The Hidden Movement of Gen Z
Transcriber: Yu Wadi Khin
Reviewer: Simona Donda
(Tune)
So, many of you in the audience today
are in your middle or high school years.
And I remember when I was your age,
I started to ask the questions,
“Who am I and what am I capable of?”
And as I got older and I went to college,
was started to become more collaborative,
those questions never really went away.
But they started to become:
“Who are we and what are we capable of?”
Well, we are Generation Z,
a multifaceted,
driven group of individuals
who have used technology,
hyperconnectivity
and instant access to information
to accomplish two really unique things.
First, innovative thoughts
sparked by teenagers
no longer have to be filtered
through another generation’s prism
in order to serve the public interest.
And second, we’ve been exposed
to a multitude of identities,
attitudes and perspectives.
And our generation
has taken these two things:
the ability to have and execute
our own ideas
and the inclusion of thoughts
and cultures;
and combine them to create
diverse frameworks,
in which we can problem solve within
and find unique solutions
to complex issues.
And today, I want to talk about
one of those issues,
Capitalism and how our generation
is not only at the forefront
of calling out this flawed system,
but has already begun to implement
creative solutions,
addressing the massive inequality
caused by it.
Now, the problem of rising
inequality around the globe
is really due to wealth concentration.
In 2017, it was announced
that eight people own more wealth
than the bottom half
of the entire world’s population.
- Eight people -
Now, it doesn’t matter what you believe
with regard to rewarding hard work.
This is simply not sustainable.
But, contrary to popular belief,
we didn’t end up here
because all rich people
are evil manipulators of a rigged system.
In reality,
it’s said our economic system
just works on their behalf.
What do I mean by that?
Well, wealth acts like a magnet
and the bigger the magnet,
the greater the pool.
And that’s how
our economic system is built.
But for poor people,
people with no magnet,
it’s really hard to attract anything.
And if you could somehow get a magnet,
it’s really hard to hold on to it.
Two hundred and fifty years ago,
when modern capitalism was formed,
we all started to preach
that free markets would regulate wealth
and this invisible force,
this invisible hand
would guarantee
we had competition in the economy
and we’d find this equilibrium
that would pay out
social benefits to everybody.
And many of us
grew up hearing that economic growth
is the rising tide that lifts all boats.
But that saying ignores the plight
of millions who are clinging on
to leaky rafts or have no boats at all.
This antiquated view of capitalism
offers no solutions
to the current economic problems we face.
Sure, capitalism has produced rapid
technological advancements,
but at the cost of massive inequality.
And if we really want to solve this,
we can’t just rely on philanthropic
initiatives and government programs.
We need to change the system itself.
So, how do we do that?
Well, first, we need to change
our understanding of human behavior.
Because right now we act
like everyone is personal gain seeking
and making the most money possible
is your ultimate goal.
And, we’ve structured incentives and
the system around accomplishing this goal.
And these incentives and the system
is enforcing behavior like greed,
exploitation and selfishness.
But we all know we would never raise
our kids to be intentionally selfish
because we aren’t capitalistic people
by nature.
We’re just real people.
And real people enjoy relationships
with other people.
And yes, sometimes we’re selfish,
but we’re just as often trusting,
caring and selfless, and yes,
we do work to make money for ourselves.
But also to help others
and better our society,
protect our environment
and spread happiness in the world.
But even though this is our reality,
we’re constantly told by business leaders,
government officials and economists that
the capitalistic person reigns supreme
and being selfish
is your most rational purpose.
And structure is purpose expressed
through design.
But with a flawed understanding
of our purpose,
we’re getting a flawed
design and structure,
we’re actually making it harder
for people to practice
the intrinsic selflessness
we inherently prefer.
So, we need a whole new way of thinking.
And, that’s where our generation comes in.
Because our generation has combined
our belief that our own well-being
is integrally related
to the well-being of others
with our unique problem solving skills,
and pretty much figured out that
instead of starting with capitalism
and asking, how do I redesign this thing?
We should start with human life
and all life on planet Earth.
