When I Was Your Age!

Stop. No one cares that you walked through the snow to get to school. We stopped listening when you said you were part of the General Electric management training program. Tell us something current. Tell us about raising money during a downturn. Talk about how you manage time when you never go to the office.

Right or wrong, we have short attention spans. Social media did it to us. When you talk about the financial crisis of 2008, remember it was 15 years ago. Your team members might have been in the 6th grade then. No one ever heard the word “pandemic” or “zoom”. It’s a different world. You might be working at a company that didn’t exist in 2008. Some organization lessons are constant and some that worked in 2008 no longer apply. You (and I) have to be relatable.

Sometimes when I hear the phrase, “I don’t know how to do this,” I know why. It has never been done before. Think life sciences, real estate planning, Web3, sound production. Think the future. The new people want to be committed, creative and do something worthwhile. Actually, so do all the other people, we just don’t need the old stories unless they will inform and inspire the present.

We all used to be somebody. Now we are somebody else.