When fellow Baby Boomer, Bob Marley, uttered the phrase, “Let’s Get Together” in 1977, he probably had no idea that his message would resonate with entrepreneurs almost 40 years later. The only issue is that we haven’t witnessed much “getting together” of the Baby Boomers and the Millennials to really capitalize on Marley’s words; the knowledge sharing that is critical for us to become multigenerational entrepreneurs.
My generation’s stereotype is one of being workaholics, who seem to feel distain for the younger, “me” generation of the Millennials. I admit that I fell into this paradigm trap until I met Jordan Berger, the quintessential Millennial entrepreneur. Why did Jordan and I come together to “mentor” each other? Because we are both entrepreneurs, who share a passion for empowering today’s youth to not only learn about investing for their own future, but to have access to real financial tools that will make that happen. We were also both eager to check our biases at the door and really listen to each other.
I’ll bring the steak
For decades, I’ve worked on breaking down the financial literacy divide, bringing families the tools they need to create a generation of financially responsible children. In the 1970’s, as a young 20-something grad, I entered the corporate world as one of the first female executives in the banking industry. I broke glass ceilings, picked out chards of glass, broke some more ceilings, leaned in, and finally leaned out when the celling became concrete.
I then became president of a small bank. While there, I witnessed women struggling to make their own financial decisions. This baffled me, but my research showed that it was because we were never taught anything about money as kids. I didn’t want to pass this legacy onto my children, so I searched for books to teach them to be money savvy. There were none. The topic of teaching kids about money did not exist.
So, what does the budding entrepreneur see? A market niche and an opportunity. I created the topic of kids and money in 1988 by opening up a real bank for kids at FAO Schwarz as well as the Institute for Youth Entrepreneurship in Harlem in order to inspire 11-year-olds to start a business. I went on to write 27 books, including a New York Times #1 Best Seller (thanks to Oprah), create financial literacy curricula, and develop mobile video gaming apps.
He’ll bring the sizzle
Despite his young age, Jordan profoundly understands what will excite and motivate his generation. He has started several businesses by uncovering market trends and taking advantage of opportunities. He speaks the language of youth and understands the amorphous social media. He knows what his generation wants to learn and how they want it delivered.
So what are we doing together? Jordan works for the MoneyShow and saw a need to educate his generation about investing. Out of that need, he created a fantastic 501(c)(3) foundation called MoneyShow University, and organization for students and young professionals to learn investing from leading entrepreneurs, investment industry experts, and inspirational speakers. The organization’s mission is to not only educate, but also give Millennials a lifetime of access to invest in the stock market without any intimidation.
Concurrently, I have teamed with a company called DriveWealth, a mobile investment platform dedicated to educating Millennials on the importance of investing while creating an affordable opportunity to invest in their financial futures. I am a Board of Advisors member and a consultant. Their goal is Jordan’s…together we can fulfill our mutual mission.
The steak and the sizzle meet
Baby Boomers have the “steak” and Millennials have the “sizzle.” One can truly enhance the other. My years of experience have helped to ground Jordan’s vision of bringing college students together to experience the best of the investment world. His knowledge of connecting investment experts to campuses via video and mobile will allow the scalability of his organization. And, I know the importance of face-to-face interaction, and can provide important feedback that will allow Jordan to build a template for that virtual connection.
On this topic, Jordan remarked, “I respect Neale’s experience as a business leader and I’m thrilled that she values my experience as an entrepreneur. Many Millennials are pursuing entrepreneurship and need to do a better job of connecting with the generations before us in order to gain important business insight. Although we may be a few generations apart, it is amazing to see the passion Neale and I both share for making a difference. I’m also elated that she really took my advice to heart.”
A recent poll by the Kauffman Foundation indicates that Jordan and about half of his Millennial cohorts want to start their own business. Unfortunately, new businesses are springing up every day, but most fail. According to HarvardEntrepreneurships, these new ventures fail because of things that are so apparent to us Baby Boomers, but not so obvious to Millennials. How about reasons like; no written business plan, no revenue, good idea – bad execution, too much competition, no Intellectual Property, inexperienced team, and on and on.
Entrepreneurship isn’t necessarily a sexy word, but it does conjure images of the best and brightest business people we’ve seen over the last century and a half, such as Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Mary Kay, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg to name a few. In my opinion, the success of these individuals is not only in the products they innovated, but also in the jobs they’ve created.
Today’s small business owners, much like the Waltons and Zuckerbergs of the world, are amazing job creators (and ultimately the life-blood of the U.S economy). In fact, according to the SBA, they make up 99.7% of all employer firms and employ about half of all private sector employees. Small business also generated 65% of new jobs over the past 17 years.
So, how can we “be all right,” as Bob Marley famously said? Baby Boomers and Millennials cannot deny the facts: as the workforce continues to morph into an economy of contractors, many are looking at entrepreneurism as a strong alternative. And, the truth is, Baby Boomers and Millennials can (and should) work together in order to bring the both the “steak and sizzle” to the table.
