“I want to say one word to you, just one word. Are you listening?”
“Yes, I am”
“Plastics.“
In just :58 this scene summarized the angst of a generation. But what if Ben had actually used this insight? Plastics indeed were the future, and it didn’t take a crystal ball to see it.
By now, we all know the rationale:
- Millennials are a bigger cohort than the Boomers. They have massive aggregated spending power that will grow and grow over time.
- Millennials have disproportionate cultural influence, what they like, we all like sooner or later.
- Millennials think differently. They want different things and that means they will spend differently.
My question is, how do we take advantage of these insights right now?
- What are the future needs your business can be planning for today?
- What businesses are worth investing in now?
- What skills will your company need tomorrow?
- If you are a Millennial yourself, which industries will offer the greatest growth opportunities?
I am concerned that many companies are not doing enough to answer these questions. Seeing the future is difficult. Extrapolating current trends is not.
One company that decided to embrace the Millennial future 6 years ago is Chicago caterer, Tom Walter of Tasty Catering. According to Walter, ‘fighting fire with fire’ was one of the wisest decisions he’s made. Here is how he described the situation and results to BNET (“Handing Over My Company to Millennials Helped It Grow”).
Six years ago we did something radical (for us): We decided to skip a generation and hand the reins over to the youngest employees in the office, the Millennials. And we’ve never looked back. Last year, at a time when much of the catering industry was struggling, we turned a profit from annual revenue of $5.3 million. We have better name recognition, better internal communication and we’ve developed a much stronger corporate culture — all because we looked to the next generation.
Boomers don’t make corporate catering decisions anymore — their administrative assistants do, who are more often than not Millennials. Once we figured out that the demographics of our core customers had changed, we did what any self-respecting business owners would do — we went out and found the expertise that we were lacking.
This course may not be for everyone, but Walters is clearly on to something. If the future belongs to Millennials, including them in decisions now can provide a competitive edge. Another, more direct approach, is to invest directly in Millennial talent that’s already in the family. According to this article, “Investing in the Family”, many parents are providing their Gen Y offspring with the backing required to start their own businesses.
