(Oklahoma City, OK) I spent last evening with a group of thoughtful leaders attending the Governor’s Summit on Economic and Workforce Development. In response to questions related to attracting and retaining talent to their communities, participants took a (refreshing) long-term view on the matter. Two issues emerged as primary:
- Education.
- Engagement.
Let’s take Education first. Attendees talked about literacy and building schools that work. In the Western Heights school district in Oklahoma, a grant makes it possible for students to be outfitted with PDAs from which they take tests and complete homework. This begs the question, Do today’s students - tomorrow’s leaders and inventors and workforce - need books at all? In Philadelphia, 170 freshman started class this week at the School of the Future. All the core subjects are taught… differently. And education MUST be different. The economy has changed. Families have changed. Even the teen brain has changed. This Frontline video tells the story.
Engagement was a second theme. Here, we’re taking a hard look in the mirror and asking ourselves, “Self, are you reaching out to the next generation?” Are you asking them for their input? Plugging them into projects and initiatives on their terms? Meeting them where they are?
For most of us, the answer is No. All people carry a first-person sense of importance. We all believe, for example, that we’re above average (That’s a statistical impossibility, if you just think about what ‘average’ means). Most of us think that the way we do things is the right way. C’mon, admit it - you prefer that your spouse/partner, kids, co-workers, etc. do things YOUR way. But this my-way-or-the-highway approach to engaging talent often results in Option B: the highway. Educated, skilled young people can live and work anywhere. So if you’re demanding that they live, volunteer, work, and contribute on your terms, they may take a one way ticket out of town.
Now imagine the torrent of energy, ideas, passion, and innovation you would unfurl in your communities if you reached out to the next generation on their terms and asked for their input, advice, ideas, and elbow grease?
Despite what you read in the media about slackers, the next generation is aching to be engaged. We know: we talk to hundreds of them every week. For the blessed few who live in ecosystems where their input is valued, their contributions are welcomed, and their leaders are malleable enough to meet them on their terms, the results are overwhelming.
In Oklahoma, a land rated by the EPA as number one in the country for the number of living ecosystems, there is an ecosystem of leaders asking the right questions and casting a long-term vision. That’s something that’s right in OK.
