School for Technology

Yesterday, I spoke to a group of juniors at a NJ Magnet High School. Roughly 35 kids in both the Computer Science and Business tracks. It's one of those public schools that you have to apply to, 800 kids strong.

When I speak, I avoid what I call the 'show up and throw up'. No deck, no slides, just me and my brain. I like the give and take although sometimes with teenagers, it's like pulling teeth - having raised three I know a bit about it!

But they were great, courteous, thoughtful. I spoke for nearly two hours punctuated by an unexpected fire drill at the half way point. My topic was entrepreneurship but the conversation ping-ponged around, everything from why did I start my first business to the current state of politics to climate change.

At one point I asked how many of them wanted to someday own their own business. I was surprise that so few raised their hands. When I asked the few who did, the answer was universally 'to make a lot of money'.

I believe it's more difficult to make' a lot of money' in corporate America than owning your own business. But certainly you can. The writer's union in Hollywood is poising for a strike. One of their gripes is Les Moonves (who is from my alma mater) made $69mil last year and it was an off year for CBS where he is CEO. So clearly you can make a lot of money...

We didn't have time to do a deep dive into WHY making a lot of money was important. But suffice to say, if you asked any red-blooded (or other color blooded American), they'd say the same thing. Having a lot of money is nice.

Last week I read an article in the WSJ entitled 'Why You Probably Work for a Giant Company, in 20 Charts'. Seems around the year 2000 something changed in the workplace. Not sure what. Could be the rise of the Big Box Store. The advent of monolithic tech companies like Amazon, Google.

Clearly, the cause is a manifestation of multiple causes. My question is, is this true sea change, a permanent move away from the small business model or simple a temporary shift in the curve?

I'm a BIG believer in pattern recognition - which is why I believe climate change is REAL - but I'm not convinced this recent change portends that most, if not all of those Millennials I chatted with are destined for cubicle world.

In other words, I'm not convinced the end is neigh - but we do need to keep a crooked eye on things...


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