Ronnie Nurss

I have been pretty busy, mostly productive though, during my first weeks of summer. I have experienced some new things and met some very influential and interesting people so far. Just recently, I was invited to serve on a Generation Y expert panel by P.K. Agarwal, the Director of DTS for the State of California.

PK also gives speeches and seminars about current trends, and this years trend was understanding the next generation coming into the workforce; Generation Y. He educates people around the country about Generation Y and the tools we use (Web 2.0, social networking, etc), and how it will drastically change the workforce. It was a fun experience and pretty interesting, and plus, free food is always a bonus!

At the presentation, I served on a panel which was asked questions by the audience following PK’s speech and power point. For this specific event, the audience consisted mostly of IT Managers and employees of th State of California. The majority of the audience were Baby Boomers as well as a few Generation X. Most of the questions were directed at the differences between the mindsets and attitudes of Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y, and the possible conflicts that could arise in the workplace. Glenn at Globalized observes this in his recent post here.

Some specific questions or possible conflicts that the audience seemed to be most interested in were about Collaboration in the workplace and online, Gen Y and flexibility in the workplace, Feedback from Managers, and the how positive and negative qualities of Baby Boomers will collide with positive and negative qualities of Gen Y. Over the course of this week and next, I will present the questions asked and my answers to them.

According to the article, “Task, not Time: Profile of a Gen Y job”, by Tamara J. Erickson, the Gen Y workers are challenging the traditional 40-hour workweek or eight hour day and rather be compensated for what they produce, not the time they put in.

Many Generation Y workers find themselves with the ability and preference of completing tasks faster and with more flexibility. With supreme technological proficiency skills compared to older workers, we as a generation would much rather achieve the work as efficient as possible, without any unnecessary hours spent in the office. With the ideal to work “asynchronously” - anytime, anywhere, Gen Y workers, along with many other factors involved, are changing and shifting away from the traditional 9-5 Monday through Friday workweek, and companies are taking notice.

There is proof of this trend being beneficial to companies, such as IBM and Best Buy. The article states that 40% of IBM have no official office, and Best Buy has reported better relationships with family and friends, more company loyalty, and more focus and energy from choosing their own hours to work as opposed to the traditional 9-5. Summing this up, Gen Y workers are finding new ways to be efficient and are ultimately pushing the idea of “Task, not Time”.

As a generation Y kid myself, am more drawn to using efficient tools to accomplish tasks, as opposed to having to come in and not leave til a certain time, not being as productive as I could. After reading the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, I was officially programmed to pursue the freedom and flexibility to accomplish task as effiecient as possible. Now, besides working 2 shifts at a gym that allows me to read or do homework (free membership too), my other part time job is marketing and public relations for a restaurant, where I accomplish tasks from home and record my hours based on the honor system. I work Fridays usually 10am to 3pm, where I actually come in, but I am constant pushing for more efficient ways of working, like communication more through email as opposed to phone.

With this trend in mind, do you support this new shift of production in the workplace, or would you feel more comfortable in a traditional 9-5 work setting? If you support this trend, I highly recommend to study the 4-Hour Workweek, Parkinson’s Laws, and the 80/20 Principle, and practice utilizing these tools to be productive and efficient, not busy.

Read an interesting article from the Harvard Business Review courtesy of my college. Focusing on trends on the business horizon, international travel is expected to double, from 800 million international visits in 2008 to 1.6 billion visits in the year 2020. Looking at the economics of this trend, there can be only so many people that can visit museums or enjoy a beach. The demand for traveling to popular destinations will create a scarcity of place, according to the article.

The article gives 3 probable market responses: First, as demand will skyrocket past supply, tourism relate costs will rise dramatically, from hotel rooms in world cities to even taxis and airplane availability. There will soon be scalpers not just for sporting events and concerts, but soon for airline tickets and passes to museums or parks. Government will also control demand by putting taxes on travel to destinations. One example is the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, as more and more people coming to visit, the trend is impacting the ecosystem, which is leading to talks of raising parks entrance fee or restricting visitors, which leads to second…. Wait lists.

Expect to be on wait list for months, even years, before you can travel to popular destinations. With these wait lists forming, leading to number three, you can expect the creation of new destinations, more like replications of the wait listed places. For example, China is currently developing islands like Macao to rival Hawaii. You see it here in America, with casinos popping up in major cities, or the Indian casinos here in California, drawing business away from Las Vegas.

As scarcity of popular travel destinations around the world grows, there will be tons of opportunity to profit from the ever growing demand. I found this particular trend very interesting, and I am going to try and discover trends similar to world travel in the future. For instance, like the summer Olympics in Beijing this summer, I am going to look at investment opportunities in South Africa for preparation of World Cup 2010, perhaps the biggest sporting event in the world.

Any opportunities that you recognize or can think of with this trend in mind?