Entrepreneur Daily Meet the next generation of entrepreneurs

We put a 13-year-old entrepreneur on the cover of our September issue. (You can see more about her below.) Why? Yes, sure, it was to celebrate and inspire youthful achievement. But it was also a statement. Many people say the youth are lazy or entitled. They say “millennial” or “Gen Z” as if it’s an insult. And when they do, they partake in one of the world’s oldest traditions. “Self-admiring, emaciated fribbles” is how the young generation was described in 1771. “So full of self-conceit and admiration of their own dear self” is how a writer in 1853 put it. We dismiss today’s youth the same way you and I were once dismissed by those older than us. It was never true, what they said. Not once. And it’s not true now. You won’t get destroyed by the competitor you watch closely; you'll get destroyed by someone you never saw coming. Today’s youth are smart and inspired. They’ve learned from our mistakes. And if you ignore them, you do so at your own peril.

But this doesn’t have to be a competition. What I want most—and what we all need—is to have generations working together, learning from each other, and bettering all. We should all be mentors, celebrators, and champions of who’s coming next. All we have to do is shift perspective. Because, yeah, you could look at our cover and say, “There’s a 13-year-old girl on the cover of Entrepreneur.” Or you could just say, “There’s an entrepreneur on the cover of Entrepreneur.” Both are true, sure. But the second one is more useful for us all.

Jason Feifer
jfeifer@entrepreneur.com
@heyfeifer heyfeifer