My Account
Have you noticed how business has changed over the years and technology has become such an integral part of our lives and the way we communicate?
This has become our new normal, and a lot of business is done online, we use email, social media, and software to talk to each other. And while some fundamentals of business will always be important, such as building relationships with clients, giving great value and service and so on, we need to keep up with the changing landscape of business or we’ll get left behind.
This is where our young people have an important part to play. They are our future leaders, professionals, business owners, entrepreneurs and will have great influence on business in the years ahead.
I have had the privilege recently to be a guest lecturer at Massey University Business Bootcamp. This was in the recent school holidays and was open to Year 13 students from schools around NZ – these are dynamic smart young people who think creatively and are real problem solvers.
What also struck me is how they are very open to finding solutions, rather than focusing on a problem, and how they are learning the skills they need to apply this to business. I’ve also learned, that a lot of university students have set up online businesses to make a bit of money to help pay for their student fees. These entrepreneurial ways are becoming commonplace now, and can be valuable real world learning of how business operates on a smaller scale.
Some of the things I helped the students with was how to future proof their careers, the skills employers are looking for, work ethic, showing initiative, how to add value to a company and skills to help set them up for future employment.
Why is this important? Because they may be your future employees, and if you need staff, you may want to consider university students who are eager to learn and often have the technology knowledge to add value to your business. Young people can learn a lot from those of us who have been in business for many years. We have the experience, have been through good times and recessions, and know our products and industries.
However we can also learn a lot from them. It is inspiring and motivating to see clever young people who view the world differently and are shaping our businesses in New Zealand. So encourage those lemonade stands at the top of the drive, the paper runs, dog walking for the neighbours, babysitting or garage sales –little jobs like these teach the value of hard work and earning a dollar.
If the next generation has the balance of hard work, innovation, drive, technology and solution based thinking, we should be in good hands.
