Millennials. Love em or hate em. Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba, calls them “the builders of the world”. Few sympathize with this overly educated, underemployed, debt-ridden generation but recent studies show Millennials are great employees (sometimes workaholics), decent with their finances, and changing the way we shop, invest, and obtain the American Dream.
According to Goldman Sachs US Millennials born between 1980–2000 number around 92 million. By Pew Research that’s larger than Gen X and Baby Boomers. Millennials are the largest population in the workforce and armed services. Companies big and small are being forced to adapt. How do you manage a workforce that would rather make less money doing something they love?
Globally, Millennials dominate. In India, Goldman Sachs estimates there are 830 million Millennials and Gen Z (born after 2000) combined. That’s larger than the entire US population times two and more than every living person in the European Union. Deloitte found 73% of Millennials in India favor business as a force for good. An estimated 385 million Millennials make up 28% of China’s population, and there, 92% own a phone. According to Pew, Germany has the largest population of Millennials — 14.68 million. Greece the smallest with 2.02 million. Millennials around the globe are connected by the Internet and share overlapping ideals and experiences.
In full disclosure, I am a Millennial.
3 Ways Millennials Will Change the World:
- The Millennial Workforce
40% of working Millennials have four or more direct reports.
According to Deloitte, working Millennials have reached leadership roles faster than Gen X and Baby Boomers at the same age. 40% of working Millennials have four or more direct reports. Leadership is a character quality and developed over time. So maybe telling someone their entire life that they can accomplish anything they put their mind to developed a generation of leaders. Millennials are asking for more responsibility, pitching ideas, and seeking to learn from experience. How does working for a young, passionate executive management team with values placed on work-life balance and gender equality sound? Pretty good, right?
Millennials are doers and masters of organizing around issues important to them. From politics, social enterprise, fashion, historic preservation, startup culture, state issues, and civic service, Millennials are comfortable using digital mediums to openly share ideas and experiences. It’s here where they take it a step further. They mobilize into action. Waiting isn’t their thing. That died with dial-up Internet. Millennials roll up their sleeves, brew a pour over, and put in the work.
- Millennial Impact Investors
79% of Millennials identify as impact investors.
Research out of Boston College found Millennials will inherit almost $59 trillion dollars over the next several decades. What will they do with all this newfound wealth? Give it away? Nope. But they might be looking to do good and do well. Enter impact investing.
Impact investing has been on the fringe as an alternative investment used primarily by institutions, wealthy individuals, and celebs like Bono. Impact investments, like all investments, seek to provide a financial return and include some kind of measurable social impact. Millennials are taking notice and placing an importance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. A study conducted by Toniic found 79% of Millennials identify as impact investors. OppenheimerFund and Camden Research found 64% of Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) Millennials are interested in impact investing and 31% are already making decisions for their family office.
Millennial impact investors seem to grasp the concept that philanthropy alone cannot solve all the world’s social problems. The emergence of impact-focused “robo-advisors” such as Grow, Earthfolio, and OpenInvest may indicate an increasing demand for impact investing products among tech-savvy, Millennial retail impact investors.
New to the impact investing space is crowdfund investing. Companies like Republic, an impact-focused crowdfund investing platform offer ordinary Americans the opportunity to invest in startup social enterprises. Social startups like Maternova, a women’s fashion line combating the Zika virus, and Farm from a Box, an off-grid solar-powered agriculture solution, are raising early-stage capital from a new class of Millennial impact investors.
- The Millennial Innovators
40% of Millennials view Mark Zuckerberg as their business role model.
The creators of Facebook and AirBnB are some of the wealthiest Millennials in the world. It’s no surprise 40% of Millennials view Mark Zuckerberg as their business role model. It should also come as no surprise that Millennials are starting businesses earlier than previous generations.
Millennials can use technology and social media to turn side hustles into a full-blown profit yielding companies. Many start social enterprises or companies seeking to use business to solve a social problem. Examples of great social enterprises are TOMS Shoes, Box Water, and One Hope Wine.
This generation of innovators tackle problems big and small. Trish Scolnik of GRIT Freedom Chair, Anna Stork of LuminAid, Aaron Horowitz of Sproutel, Sophia Sunwoo of Water Collective, and Nicholas Hunsaker of Honey for Haiti all woke up and went to work this morning just like everyone else. Except their work is mission driven and changing the world, one person at a time.
In closing. I like to believe Millennials can change the world through work, investing, and innovation. It’s an exciting future to desire. If you’re a Millennial, don’t let us down! Find new ways to build, grow, and connect. It’s so important. If you’re not a Millennial, just let us live and believe we’re trying our best.
