Millennial (not just Boomer) demands are creating new business opportunities
Posted On March 9, 2014
Aging Baby Boomers who don’t want to take on the typical retirement stereotypes have created demand for new businesses aimed at helping them address their AARP years in a whole new way. On the flip side of business, some Millennials are recognizing that their unique way of navigating the workforce demands some new ways of looking at business. Dan Friedman, the millennial founder of one such business, Thinkful, recently shared his perspective in Business Insider. In an nutshell, Friedman proposes that the loss of expectations for meaningful employee-employer loyalty has created a professional learning gap for today’s young workers. More companies are offering less professional development because employees don’t stay around long enough for it to be considered a good investment.
Friedman’s solution is to create a non-collegiate learning platform that allows young professionals to get the workplace development they want on their terms, regardless of employer involvement. Which, when you think about it, a very Millennial approach: my way, right away, for my benefit. And it would be easy to get cynical about that, except for that pesky truth about diminished professional development at many companies and the incredibly shrinking tenure.
In the chicken-egg discussion that is generations in the workplace one might ask whether such a solution is only fueling the problem, but that isn’t going to get you very far. The more interesting discussion, in my view, is this: what other businesses may develop in response to changing demands from this youngest workforce? So much attention is paid to what the Boomers may need (and they tend to have the finances to support entrepreneurs, so this makes sense), but their offspring have some high needs, too. Kudos to Friedman for seeing a distinct trend and creating a business opportunity for himself that may well be an opportunity for business overall.