Monday, January 28, 2008

Shared Pathways: The Prioritization of Community

The Other Side of the Pillow - Official CoolPeopleCare.org Blog on 10/29/07 wrote about The Prioritization of Community

The post cites Penelope Trunk's column about, the importance of community for Generation Y, whom, as she notes, is sometimes known as the "Teamwork Generation." which lists five reasons why community matters to the next generation.

Most of the work I have done of which I believed would create the most benefit was done through teamwork, but despite that I see little of it being encouraged.

Sam Davidson provides his own contribution with his "Fountain of Youth: How to Communicate with Generation Y" presentation (You can download Sam's PowerPoint here.) and "How to Tell Your Story to Generation Y," post which discusses, "how the concepts of networking and influence are changing."

The most important point though that Sam makes is that:

Just because I spend 10 hours of my day in front of a computer doesn't mean I want to spend all my time there. As long as your event, volunteer opportunity or meeting is better than my online options, I'll shut down my laptop and come out. And ultimately, change still happens best when people meet face to face.

And so, perhaps now more than ever, Generation Y longs for communal experience. A lot of this is, as Trunk notes, because of how they grew up, what college was like, and the current values of this demographic. But it's also how change happens and how meaning is made.

I don't care what tools, bells and whistles the newest gadget promises. While it may be cool and while it may mean I can work better, I am still in search of meaning. I still want my life to matter. I still want to do something important.

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