Don’t piss in the fountain
I’ve been thinking about two different things in the last week. With the help of a strong dose of caffeine, they converged somewhat this afternoon. This piece discusses that convergence, and hopefully provides some food for thought.
#1 My “Board”
In my career, I’ve had the benefit of engaging with a number of mentors on a semi-regular basis. Recently, one of my mentors pushed me to think about my personal ‘Board of Directors’. I’ve therefore been thinking about the composition of my Board and went through a process of assessing its members (largely my current mentors) across areas including: expertise, risk appetite, entrepreneurialism, strength of personal relationship, location, gender and age. On the basis of these criteria, I then reflected on the different roles they play on my Board.
To me, it is imperative that I have diversity across all criteria. The Board only functions correctly if it can identify my blind spots. To address all appropriate blind spots, you need different perspectives. The process was instructive as it showed where my gaps are, and it became abundantly clear that my Board does not have a young member.
I am 29, so am objectively young, but lead a very different life to an 18-year old. In terms of technology and culture, those 11 years represent a lifetime. Boards correctly optimize for experience and wisdom. However, I acknowledge that I need a greater understanding of what drives young people, and therefore realized I need a young Board member. Onto #2.
#2 The Climate Strike
I attended the Climate Strike in New York City a few weeks ago, which culminated in Greta Thunberg delivering a speech in Battery Park. I felt genuinely starstruck. Here was a young woman, who decided she was going to strike from school, every Friday, to bring inaction on climate change into focus. Fast forward 13 months and she was joined in that strike by over 4 million people around the world. I’m not sure I’ve seen a more powerful example of someone trying to change the world by starting with one small action, and it was emotionally overwhelming to be a part of.
I don’t intend on discussing global warming, as it is far beyond the scope of this piece. Instead, I want to discuss the reaction to Greta and the strike.
Unsurprisingly, she has been derided by certain groups. Part of this is due to the ferocity of her admonishments, part of it is due to the absurd polarization around global warming, and part of it is due to her age. A lot of derision naturally came from those a lot older than Greta. Their focus on her age was insightful and provides a nice segue into the convergence of #1 and #2.
What have I learned?
The last week led me to think about the concept of youth in two different contexts, providing the impetus for this piece. On the basis of these two contexts, I’ve drawn two conclusions:
- Today’s emerging youth (call them Generation Z) are becoming an incredible force, and
- Those in power (e.g. politicians, corporates) generally have little understanding of them whatsoever.
The most consequential shift of our time may be underway, and nobody is talking about it. Let’s dive in.
Gen Z have grown up in an age of ubiquitous information. It brings to mind a conversation between Bane and Batman in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’:
Ah, you think [technology and information] are your ally? You merely adopted [technology and information]. I was born in it, molded by it.
While our leaders remain perplexed by the pace of technological change (‘we run ads, Senator’), struggling to keep up, Gen Z has grown up immersed in this context. For them, the most important element is not the technology, but the means of discovering and disseminating content; the way they engage with information. They are adept at manipulating the tunnels and channels of our future in ways that the generations before them cannot comprehend.
My description may sound sinister, but that is not my intention. I do not believe there is anything sinister about this generation. Quite the opposite. In my experience, they are a truly underestimated group of young people. Informed, resourceful, savvy, moral, open and accepting. In the face of decade-old approaches, they ask ‘why not?’. They are here to affect change. On the flip-side, I do not intend to talk disparagingly of those older than me. As a society we have done immense damage by glorifying youth, at the expense of the elderly, and this is a trend I do not wish to perpetuate.
The directness of my tone is simply intended to highlight the gap between the world that we are living in, Gen Z’s grasp of it, and our leaders’ misunderstanding of it. Their misapprehension of the change may be due to its pace as well as the fact they are unlikely to regularly interact with the agents of this change: the software and the people.
Most people over the age of 35 think TikTok is the sound an old clock makes. It means something else entirely to over 1 billion people worldwide. I do not begrudge them ignoring the software, but lazily assuming young people are simply entitled and technology-obsessed surely just expands the divide.
A valid response here may be that generational change has always involved friction, due to cultural and technological changes. If rates of change were linear, then I would agree. But the pace of technological change actually accelerates. Ray Kurzweil stated as much (…in 2001) according to ‘The Law of Accelerating Returns’:
An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense “intuitive linear” view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate)… There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth.
Time moves linearly; technology evolves exponentially. The change experienced with each incoming generation therefore becomes bigger as the gap widens between the way previous and incoming generations interact with technology. For the first time, we may be at a point now where the pace has accelerated to the point where different generations truly inhabit different worlds.
I am 29. I joined Facebook when I was 17. I’ve had Instagram and Twitter at different points in the intervening years. I think I have a good understanding of the platforms. However, I have little no grasp of how people 10–15 years my junior use these platforms, and others I don’t interact with. I do not have a strong feel for how they interact across gaming platforms, contribute to and follow meme culture or mobilize around causes.
At 29 I’m an internet dinosaur. Teenagers are playing 3D chess and I’m still figuring out how to mute that annoying relative on Facebook.
The conclusion.
The mobilization around global warming revealed to me Gen Z’s burgeoning power. The process of reviewing my ‘Board’ highlighted my personal gaps in understanding them. Importantly, reflecting on both brought into focus the scale of the divide between our emerging and incumbent leaders.
To be clear, this would be an academic discussion if not for the way different generations find themselves on opposing sides of an increasingly hostile debate. I believe Gen Z’s mobilization around global warming is the first example of it flexing its collective muscle. It is being met in some corners with support and admiration, which itself is being admonished by people like Greta. When adulation is rejected as patronizing, it is a signal that somebody is making a miscalculation. Old people think it’s just words; those making the statements intend to back them up.
We were told that the next major conflict would involve cyberwarfare. As I understand it, that war plays out every day in skirmishes between governments, corporations, and their adversaries. Until an actor takes down an entire country’s power grid, we’ll hopefully remain in this holding pattern.
The next war will be an information war. The culture war underway is the first battle. Over time, adversaries have become harder to spot: from cavalry to tanks, guerrillas, insurgents and now malware. In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandals (and others), we now have a taste for how difficult it is spotting an adversary when that adversary is information itself. If information is the next weapon, Gen Z may just use it like a veteran marksman.
I don’t know how this generational clash will play out. What I do know, is that our current leaders are creating a potential foe they don’t understand. Best not to piss in the fountain of youth.
