My generation…
… holy moly, I never thought I’d be old enough to write those words. Let’s pause a moment to reflect on that before I begin again. Deep breath.
…most of my generation recalls what life before the Sept. 11 and how life changed dramatically and subsequently, though admittedly some of us were a little too young to remember it. We’re civil minded: we care about our neighbors. We check in with them on social media, use smartphones easier than pens, and find texting as comforting as a hug even though we know we’re a lot like primates grooming one another with technology. Our forefathers think we’re spoiled, but we’re just used to life that’s instantaneous. We grew up on microwave dinners, fast food and VCRs as babysitters. We don’t let life gel. We just hit buttons and get results. We’ve shaken the hell out of the workforce, even though we’re optimistic, engaged and team players. At our worst we’re Trophy Kids who are used to receiving awards just for showing up to practice and we’re bratty when we’re not rewarded instantly for existing; at best we’re a technologically savvy generation who has instant access to the world at our fingertips and we’re confident enough to navigate it and do it fast. So how are we going to receive education that will transform us, and the world around us, into entrepreneurs who solve an entirely new generation of problems? Most likely we’ll do it the way we operate in our world: through the Internet.
That’s why I enjoy so much when colleges and universities give us information in the exact way we digest it. I respect so much that the Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program through Syracuse University, Florida State University, UConn, Cornell and more offer Google Hangouts to chat with other entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship professors. I like how Standford University offers Youtube videos of their classes and lectures at Harvard.
I enjoy these programs because they’re free financially and only cost me my time, I can view them from the comfort of my office, and they’re communicating with me by speaking my language and meeting me right where I am on an educational, topical and financial level. They’re making business education available to the masses and it’s incredible.
This education mirrors my generation: its civil minded: they educate neighbors regardless of their ‘hood. I can reach out to them on social media. I can get a top ranked education on my smartphone. I can text them instead of picking up my pen. They catered to the fact that I’m admittedly spoiled and they’re giving me an instant education. I can go to class while I eat my microwave dinner, whip through the fast food line and I can use their lectures as fodder for my step children. Their lessons gel. I hit a button and I get instant educational results. It’s shaking the hell out of the educational system and they’re giving me real world opportunities to learn how to become even more engaged and an even better team player so why wouldn’t I be optimistic about that? The only part of me that doesn’t find it appealing is my inner Trophy Kid because I know I won’t receive a degree just for showing up to practice. So yeah, in that regard I’m a little bratty. But these institutions appeal to me: they’re tech savvy and they’ve given me at instant access to Ivy League and tier one educations and I am confident enough to learn in their classes even without being in their classes. I’m receiving my ongoing education in a transformational way so that I too can transform the world around me or at least a market segment of it.
About the Author
Named Top 100 Leaders by 2012 Magazine, Jasmine Grimm has been nominated for Central Penn Business Journal’s “Top 40 Under 40,” and The Lancaster Chamber’s ATHENA Award.
Jasmine founded Ruby, Inc. a personal styling business that teaches women how to dress for their body types and became a two-time nominee for Inc. Magazine’s Top 30 Under 30 Top Young Entrepreneurs in America. She won the 2013 SCORE Business Development Award, the won the Central Penn Business Journal’s Top 25 Women of Influence Award in 2013 and the 2013 Leadership Award from the MS Society.
She has been a popular guest lecturer at the Maastricht Institute of Entrepreneurship and has been featured in Under 30 CEO and Productive Magazine, was the cover story for Harrisburg Magazine and her writing has graced National Geographic Television and Film, Harvard University and more.
She’s a 5,3,8,3 on the Kolbe A Index and her strengths include input, relator, learner, responsibility and achievement.
For more information visit her Google + Page.