Overheard in the pizzeria: Pre-adolescent business

I think you're missing something: it's not *just* those kids. It's everyone that's connected.

A couple of years ago I wrote about my experience teaching a non-metropolitan Chinese gold farmer trying to work inside Second Life some of the not-so-obvious things about capitalism. Similarly I've taught a number of baby-boomers the same things; many Westerners don't really know how capitalism works. They've lived their lives inside a corporate cocoon, safe from the real world.

DSo I'd say, don't ask "How can BusinessWeek reach this generation". Instead, ask how BusinessWeek can reach the newly-enlightened masses that exist across all generations. It may well mean that you need to target sub-groups, but you may find that those groups are, in fact, not defined by their age or their generation.

csven makes an excellent point. While I'm only months over 40, I am turned off by the marketing assumption that the demographic "40+" neither plays games online or offline, likes cool gadgets and clever design etc etc.

People are living longer so interests have begun to be seen to span generations. How do we slice and dice the "online" demographic; by what sensible metrics can they be reached?

Uhhh...

I've got a place for you to start. Open up your content. Let people link to stories.

I love the magazine, I hate your policies that seem so 1997.

I've also noticed that kids are so much more saavy than kids were, say, 20 years ago.

Shalom Stephen,

Good questions. One of the questions I'd like to ask is did any of those 7th graders know what Google had done to enable it to pay that kind of money for YouTube? Another question would be, do they understand why there aren't hundreds of others out there duplicating the Google phenomena?

My guess, based mostly on my teaching experience, is that they don't know. And I'd also guess that their grasp of the math involved would be sketchy at best.

I think that teaching business math as a parallel track to science/engineering math would be a wise investment. Perhaps that's something BusinessWeek might get involved with.

B'shalom,

Jeff

Interesting to think about. In one sense everyone is more virtually connected, as you described. From another perspective, are kids today as physically connected to the biz world? Or, does gaming, social networks, virtual worlds, etc. mean they aren't shoveling driveways, mowing lawns, buying/selling/trading baseball cards, delivering newspapers, etc. to directly learn about the biz world from the inside out? If so, maybe they learn more from the virtual connection regardless?

Well, I have to wonder how the kids are doing in ethics class. I hope they'll do better than many of their predecessors.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Hi Stephen,
I just found your blog today (even though my wife is a subscriber of your print magazine), maybe that says something.

BTW I found you via Ze Frank - hows that for circular.

Anyway, if you want to reach out to an alternative network how about both of you come and speak (as well as listen) at www.BarCampUSA.org in Wisconsin in August.

With 5000+ geeks there it will certainly be a fertile ground for discussions.

Cheers,
Dean
www.collins.net.pr/blog

I think, firstly, you need to understand that their world IS online and computers. It's not so much that they know about business, as what they know about their on-line lifestyle. Google is something they've always known about, youtube is a part of their social lifestyle etc.

I don't think they know much about business, I think they just have a different social network to what you may have had than them. Being a 20 something, I think I may be able to talk from some experience.

However, business is a normal thing for these kids when, maybe, music and vietnam or that kind of thing was your normality. The world runs more on economics these days, and so kids are into it. I think, though, if you want to reach that generation you need to come from a social perspective (ie, provide social tools) that will allow them to link into business. Myspace and Youtube are all social tools.

The truth about these kids is that, hopefully, they will be grown up in a world where corporate controls less and community controls more. This is the kind of world they are growing up in – social networks, community ideas, information and opinions available to them. It's excellent. I am personally hoping to see more home business develop, and the power of the economy back in the hands of community and not corporate.

That's not a communist ideal, it's probably a truly democratic one.

I perfectly understand how and what you felt on that day you saw and heard those kids. I myself is also amazed about advancements in terms of thoughts and ideas the recent generation has. For instance, the WWW never ceases to surprise me. Every time I open a list of resumes and the likes about people owning the best online business in the world I can’t help but feel envious. I regret staying in school until I finished my post-grad degree when the resumes of these billionaires say that they didn’t even finish college. What an irony! Is this the end for schools or universities? Tell me or I might end up setting up a home school for my kids.

Thanks for very interesting Article.

The truth about these kids is that, hopefully, they will be grown up in a world where corporate controls less and community controls more. This is the kind of world they are growing up in – social networks, community ideas, information and opinions available to them. It's excellent. I am personally hoping to see more home business develop, and the power of the economy back in the hands of community and not corporate.