Do you embrace instability? Are you someone that finds joy in resetting your career? Do you challenge business assumptions? Are you able to acquire new skills? If the answer is yes, you just may be a part of Generation Flux.
Generation Flux is a mind-set; it defines an attitude and behavior. Think of it as a way to psychographically categorize individuals. Traditional demographic categories would have us group people by race, ethnicity, age, income level, gender - the list of characteristics is seemingly endless.
Nearly midway through the first month of 2012,
Fast Company offers some terrific food for thought that aligns with the resolution mind set that we often have at the start of a new year - to embrace the chaos and uncertainty around us and
join Generation Flux. Granted, not everyone is wired to do this. That's ok. For those that are, what's stopping you?
Fast Company's Robert Safian identifies some that embody Generation Flux including
Mashable's CEO
Pete Cashmore;
Raina Kumra, Co- director of Innovation, Broadcasting Board of Governors;
Bob Greenberg, CEO & Founder of R/GA;
DJ Patil, Data Scientist, Greylock Partners;
Beth Comstock, Chief Marketing Officer, GE;
danah boyd, Sr Researcher at Microsoft Research; and
Baratunde Thurston, Director of Digital at The Onion. Trust us, their full page profiles are well worth the read and would seem to fly in the face of Safian's comments that there are 'no perfect role models'. Want to see the embodiment of Generation Flux? Read the profiles. Membership in Generation Flux is not linked to age, gender or industry.
In describing the future of business, Safian outlines some interesting mantras that are pretty powerful on their own. When you consider them in the context of Generation Flux, imagine the possibilities:
The New Economy is For Real
You Don't Know What You Don't Know
Be Not Afraid
Nuke Nostalgia
There Are No Perfect Role Models
Safian's
article gives us much to ponder and strive for in 2012. Be open. Embrace the chaos. Adapt to change (yes, he even gives a shoutout to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection).
Good food for thought.
Reference
Safian, R. (2011, January 9). This is generation flux: Meet the pioneers of the new (and chaotic) future of business. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://www.fastcompany.com