America has raised two successive generations trapped in linear thinking.
I see it year after year as students get ready to enter the world of work. Many of the young people view their careers through the lens of linear thinking.
The Linear Career Path
Students come to me for both formal and informal advice. Their career decisions leave many stressed, and even emotionally paralyzed.
They have to get into the right school. They have to get the right professors. They have to land the perfect internship. They have to land a dream job that feeds their passion. Step after step, they are convinced that one wrong move jeopardizes their future. They are convinced that each step along the path predetermines the eventual outcome of their careers. One misstep leads to a dead end, from which they can never come back. They have methodically followed the “one path” in life that they believe will lead them to success once they enter the work world. However, when they reach the point in life when they enter that “real world”, the nice clean path they thought would be waiting for them is not there. No wonder so many students move back home to “figure out life” after college!
The Un-coachable Entrepreneur
Many aspiring entrepreneurs we work with also have this same mentality. They identify the one business that will bring them fulfillment and feed their passion. They accept no feedback from mentors, professors, or even customers that challenges their thinking. They have “figured it out,” so they expect all to get out of their way and let them forge ahead. Customer discovery, market research, advice from experts be damned!
They are what my good friend and mentor-extraordinaire Shawn Glinter calls the un-coachable.
Don’t get me wrong. There have always been un-coachable entrepreneurs, at least during the four decades I’ve been working with entrepreneurs. What is different is how many more we are seeing. They suffer from the same generational affliction of linear thinking as many of the students I work with.
Time for New Approach to Thinking
And now we face unprecedented economic and social disruption from coronavirus. Linear thinking no longer will work for life plans nor business plans.
Phil Lewis wrote an excellent piece a couple of days ago about the critical need for lateral thinking. Lateral thinking is coming up with novel, even non-logical, solutions to a problem. It is creativity at its best.
The critical point is this: it does not matter a jot what you do or where you work. Everyone has it in them to add transformational value through lateral thinking—even, or especially, in times of change or crisis.
Small business owners and entrepreneurs are facing personal crises within the broader context of the coronavirus crisis. The ones whose businesses have the best chance to survive, and eventually thrive, are the ones who can become nimble, lateral thinkers.
Nothing we have learned in the past can prepare us for what is next. Entrepreneurs, particularly young entrepreneurs, must break free from their habit of linear thinking and find new solutions to the new problems this transformation we are living through has created.
These new problems are coming fast and furious. There is no time for a contemplative approach to business planning and business modeling.
Experiment often. Fail quickly. Find traction. God speed!
(Photo Source: Jeff Cornwall)
I completely agree with you on this topic. I worked for an entrepreneurial local arts organization in my hometown for years that recently closed down last summer due to bankruptcy. Being that I have thoroughly considered opening an arts school of my own as my career path it was interesting to watch and evaluate the businesses decisions they made and how that affected them in the long run. I would say that the owner of the company was quick to make big decisions, but was not listening to her staff or customers about how these decisions could negatively affect the business in the long run despite the deception that it could help them economically. My biggest take away from watching that company is exactly as you wrote that the most successful businesses are the ones that listen and take feedback, adapting to the world around them as opposed to entrepreneurs who accidentally can block out the environment around them when so focused on what they think is the “perfect idea”.
I definitely agree that most students overthink every decision they make in their college careers, as they feel it will greatly affect their desired future. I personally have had my “one path” since the middle of freshman year, which I want to believe will be my path post-graduation. But after reading this, I’m starting to question if my path is going to lead me down the wrong road due. As you mentioned un-coachable entrepreneurs, I agree that more and more people are becoming un-coachable workers let alone entrepreneurs. Especially in times like this, businesses need to understand and adapt via lateral thinking in order to survive let alone succeed. Just this morning my mom and I were discussing how retail websites are having huge sales as a means to bring in customers to increase the loss of in-person sales.
