Ethics and Values: October 2007 Archives

Amy Lynch has an interesting post at her site about Generation Y workers (or as I call them the Entrepreneurial Generation). She is a consultant on Generation Y -- yes, it seems we need consultants on this generation....

From her site:

Millennials grew up during an era of extreme informality. Polite behavior and face-to-face skills are not a given with this group. Even when they want to be polite, be a valuable employee or provide customer service, they may not know how. Furthermore, they grew up communicating by computer, so they may miss the nuances of your body language or tone of voice that could tell them when they're doing something that isn't up to standard.

So the question is, how do you distinguish Millennials who have no interest in or incentive to work (and whom you cannot continue to employ, at least not at this stage of their lives) from those who are simply behaving Gen-Yishly and need coaching rather than firing?

(Thanks to my colleague -- and fellow Kentucky Wildcat fan -- Lori LaBleu for passing this along).

We had the pleasure to welcome Dr. Michael Morris and Dr. Arthur Brooks (both from Syracuse University) to our campus yesterday. It was part of the kick-off for our new major in Social Entrepreneurship here at Belmont that is scheduled to begin next fall.

Arthur Brooks may be a familiar name to many of you. His latest book, Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism, has gotten a lot of attention in the press. He gave a morning talk titled Giving in an Entrepreneurial Culture based on the research behind this book. Here are some highlights from his talk:

- Americans gave $295 billion in 2006, with 75% of this amount coming from private individuals

- 75% of American families give to charity and 50% volunteer their time

- Per capita, Americans give 3.7 times more than the French, 7.1 times more than the Germans, and 14.3 times more than Italians

- His research suggests that Americans give more because they are rich, but also that in giving more we become richer. He estimates that for every dollar Americans give they become 3.75 dollars richer.

- Givers are much happier than non-givers. It seems that there are physiological responses to being charitable that result from giving. In fact, we are hard-wired to give to others and when we do give it makes us happier, healthier and richer.

He summarized his findings by dispelling the four common myths about giving:

Myth #1: Giving makes us poorer

Giving is not the zero sum that so many assume. Those who give become richer over time.

Myth #2: People are naturally selfish

As mentioned above, we seem to be hard-wired to give. It is not natural for humans to be selfish. Rather, it is natural to give to others.

Myth #3: Giving is a luxury

The working poor give the highest percentage of their income of all income brackets. Second come the rich. The stingiest are the upper middle class.

Myth #4: An entrepreneurial nation can afford to forgo service

In fact service is part of what seems to have built our entrepreneurial culture and economy. One of my favorite essays on this was the 1998 article by George Gilder, The Soul of Silicon.

There has been quite a bit of controversy over who Dr. Brooks found actually gives the most. It seems that conservative Americans give much more than liberal Americans. The myth that conservative capitalists are greedy could not be any further from the truth.

I will write another post before the end of the week on the talk on social entrepreneurship that Drs. Morris and Brooks gave to our campus.

For those of you in the Middle Tennessee area, I will be giving a talk today on the new book that I co-authored with Mike Naughton, Bringing Your Business to Life: The Four Virtues that Will Help You Build a Better Business--and a Better Life, which is part of our Good Entrepreneur Project. The book is scheduled to be released next summer.

I will be talking at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Nashville at 6:30 p.m.

There is a perception that that small businesses pay much less and are as good to their employees as are large corporations. The latest data from the SBA tells us that the low pay is not exactly true -- small business pay is up to 90% of that paid by large businesses. And the just released list of top small businesses to work in from the Wall Street Journal and the non-profit Winning Workplaces shows that they are at least as good to their employees.

While each company is very different, we encountered some common themes: These small businesses tend to let employees at all levels make key decisions, and they groom their future leaders from within. They offer generous traditional and untraditional benefits (how about a six-week sabbatical?). And they constantly hunt for new ways to improve the employee experience or engage employees.

And many share a sizable slice of their profits with employees, teaching them to read company financial statements so they grasp how their job is connected to the success of the organization.

These small businesses set a high standard that any small business owner should aspire to achieve. The article offers compelling profiles for each small business on this list. These offer a road map to help entrepreneurs build truly good cultures for their employees.

If you think your business or one that you come in contact with should be on this list, you can nominate them for the 2008 list here.