Startups and Misplaced Aspirations

Not too long ago, the youth of Indonesia aspired to be civil servants.

Then we aspired to work in big multinationals--preferably ones that cut down trees or dig holes into the ground. Those companies spell dollars, security, and prestige. Some of us aspired to work in the cities, to wear a noose around our necks (oh, wait, those are called neckties) while sending enough money to our hometowns.

And then the Rocket Internet boys rolled around with their fancy Lazadas and Zaloras. Suddenly we wanted to wear t-shirts and jeans to work and have our meetings in rooms with Squid Game color scheme.

The workplace culture before the startup era in Indonesia was staid and old fashioned. This new fangled approach MUST be better, right? After all, these startups are led by young people. They know what other young people want, right?

The growing number of cynical accounts such as ecommurz on Instagram, or any one of the #corporatetiktok Indonesian accounts on Tiktok, suggest that despite the bean bags and massage chairs and free flow snacks, the old problems linger.

Indonesian Youth, #adulting

Tiktok is a pretty good window into the zeitgeist of Indonesia's youth (better than Instagram for some segments). One of the rising and enduring Tiktok trends in Indonesia has to do with traveling for the sake of "healing". Instagenic travel destinations have been mainstays of social media: white sandy beaches, hidden waterfalls, #vanlife, often featuring young men and women clad in sarong and/or really wide straw hats.

Travel for the sake of healing, however, this is a relatively new trend on social media. This trend marks 3 things:

1. Influencers and savvy businesses (such as Traveloka, Tiket.com, etc) have already jumped on the "travel-heals-your-soul" bandwagon, fueling the trend's popularity.
2. The trend rides on a shift in how youth in Indonesia view and talk about mental health. In the last few years, it's becoming more socially acceptable to mention to your friends that you're seeing a therapist. Bonus points if you can recommend a good therapist. This growing acceptance and awareness of mental health fuels the trend's longevity.
3. Indonesia's youth have a chronic pain that needs healing. Ideas will only propagate if they have value. Going somewhere to get away and heal your pain is a compelling idea. But what's causing this pain? Heartbreak? Not having anyone to break your heart? (maaf ya yang jomblo). Maybe. But, a new cause is emerging: workplace disfunction.

Rebelling against rules and norms set by previous generations is nothing new for young people anywhere. Rebelling against rules and norms set by your cohort, now that's something new.

We're supposed to be 'tuned-in' to what our generation wants, right? What happened?

We're the generation that bought into the whole "follow your passion" mantra. When it's applied to corporate world (and startups are part of the corporate world, no matter how icky that might make Founders feel) the result is often duplicitous. Our peers might empathize with our wants and needs, and that's a great start if they were to manage us, but not being able to foster an environment for us to flourish, and not having the skills/tools to bring the best out of us, makes us doubly jaded. We avoided the traditional 9-5 corporate gig only to find that the alternative is a 24/7 workday.

If we had taken a "traditional" job, and it was rough, we'd chalk it up to #adulting. No real expectations there. The dissonance between expectations and reality of working in a startup though, now that's a woozy. That's the part that causes this need for traveling to heal the soul.

"Wait. If something hurts you, and you go away to get healed, and then you come back to the same situation, what does that make you?"

... also ...

"Can I put 'looking for those who lean toward masochistic tendencies' in my job postings?"

To be frank, the lower you are in the totem pole, the less choices you have. Choices for those at the bottom are just:

1. Take it

2. Leave it.

Sure, remonstrance could be a third option. Is it a realistic option though?

Indonesia being Indonesia, timing is everything. Expecting those at the bottom of the totem pole (usually fresh grads) to have mastered the nuances of corporate life to know when it's safe to make your boss lose face is just ridiculous (the answer is never).

Just take a quick look at the employee turnover rate in startups, and you'll realize we're all pretty much redshirts in this little starship exploring the final frontier.

Where to start?

I am by no means an expert in management. Heck, I'm pretty sure I'm not even qualified to write about youth in the first person POV anymore. I'm pretty much still in weeds here too, learning and trying to figure out the best way to create a better startup environment.

I have figured out a couple of things though:

1. Generation Labeling doesn't help. Some time ago I was struggling to get my young team to deliver their best. I was told that young people need to know why they're tasked with whatever it is they're tasked with. So I did that, and their performance did improve! I then had a chance to lead a team with older members. They also performed better when I tell them the why behind their assignments. Turns out it wasn't a generational thing. It was a managerial thing. I just need to be less crappy at managing my team.
2. It's up to the Founder's priorities. As the late Buya Hamka said, "Kalau bekerja sekedar bekerja, kera juga bekerja." If we're working just for survival, we'd be no different than apes. Beyond money, there's personal growth, there's camaraderie, there's the need to belong and feel significant, and all the other good stuff. We know this. Deep down, even the most workaholic Founders know this. The thing is, there's a pretty strong narrative out there prioritizing how much and how fast you're raising money, how many employees you have, and so on. If they prioritized building a sustainable business instead, then treating employees well would be way up there in importance, right alongside treating customers well and building kickass products/services

Maybe Founders just need better role models. Someone like Jason Fried or Dan Price. Or maybe it's investors that need to start rewarding the right type of people and business models.

I don't know, I'm not the expert.

But I know the experts are out there. At the very least, people with very strong opinions on the subject :)

If something about from the above writeup rings true, please sound off in the comment section. I'd love to hear your thoughts.