Every generation thinks the next one has it wrong. I only half agree. The generation before me was taught to work hard. Mine was taught to work hard at something you love. The new one wants to work smart, and work has to serve them. Honestly, I think that's great.
But hiring shows you the gap. A UK survey this summer found just 6% of managers think young recruits are ready for work, while 45% of the young people think they are. When young hires fail probation or stall, managers blame a lack of motivation and resilience first.
Resilience gets built in the hardest moments. My first job, I had to speak a language I didn't really speak, wear a uniform that was embarrassing, and do something I'd never done before. It was frustrating and, quite frankly, it sucked. My second gig was gardening. 40-degree heat, barren desert, soil as hard as rock. It was incredibly hard, and a full day's work paid me enough for two vinyl records. It wasn't glamorous, but it built resilience.
Sometimes the work sucks. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes the outcome is shit. All of it builds the person you can become, if you use it.
No entrepreneur I know made it first time, not counting the ones whose seed round came from the family bank account. The founders of the fastest-growing US startups are 45 on average. That's a lot of hard bits before the breakthrough. Working smart is learning the thing, getting good at the thing, then using your experience to your advantage.
As Louis Pasteur put it in 1854, "Chance favours only the prepared mind."
🎵 Donna Summer — She Works Hard for the Money Written for Onetta Johnson, a restroom attendant working two jobs to get by. Summer put her on the album's back cover. Full playlist and archive at niccjohnson.com/drop.