The Generation M Manifesto

Umair Haque schrijft geregeld een blog voor Harvard Business. Zijn Generation M Manifesto van begin juli trok mijn aandacht. De tekst verdient het om gelezen te worden.

Ik herneem niet de volledige tekst, je kan hem hier vinden.

Dear Old People Who Run the World,

My generation would like to break up with you.

Everyday, I see a widening gap in how you and we understand the world — and what we want from it. I think we have irreconcilable differences.

You wanted big, fat, lazy "business." We want small, responsive, micro-scale commerce.

You turned politics into a dirty word. We want authentic, deep democracy — everywhere.

You wanted financial fundamentalism. We want an economics that makes sense for people — not just banks.

You wanted shareholder value — built by tough-guy CEOs. We want real value, built by people with character, dignity, and courage.

You wanted an invisible hand — it became a digital hand. Today's markets are those where the majority of trades are done literally robotically. We want a visible handshake: to trust and to be trusted.

You wanted growth — faster. We want to slow down — so we can become better.

You didn't care which communities were capsized, or which lives were sunk. We want a rising tide that lifts all boats.

You wanted to biggie size life: McMansions, Hummers, and McFood. We want to humanize life.

You wanted exurbs, sprawl, and gated anti-communities. We want a society built on authentic community.

You wanted more money, credit and leverage — to consume ravenously. We want to be great at doing stuff that matters.

You sacrificed the meaningful for the material: you sold out the very things that made us great for trivial gewgaws, trinkets, and gadgets. We're not for sale: we're learning to once again do what is meaningful.

Waarom M ? Uiteraard in het Engels :

What do the "M"s in Generation M stand for? The first is for a movement. It's a little bit about age — but mostly about a growing number of people who are acting very differently. They are doing meaningful stuff that matters the most. Those are the second, third, and fourth "M"s.

Ik hoop van harte dat de Generation M een kans krijgt. De superbonussen die opnieuw betaald worden doen me twijfelen. Hoewel, soms denk ik dat die aberraties vanzelf zullen uitsterven. Zoals de rokers van een sigaret vandaag ook met de rug worden aangekeken (ik ben 21 jaar geleden gestopt...)

---

Misschien vind je de volgende teksten ook interessant :

• Sarkozy
• Lessen uit de crisis
• Zingeving via consumeren
• Gezondheidszorg en onderwijs