep-seated psychological traits play a role in the solution. Understanding these ideas may be the key to targeting the right customers for these pioneer services of the new subscription paradigm, and may be essential for effective marketing to those who are resistant to this paradigm shift.
*Contradictory to this particular generational bias, younger generations are also perhaps more willing to view experiences as possessions, and are perhaps more willing to spend for temporary access – if it is framed correctly.
Friday, June 5th, 2009
A Few years ago I had the unique pleasure of creating a role in a sort of amorphous multimedia project which explored the concept of Firsts entitled Orange Clouds. As a culture, a society and perhaps even as a species we are obsessed with Firsts. My experience illuminated quite a few challenges and some outstanding rewards associated with that oft sought position, First. From our historical vantage point we usually elevate the achievement and relegate the all important journey to the footnotes. In tracing the journeys of the pioneers featured in Orange clouds I was struck by the phenomenal risks they took. It seems that road of a trailblazer is necessarily fraught with risk and therefore often connected with youth. My greatest learning was that being first is always a journey defined by fear.
In reading A conversation with Lowell Bryan and Richard Rumelt I found myself constantly nodding in agreement and again contemplating the miraculous series of firsts that seems to have defined 2009. Management in this environment is unprecedented. Everything in this environment is unprecedented. Earlier this week Samir pointed out that Brian Deese is heading up the monolithic dismantling of GM. Hummer was purchased by a Chinese heavy machinery manufacturer. A development which North American auto industries are watching with the baited breath of an adolescent virgin about to experience his first kiss. One can almost hear Lewenza and his friends giggling as they whisper “Do you think that this means we get to sell our cars there?”
We have allowed ourselves to float along comfortably taking modest liberties thinking someone else is looking out for our best interest, but why should they? In fact often one should question how could they? As I have been known to say you get what you pay for. People always assume that this means that quality costs more and while effectively that is oft true it is not a natural conclusion that cheap is bad. You see antiquated though it may be I am a huge proponent of an apprentice based model of hierarchy. While you may not be most proficient at jobs you hire other people to complete you really need to know how those jobs are accomplished to truly assess if they’re being completed well. I still think that the knowledge garnered from consistent daily practice is invaluable. Translation: if management doesn’t really know how what the make/sell/do gets done they cannot replicate performance in changing environments. Well it seems the economic climate has drastically changed and the pervasive messages for me are elemental. First what an extraordinary time for all of us but young people in particular. We are become like that proverbial phoenix watching the ebb of the flames and preparing to rise from the ashes.The truth is that no one knows what comes next; we’ve shattered our own economic theory models and now we’re faced with that most dreaded of all economic and political woes – instability. The most interesting thing is that the volatility that created this mess is exactly and the fear it spurs is likely what we need to get out of it. From the 31 year old currently effectuating the largest bankruptcy in American history to fledgling chefs walking out on Canadian chef David Adjay over his refusal to source equitable trade coffee the marketplace is being redefined.
Next is the message I hear time and again and it is as old as the hills Keep It Simple Silly. We’re all afraid. Fear is life affirming. The upside of this economic situation is a levelling of the playing field where the experts may well be those people who see the problem and simply have the courage to offer a simple solution to a problem we are all afraid to face. Seems to me those cocky head strong whipper-snappers may have a leg up on that one.
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Category Citizen, Employee, Financial Services, Leadership, Social Networking, Voting | Tags: Tags: Attitudes, Canada, Financial Services, Leadership, U.S., youth,
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
One advantage of tracking studies is that they help us contextualize modern “crisis” points in a historical context. Harris Interactive’s has been running the Met Life Survey of the American Teacher since 1994. Some surprising findings:
- Teachers are now more satisfied with their profession than ever before (40% were very satisfied in 1984, now 62% are)
- The number of teachers who rate the academic standards of their school as excellent has doubled (from 24% in 1984 to 53%).
- More teachers report that that at least 3/4 of their students are preapred to learn at their grade level (54% now as opposed to 44% in 1984).
More here.
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
The great thing about an economic hardship is that it forces us re-evaluate our lines in the sand. Over the last little while I’ve read many articles and blogs on the impact of high unemployment and grim earning prospects for recent graduates (and eminent graduates). I should say it seems that we have ceased to see the education for the degrees.
First, what is the purpose of higher education? Second, let us try to extract the value of an education. A valuable exercise in this economic climate where the average undergraduate student leaves school with a debt load of $20,000.00 in Canada.
The reality remains that colleges and universities are rapidly losing their iconic status as places of burgeoning intellect where the brightest young minds are guided to ever greater levels of plasticity through the strenuous acquisition of complex heuristics. Rather they have for all intents been transformed into Ford Model-T style factories producing homogeneous workers with ever increasing efficiency. Our own research tells us that the most prevalent reason young people cite to pursue undergraduate degrees is “to get a good job”. Less that one in five even ranked broader education as a consideration. This does not seem really logical considering the facts. Auto mechanics, plumbers, electricians or any skilled trade person on average earn more in entry level positions than an entry level white collar worker graduating with a general arts and science degree. Should we then just advise young people to look for work in the trades and forgo the high priced letters (and seemingly about $20,000.00 in consumer credit)? Is this simply a case of buyer beware. Should students simply ensure that they are better informed about the long term implications of funding their education before considering debt financing?
Now to the a paraphrase of the second question does society still value an educated citizenry? Under the antiquated model of a broader education presumably this would be a magnificent opportunity for students to really differentiate themselves by diversifying their tool-kits and branching out to complementary and challenging fields of study. The sad reality is that in a society where linear measurement is valued to the point of absurdity this is simple not feasible academically (nor usually financially). In other words our young scholars cannot afford to risk losing a grade point gaining pursuing a more challenging path. Instead they are rewarded socially, academically, and financially for looking for the least challenging path through their education. Does it portend a general erosion of the underlying foundation of the system of education as it is currently constructed.
Many people foresaw this economic downturn and were summarily dismissed as naysayers until the unthinkable happened. Wall street collapsed and for all intents and purposes so did every major market in the world. Will education suffer the same fate as the market place is flooded with more and more educated unemployed young people fighting for entry level positions which they intend to leave the instant they find a more promising opportunity or one that is better aligned with their skill set? Markets are by definition efficient and the more protracted this downturn becomes the less tolerant employers will be of a volatile overqualified workforce. Maybe they will start hiring only qualified candidates and leave the overqualified ones to fend for themselves. Is an educational downturn eminent for our institutions of higher learning?
A recent article in the New York Times by Robin Marantz Hening explores the evolution of adolescence and how psychologists are struggling to describe the “unfinished” nature of twentysomething adults. According to some, like “Emerging Adulthood” author, Jeffrey Arnett, the twenties are an under-recognized stage in adult development, created by a rapid change in our economic and cultural space. In an information-based economy, Arnett sees“…the need for more education to survive in an information-based economy; fewer entry-level jobs even after all that schooling; young people feeling less rush to marry because of the general acceptance of premarital sex, cohabitation and birth control; and young women feeling less rush to have babies given their wide range of career options and their access to assisted reproductive technology if they delay pregnancy beyond their most fertile years.”
