I’ve spent many hours writing a guest post for one of my favorite bloggers - Akhila Kolisetty. Join us for some great discussions over on her blog.
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I live and study in Waterloo, ON, where the blackberry was invented. The city was recognized as being the world’s Top Intelligent Community in 2007 and University of Waterloo was the only Canadian university that Bill Gates visited. I’m proud to be part of this community and am always excited to see the talents around me: Kunal Gupta, Ray Cao, Jackie Lee, all gone onto the entrepreneurial path and are building successful start-ups.
Then I discovered Brazen Careerist earlier this year and the talents I saw around me grew exponentially. It didn’t take long to identify who the popular bloggers were, just to name a few off my head: Penelope Trunk, Rebecca Thorman, Jamie Varon, Jun Loayza, all made a name for themselves by blogging about their journey of building/working for startups, or giving personal branding/career advices to the generation Y.
When I look at these people in both my offline and online worlds, I can’t help but wonder, how much good they could do for the world if they were willing to devote more time in building solutions for the betterment of the world. These people have the potential, the energy, the drive, the talent, the passion – basically all the ingredients required for success – both their own and the causes they dedicate themselves to.
So much time has been spent writing about personal branding vs. personal blogging, success vs. happiness, work/life balance, getting the perfect job, earning your first million… It’s not my intention to offend anyone, but sometimes I feel we are all living in this bubble. I mean, I love social media and I have met some really great people because of it. But more and more I feel there’s a disconnection between this twitter world and the real world. What about the homeless? What about poverty? What about human rights? Some Gen Y bloggers write about social issues, but even then we’re really just sitting in front of the computer writing. How often do we actually get right down to being fully present with the people and try to understand what they’re going through? I think we prioritize weird. I feel we need to get out of this bubble, re-connect with other human beings, and look at what is happening in the world.
The thing is, I know people care. When I talk to them or read their blogs, they have all expressed interests at one point or another about eventually “wanting to make a difference in the world”, but not until they’ve “made it big“. It doesn’t work that way. You can’t contribute unless you understand. You can’t understand unless you’re fully in it, every step of the way. Impact isn’t only measured by the amount of money you can donate, it’s more complex than that. Legacy isn’t defined by the size of your company, it’s by the number of lives you have truly touched and made a difference in. It’s not “one day”, it’s “starting now”.
What about trying the 80/20 Google rule? Dedicate 80% of your time and effort to your for-profit ventures, and leave 20% to work on a social business? Or pick a local non-profit, and volunteer your time to educate them about social media, help re-design their websites, or mentor social entrepreneurs on how to build their startups as successfully as yours. Maybe we can collectively put together a We 2.0 book? Better yet, get off Twitter for a day and talk to people you normally wouldn’t talk to. Spend a weekend volunteering at a local women’s center/soup kitchen and witness the realities of many people’s lives.
So many talented people with so much to offer. We need a better way to harness the creativity and talent we have in the Gen Y blogsphere to create social change and push for a better world. Why is it not happening?
