live more leadership

I had lunch yesterday with a pretty amazing GenX. Yes, he is another engineer, but he dreams of changing the school system so that personal development gets as big a play as chemistry or physics. Of course, he pointed out that this dream would never happen because he thought it improbable that Obama was going to call him up to revise national curriculum standards. Alas, this made me think of some pretty (non) amazing thing about our generation.

1. The oh so defeating habit of black and white thinking. The way he was seeing it was either (A) Obama calls or (B) there is nothing to be done. This kind of thinking is common, not only among GenX. But I think in our case it may just be somewhat conveniently self-defeating. We manage to make the dream side of the equation so overwhelmingly huge and impossible, that we can’t help but choose not to pursue it. Of course, in reality, there are all sorts of shades of gray. Because he’s right – Obama is not going to call.

2. We are constantly cutting ourselves off at the knees. There is something about the “practical” tendencies of GenX that can really get in the way of being clear about what we want. We are so busy arranging and modifying what we want based on what we think is possible, that it is hard to remember what we were wanting in the first place. I am not a believer that everyone can live their passion or dream exactly how they want it (and still make a living). But, I do think there is something to be said for actually being clear on what you want.

3. We could learn a lot from GenY. Needless to say, there are many things they could learn from us. But, one thing they’ve got down is they being clear on what they like and want. Perhaps it’s because they’ve been declaring their preferences online since they were kids, or because they grew up in a child-centric world, but I just don’t see the same tendency to let practicality get in the way of their passion. They are frankly much worse at faking interest in things they aren’t interested in, whereas we have a pretty easy time focusing on assimilating skills that are marketable, whether or not we find them personally interesting or fulfilling. There is something really pure about that aspect of GenY – aside from making for a lot of highly entertaining YouTube Videos it also creates a lot of possibilities for change in the world.

It all made me think about the words of Byron Katie “Who would you be without your story?” Who would we be without our story? This story we have about being powerless and unable to create the changes we want to see in the world. What would the world be like without our story?

As for my friend, he did end up envisioning all sorts of possibilities that were not so far beyond his reach. Which is a good thing, because the world needs us and our ideas. If you dropped your story, how would you be changing the world?