Dr Jeff Cornwall

A colleague sent me a report from The Herman Group, which provides management consulting and futurist-based strategic planning. They cite a trend that those of us who teach entrepreneurship are intimately aware of:

Early indications suggest that the Millennial Generation, born after 1985, has a strong orientation toward entrepreneurship. They feel confident that they can achieve great results–at least earn a satisfactory living–by going into business for themselves. This population cohort is showing itself to be self-aware, astute, creative, and comfortable taking the risks involved with businesses.

Indeed, as we add more sections of entrepreneurship each semester, the students keep filling them up.
The report raises a concern that I also hear from large employers.

While it is inspiring to see young people with a desire to create something, to try new business ventures while they are young, there is also a downside. These entrepreneurs, full of intellectual curiosity and energy, are often ideal employees for existing companies. However, if they are business for themselves, these unique human resources are usually not available to work for other employers. They are simply not interested.

What is interesting is that this is leading many employers to outsource functions that they just cannot adequately staff. And guess who is at the helm of the small businesses that large employers are looking to for such outsourcing? That’s right, the young entrepreneurs who they cannot attract to hire!
This is just one more data point that shows how job growth is being created by entrepreneurs and their small businesses.
(Quotations from “The Herman Trend Alert,” by Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or http://www.hermangroup.com.)