Today I felt inspired. This isn’t necessarily an unusual occurance. I am blessed to have inspirational parents, students I work with, clients, friends, fellow coaches, other associates and via varying networks as well as Twitter, a veritable plethora of amaaaazing (yes… amaaaazing) entrepreneurs of all ages who do incredible, inspirational work every day. Today’s inspiration however came from a group of 5 boys from Orlando – under the age of 18. Yup, although not yet of voting age, the group known as “Limitless” (no relation!) has created their own version of a “Yes We Can” election video, in support of Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign. These boys do not yet have the right to vote… but they are so throughly engaged with their country’s political process and indeed their support for the current president, that they took the time to do their bit to let the world know it. So is there an ulterior motive? The cynics in you will note that these boys are trying to raise money for band equipment and are selling Obama re-election t-shirts that they have designed but in my eyes, this is only to be applauded. Entrepreneurship should be encouraged at any time, and especially when the state of the economy means that unemployment figures have the potential to be more and more discouraging… and entrepreneurship in the name of something you passionately agree with deserves a standing ovation. My verdict? Nothing but congratulations to Limitless from Orlando who not only will hopefully raise the money for their group / band as they initially aimed, but will also engage people, whatever their political inclination,...
My heart dropped recently when I recently heard a careers advisor speak to a room full of students. Not the act of speaking to the students – clearly careers advice in itself in an excellent and much needed practice so I am encouraged when careers professionals are deemed an integral part of student development, however, what got me down was what I took away as the lasting message. After some perfectly adequate and relevant information delivery – the advisor said “and as you can see from the most recent unemployment statistics, there are over 1 million people out of work. It is hard to get a job.” What’s the problem with that statement you ask? Valid question I suppose. After all, November ONS figures highlight that UK unemployment rose by 129,000 in the three months to September to 2.62 million, as youth unemployment rose above a million. As the BBC reported, the jobless total for 16 to 24-year-olds hit a record of 1.02 million in the quarter and female unemployment was at its highest for 23 years. The the jobless rate hit 8.3%. While the facts speak for themselves, what made my heart sink was the fact that this information was presented as a foregone conclusion to the students in the room. The context of that statement was that it was presented in isolation. No following words of encouragement about why its therefore exceptionally important to focus on developing yourself etc. None. This approach unsettled me. Yes these statistics are a verified reflection of the current climate – but they are not an indication of anyone’s fate and should...
Recent Comments