In 2015 your phone can recognise you by your thumbprint, it is a camera, a gps and a personal assistant. The people, the technology, the types of jobs we had, have all changed. But nobody said change is a bad thing. It is just happening at a rate that many cannot keep up with. So, instead of saying "please help me catch up," people automatically say all these changes are bad.
In this lifetime we got to see the fall of apartheid in South Africa, the birth of an electric car that can ride as fast as a Porsche, the eradication of polio and so many other groundbreaking medical and technological advancements that were previously inconceivable. We are living in a time when today you can be sitting in the streets begging and in a year you can be a billionaire who created the most incredible app. We are living in a world where any individual, not just the ones at the top can and will make a real difference in society. We are living in what will be "the good ol' days" and when we embrace it and play in the world, rather than complaining about it, then we all have a real chance for lasting positive change that matters to all of us.
The biggest change in this era is being driven by the millennials. These are a group of people between the ages of 18-35 who at the moment make up about 79 million people in America, almost a quarter of the population. The millennials are driving radical changes in the world because of a few things: self-belief, sheer volume and their grasp of power of technology. They are diverse and really difficult to understand. They have altruistic and narcissistic tendencies, eg: they want to serve a greater purpose, but are very self-involved (selfie generation), want to have a family, but put it off to so late that it is near impossible to do so. It is a generation that creates new rules and does not believe in the 9-5 that their gen x and y parents are used to. They are living life to the fullest and are creating the means to do so. They are a collaborative and connected bunch who want to see change in their lifetime, possibly wanting to undo all the wrongs of the generations before.
One of the most noble and interesting professions that the millennials have been responsible for growing is social entrepreneurship. It's easy to see why there is a rise of social entrepreneurs all over the world. A social entrepreneur looks for a business solution to solve a social issue. One of the most famous non-millennial social entrepreneurs in Muhammad Yunus who started the Grameen bank and offered micro-loans to women in India so they could start their own small businesses. Now it's one of the biggest banks in India with the same ethos of empowering others. Social entrepreneurs want to be their own bosses, they want to serve a greater purpose and save the world, they want to make lots of money but on their terms and they want everyone to join them in doing it. They are not afraid of letting an idea go, because they understand that open source and sharing makes great ideas spread that much faster.
It sounds like an ideal and noble way to make money, but of course it comes with its own set of challenges, like any entrepreneurial venture does. So, let's join them and help them make their businesses grow and thrive, let's find more ways to support more social entrepreneurs... those building toilets and trying new innovative seeds for growing plants, those looking at sustainable fishing and carbon emission solutions, those looking and empowering kids who are being bullied with apps, because if we all want to be part of the good ol' days, we need to work together and participate in co-creating it!