And ask, how do we generate the conditions
for life’s flourishing?
And when we look at it
from this perspective,
two fundamental changes are necessary.
First, we need to embrace the concept
of social business.
A type of business that is literally
based off of selflessness.
A type of business that isn’t trying to
maximize profit in the short term.
But be self-sustaining over the long term.
A type of business that doesn’t fit
in the traditional categories
of for profit or non-profit.
But stands alone in its
own category for more than profit.
And second, we need to replace our
assumption that humans are job seekers.
With the truth that humans
are entrepreneurs.
That is, we want to follow our hearts,
passions in the creators of our future
and make money doing it.
Or individual pursuits of happiness
should not be thwarted by capitalism,
but rather augmented by the possibilities
our economic system provides.
And when we look at it
from this framework,
and our generation is combining
these two things;
social business and entrepreneurship,
and are becoming
the leaders of a new field,
social entrepreneurship,
a type of field in which you do try
and win a large piece of the pie.
But you should ensure
the winnings you collect are
distributed fairly and
the resources you collect are
used for a greater good.
Because traditional capitalism is good
for winning ideas to collect resources,
like startup capital.
But the way these resources
are dispersed into society
must have an element
that is socially conscious
and socially aware.
And when we look at it
from this framework,
we see a whole new world of possibility.
A world in which Gen Z entrepreneurs
on university campuses are advancing
renewable energies and technologies,
and forcing investors to pay attention.
Social impact investing
is rapidly growing.
And by doing this, we’re making capital
automatically flow
into the right direction.
As a social entrepreneur myself,
I am genuinely inspired every day
of what our generation is doing.
It’s a massive movement that for now
seems to be working discreetly
in the background, but soon enough
will be the revolution that capitalism
so desperately needs.
Instead of growing up fantasizing
about making our first million,
our generation is growing up
dreaming about how we’re going to help
a million people and social
entrepreneurship is proving that
if you can execute that,
you make millions doing it.
Because in the world
of social entrepreneurship,
money and numbers don’t lead.
They follow.
We need to go back to our intrinsic desire
to serve the community
as a way to feed the self.
And when we do that,
we will create a fair system.
And a fair system
is a more resilient system.
And guess what?
Thousands of people from around the world
have started to build this new
version of capitalism, for example,
in Bangladesh,
there’s a bank called Grameen Bank.
And, they operate entirely off of trust.
No collateral is needed.
You gotta prove credit worthiness.
You have to show them any documents.
And most of the borrowers are completely
illiterate or have no assets.
These borrowers are the women
of Bangladesh who previously
couldn’t participate and compete in
the financial markets,
the idea of lending money to
these women is ludicrous
and by conventional business standards,
impossible to sustain.
But today, Grameen Bank lends out
over two and a half
billion dollars per year
to nine million women
and enjoys a repayment rate of 98.96%.
This proves that we can’t put
all the blame on free markets.
It needs to go to something beyond that,
to the way we’ve interpreted
human behavior in capitalistic theory,
that’s the root cause.
Because right now
we’ve designed a system that restricts
who can compete to selfish people.
But if we can redesign it and allow
selflessness driven individuals as well,
the situation changes completely.
The old ways of addressing inequality
through charitable donations
and welfare programs
will not adequately address
the current economic disparities we face.
Our generation will solve it
by breaking away
from the traditional capitalistic mindset
and embracing selflessness
driven businesses.
And when we do that together
as a generation,
we actually will change this world.
And, if we all take the lead in solving
human problems, we won’t just slow down.
But this Nobel Peace Prize recipient,
Muhammad Yunus, says
“We will ultimately reverse the whole
process of wealth concentration.
And businesses are going to be
forced to allocate time,
money and resources into harnessing
the power of our selflessness
driven businesses.
And governments are going to be forced
to pass policies that facilitate
the creation and expansion
of our initiatives.
And as a result, the momentum for change,
led by Gen Z, will become unstoppable.
We will create a system that provides
equal opportunity for all.”
Thank you.