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The amazing part about that quote is the person saying it really believes that to be true. If you are frustrated with what you see as the quality of your younger employees and are scared about what the future holds, allow me to share a couple of stories to restore your faith.
K-K Gregory sought to make life a little more pleasant. At the ripe age of 10, she invented Wristies® to keep freezing snow out of her coat sleeves. K-K’s Wristies can be worn under mittens or gloves. Fingers are free and cuffs stay dry. Her samples were such a hit with her Girl Scout troop that she took her design to a patent attorney. The result? Nine years in business and going strong.
Richie Stachowski was both a corporate founder and a president by age 13. His product, Water Talkies™, reaps about a half-million annually. At age 11, Richie was snorkeling on a Hawaiian vacation. Frustrated that he couldn’t communicate with his dad about undersea discoveries, he came home and designed an underwater megaphone. He used the Internet for research, his home pool as a test lab, and $267 of his savings for startup capital. Richie’s company, Short Stack LLC, negotiated with major retail chains to carry his product. Water Talkies™ were a hit in the summer of 1997 and have kept people communicating underwater ever since.
Kelly Reinhart was another kid in need of practical solutions. She designed Thigh Packs at age 6. The Thigh Pack is a holster for carrying a kid’s necessities, like portable video games. By age 9, she was chairperson of TPak International, a company with nearly $1 million in orders. Improvements and patenting followed. Plans have been discussed with Pentagon officials to see if the packs could be used by the military.
Abbey Fleck was 8 in 1992 when she invented Makin’ Bacon. This device hangs bacon away from fat while it cooks in the microwave. Abbey’s grandfather took out a loan on the family farm so they could produce the 100,000 dishes Wal-Mart required for initial distribution. Now, Abbey and her father co-own A de F, Inc. Each year the company produces and sells about 640,000 Makin’ Bacon dishes. Abbey really is “makin’ bacon” – her company brings in more than $1million annually in royalties.
Some people would see these as examples of children getting lucky. These are examples of the next generation’s ability to create things to express their creativity and solve problems. Multi-tasking habits are allowing this group to think on multiple levels simultaneously and discover solutions quicker, more creatively and better then other generations.
The key is to provide opportunities to the younger age group to excel with their abilities. I can tell you brainstorming with adults is a challenge; it’s hard to get them to think freely because of years of constraints to their business thinking. The younger generation is prepared to change that restrictive mentality, when and where corporations will let them.
How will the next generation sustain your business? With greater flexibility and nimbleness – these are perfect characteristics for where the business world is headed.