I do agree that this generation is un coachable in some aspects, but I do want to play devils advocate and suggest how times have changed. Socially, society suggests individuals should pick something and forge ahead and don’t play to what people around you want you to do. This leads to business because people have an idea that brings satisfaction to them and they just want to run with it. I do agree that being un-coachable is detrimental in some aspect, but what about that the un-coachable aspect of them leads them to a drive or aspirations that are beneficial. Like they don’t care what anybody thinks and will do what is necessary to be successful. Granted that requires some advisement, but a lot of people don’t like to be berated with coaching help. I know from my athletic experience that I don’t like to be hovered over and coached all the time. I prefer to learn on my own, therefore I actually learn it. Even if it means doing something wrong and learning from it myself, then it has a lasting impact on me. Overall, I do agree that uncoachable entrepreneurs and linear thinkers may not be the most successful, but hopefully they learn from their own mistakes succeed past them.
This was very encouraging for me to hear. I just scheduled classes for my senior year and feel the anxiety rising to begin the job search soon. There is so much pressure to find the perfect job with the mentality that if we don’t, we will NOT be happy. This article reminded me that life happens and plans change; we make our happiness where we are. In my third year writing class we are talking about computational thinking, “a set of problem-solving methods that involve expressing problems and their solutions…” It is usually used in connection to computer coding, but the section about the corona virus in this article reminded me of it. We are suddenly faced with a new problem, and we must think of new methods to solve our existing situation. I have a pretty certain feeling this pandemic will not be the last time our plans change, so learning to adapt and practice lateral thinking is a challenge that should be accepted.
This is important. Students need to be reminded that their entire future isn’t dependent on everything in their plan going right. You are right that so many students let this pressure paralyze them from making any decision at all. One of the most valuable realizations I’ve had in college is that through all of the detours is where you find what you are called to do. I like that you brought up how this mindset translates into the work of entrepreneurs. It makes sense that entrepreneurs would be uncoachable. They’ve spent their whole lives in institutions that are focused on teaching them how to get the perfect job, so they have had to train themselves to filter out the advise of people who don’t understand what they are trying to do. I am sure it is hard for them to realize that now is the time to listen.
Research continues to suggest that young people today will work in three different industries and have an average of 10 jobs. Still, the myth of a linear career path persists. I think that this trend has much to do with the “scarcity” mindset; resources will always be limited so find something that you enjoy enough to create a “comfortable” (i.e. successful life). However, the business sector has changed, and employers are looking for creativity and critical thinking. That is, individuals that are capable of moving beyond a scarcity mindset to reveal innovation derivative of surplus. There are so many ways to create synergy and synthesis, and I think that now – more than ever- we must begin to lean into the growth mindset. We must focus on what we have and what can be better utilized, rather than looking at what we lack… the “bootstrapped surplus journey.”
I definitely agree with you! I see this a lot with people my age or slightly older. The drive to be perfect and have everything perfectly laid out for you is the “norm”. Many young adults seem to have tunnel vision when it comes to their futures, and as you explain, this can cause them to miss out on so much! While taking risks is scary, it can pay off in the long run. It is crazy to think of all of the great ideas we may be missing out on because the idea holder is too hesitant to act on it! As generations continue, I hope more and more people will be willing to take risks that they might not have otherwise considered!
I love the first section about how young adults feel so much pressure to make the ‘right’ choice. As I have been through this process, it is more intimidating than it looks. My sister is currently graduating high school, and talking with her about college has taken me back to why I choose Belmont- it was ‘perfect’.
I think this post is getting at a much larger question that plagues modern day society. Why are young people taught that failure is so bad? In life, you will constantly fail. I believe one of the reasons that students fail to innovate is because they are too scared to get out of their own way. This is a crucial post asking the right questions.
Dr.Cornwall, I personally do agree with you on this topic and how its come appoint for the decision making process within any type of situation.I cant attest to this of me becoming a college grad in a week in and half that a career decision is very stressful and can be paralyzing some of the time. I do believe putting your stress to work to figure out the root of it and making it a desire to look upon a career you might want and drive full force into it.