3. BYT in 2014. No-one was spared the pinch in the early nineties as companies downsized, restructured and re-engineered themselves in South Africa. Even if you didn’t get the chop, you had the safety net lurched from under your feet as organizations effectively disavowed their obligations to employees with respect to job security. The result was a paradigm shift for employees who now had to fend for themselves, take responsibility for their own security and somehow redefine career success... and they did. A new generation of workers who’ve known nothing else but tumultuous change and a fluctuating business environment – not only survived the season of uncertainty, they thrived in it. Now they lead the charge in the rising tide of the Free Agent mindset, that simply implies no matter what you do today, you run at least one business – Me Inc. As we surge forward into the next decade there are clear indicators that as a result of Free Agency, employment models are changing, as are the employer-employee relationships. Hierarchical systems are being replaced by a free market which is good news for our economy. Free Markets are very efficient, and produce more effective outcomes than the slow moving rigid Feudal systems of yesteryear. Above all, in a Free Market talent is the priceless trading currency, a currency that South Africa’s loaded with. In the midst of an unpredictable climate, an undisputable fact rings true – talent is the number one asset of any organization, and if we’re to survive, we’d better win the Talent Contest by attracting, recruiting and retaining our Bright Young Things. What things? A new generation of recruits who were shaped by the very same forces that shaped the economic, social and political environment we’re currently in. The oldest of them are now in their early thirties... Generation X – a much berated, and little understood troupe of individuals, whose worldview and value system developed in an age of ambiguity. On the outside they’ve been dismissed as disloyal and ambitious, but scratch below the surface and there’s treasure to be found. They’re flexible and adaptable, not only rolling with the punches of transformation without missing a beat – but bringing about revolution to the tried and tested methods of a bygone era that are moot in a rapidly advancing world. They’re fiercely independent and entrepreneurial, out of the box thinkers who will challenge the status quo and be the perpetual acid test that will hone & sharpen everything they touch. They’ve lived through the barrage of data that the information era has dumped on its unsuspecting victims and learned to sift the wheat from the chaff. Within a team they’re individualistic – thinking and processing differently to those around them, celebrating diversity and the great advantage of understanding issues in a different light from their cohorts, “like the many colours of a rainbow” an Archbishop once said. These Bright Young things have a hunger for lifelong learning, for acquiring relevant skills geared to the times, a desire to be more useful as opposed to just qualified. If unemployment is not a job shortage but a lack of relevant skills, then an educated guess would assume the remedy is rippling up through the ranks as we speak. They adhere to the mantra of “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough” and are fast doing away with the lethargic pay-your-dues & climb-the-corporate-ladder mentality that quells innovation and stifles initiative. But the greatest quality that we can attribute to tomorrows bright young things, is a yearning for significance - an overriding ambition to make a difference in this world. Their focal point is less on a quantifiable bottom line and more on impacting people. Their success is no longer measured in Rands and Cents but in a meaningful contribution to society. It was Einstein who said: “Try not to become a man of success, try rather to become a man of value,” and Emerson echoed those sentiments with his turn of phrase ... “to know that one person has breathed easier because I have lived, this is the meaning of success.” We’re seeing the tangible evidence of this generous mindset as volunteerism soars amongst a generation that cannot survive without a sense of meaning in everything they do. In a country battered and bruised by the legacy of disrespect – where the failure to uphold the dignity of one life, ended in calamity for an entire nation, there’s renewed hope. Hope that’s birthed in a new generation’s attitude toward their fellow countrymen and their inherent hankering to move from success to significance. Dr. Michael Mol | 2004