The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Some words of advice for the ‘significant generation’
As a new class of college graduates is handed their diplomas in the coming weeks, they also are being handed challenges as important as any we’ve seen in our history.
Democracy is being threatened by populism, nationalism, and the rise of authoritarian leaders.
Cooperation and collaboration are being diminished by partisanship.
The truth itself is under attack by fake news and people’s rejection of mainstream media.
At six years old, I cut school so I could watch John F. Kennedy’s inauguration on TV, during which he issued his now-classic call to action: “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
JFK’s challenge is more relevant than ever — but I believe that today’s graduates need a new way to answer it.
Like so many of my generation, I wanted to answer his call.
When I was 13, I wrote to JFK’s brother, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and told him of my desire to enter public service.
He wrote me back and said, “What will matter most is the consistent interest in making a contribution to the fulfillment of our highest national goals.”
I never forgot his words — but I didn’t go into public service.
I went into my family’s public relations business believing that I could make a difference through our work.
And I’m proud of what our firm has accomplished over the years, from leading the communications campaign to get the Vietnam Veterans Memorial built, to working with CVS on its decision to stop selling cigarettes, to providing pro-bono counsel to Orlando after the 2016 nightclub shooting.
This is the lesson I learned from my parents: Public service should be built into our work and our lives, not something approached separately.
This new generation’s early years have been particularly trying.
Many of them were children on 9/11, teenagers when the Great Recession hit 10 years ago.
Their parents may have lost their homes or their jobs.
During their childhoods, financial stability became more fragile, and people lost confidence in the American Dream.
The combination of these forces led to the world of today: less tolerant and open, more fearful for our security and suspicious of outsiders, a retreat into tribes.
The current situation is urgent, and we must ask our young people to help turn it around.
Marketers call them PostMillennials, Generation Z or Digital Natives. I propose a new name: “The Significant Generation.”
The women and men of this generation can have influence — publicly and privately.
But they have a choice to make: Just go to work or make their work a force for change. They can be significant.
This is what I told graduates at Sacred Heart University in Bridgeport on Saturday:
⏩ If business is your destination, you must push your company to lead on social problems and form a compact with the public on issues like sustainability, data and privacy, gender equity, and the impact of technology.
⏩ Government needs you more than ever to help rejuvenate the institution so that voters will believe again in their leaders as honest and reliable public servants. Commit to effectiveness and transparency; work across political parties and in tandem with business.
⏩ If media is your calling, we need fair and balanced reporting that will educate and inform. This is how we fight the plague of fake news.
For non-profit work, realize that NGOs should focus not on criticism but on solutions. Solve our sustainability issues, further international understanding, be the champion of the underserved – and be open to partnering with business. Whatever you do, aspire to something great for yourself—and great for society.
The Significant Generation can begin their work here in Connecticut.
This state needs them. Hartford is one of the poorest cities in America. In recent years, Connecticut has hemorrhaged the headquarters of longestablished businesses, such as GE and MassMutual, and Aetna is now threatening to leave Hartford.
Between 2015 and 2016, nearly 40,000 people left this state—and nearly 8,000 of them were young people.
We must encourage the young people of Connecticut to stay, to start a business or establish a tech startup.
This state currently has a 12-to-15 percent gap in four-year high school graduation rates between white students, and black and Hispanic students — teaching or mentoring could help narrow that divide.
We must remind the new graduates to trust one another.
The future is open to all, but no one can go it alone.
Most of all, we must inspire them to be significant.
This new generation’s early years have been particularly trying.