-JTM
Spotlight: William C. Tondo – Bryant University
Millennials. Love em or hate em. Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba, calls them “the builders of the world”. Few sympathize with this overly educated, underemployed, debt-ridden generation but recent studies show Millennials are great employees (sometimes workaholics), decent with their finances, and changing the way we shop, invest, and obtain the American Dream.
According to Goldman Sachs US Millennials born between 1980–2000 number around 92 million. By Pew Research that’s larger than Gen X and Baby Boomers. Millennials are the largest population in the workforce and armed services. Companies big and small are being forced to adapt. How do you manage a workforce that would rather make less money doing something they love?
Globally, Millennials dominate. In India, Goldman Sachs estimates there are 830 million Millennials and Gen Z (born after 2000) combined. That’s larger than the entire US population times two and more than every living person in the European Union. Deloitte found 73% of Millennials in India favor business as a force for good. An estimated 385 million Millennials make up 28% of China’s population, and there, 92% own a phone. According to Pew, Germany has the largest population of Millennials — 14.68 million. Greece the smallest with 2.02 million. Millennials around the globe are connected by the Internet and share overlapping ideals and experiences.
In full disclosure, I am a Millennial.
3 Ways Millennials Will Change the World:
40% of working Millennials have four or more direct reports.
According to Deloitte, working Millennials have reached leadership roles faster than Gen X and Baby Boomers at the same age. 40% of working Millennials have four or more direct reports. Leadership is a character quality and developed over time. So maybe telling someone their entire life that they can accomplish anything they put their mind to developed a generation of leaders. Millennials are asking for more responsibility, pitching ideas, and seeking to learn from experience. How does working for a young, passionate executive management team with values placed on work-life balance and gender equality sound? Pretty good, right?
Millennials are doers and masters of organizing around issues important to them. From politics, social enterprise, fashion, historic preservation, startup culture, state issues, and civic service, Millennials are comfortable using digital mediums to openly share ideas and experiences. It’s here where they take it a step further. They mobilize into action. Waiting isn’t their thing. That died with dial-up Internet. Millennials roll up their sleeves, brew a pour over, and put in the work.
79% of Millennials identify as impact investors.
Research out of Boston College found Millennials will inherit almost $59 trillion dollars over the next several decades. What will they do with all this newfound wealth? Give it away? Nope. But they might be looking to do good and do well. Enter impact investing.
Impact investing has been on the fringe as an alternative investment used primarily by institutions, wealthy individuals, and celebs like Bono. Impact investments, like all investments, seek to provide a financial return and include some kind of measurable social impact. Millennials are taking notice and placing an importance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. A study conducted by Toniic found 79% of Millennials identify as impact investors. OppenheimerFund and Camden Research found 64% of Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) Millennials are interested in impact investing and 31% are already making decisions for their family office.
Millennial impact investors seem to grasp the concept that philanthropy alone cannot solve all the world’s social problems. The emergence of impact-focused “robo-advisors” such as Grow, Earthfolio, and OpenInvest may indicate an increasing demand for impact investing products among tech-savvy, Millennial retail impact investors.
New to the impact investing space is crowdfund investing. Companies like Republic, an impact-focused crowdfund investing platform offer ordinary Americans the opportunity to invest in startup social enterprises. Social startups like Maternova, a women’s fashion line combating the Zika virus, and Farm from a Box, an off-grid solar-powered agriculture solution, are raising early-stage capital from a new class of Millennial impact investors.
40% of Millennials view Mark Zuckerberg as their business role model.
The creators of Facebook and AirBnB are some of the wealthiest Millennials in the world. It’s no surprise 40% of Millennials view Mark Zuckerberg as their business role model. It should also come as no surprise that Millennials are starting businesses earlier than previous generations.
Millennials can use technology and social media to turn side hustles into a full-blown profit yielding companies. Many start social enterprises or companies seeking to use business to solve a social problem. Examples of great social enterprises are TOMS Shoes, Box Water, and One Hope Wine.
This generation of innovators tackle problems big and small. Trish Scolnik of GRIT Freedom Chair, Anna Stork of LuminAid, Aaron Horowitz of Sproutel, Sophia Sunwoo of Water Collective, and Nicholas Hunsaker of Honey for Haiti all woke up and went to work this morning just like everyone else. Except their work is mission driven and changing the world, one person at a time.
In closing. I like to believe Millennials can change the world through work, investing, and innovation. It’s an exciting future to desire. If you’re a Millennial, don’t let us down! Find new ways to build, grow, and connect. It’s so important. If you’re not a Millennial, just let us live and believe we’re trying our best.
-JTM