Read the full transcript of Harry Beard’s talk titled “What Makes “Generation Z” So Different?” at TEDxAstonUniversity 2019 conference.
TRANSCRIPT:
Introduction
HARRY BEARD: Thank you very much. Leaders of the past would love to be in our shoes. Leaders of the past would love to have the opportunities that generations that have to live beyond the box.
Every generation has had individuals who live beyond the box, people who did things differently and subsequently changed the world, whether it be through music, running a business, or leading a movement, gripping change. These individuals transformed the way humans behave. Not many of us in this room would have lived through the groundbreaking events of the 20th century, but we live with and benefit from the changes they brought about, and I’m sure we all admire the works of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, how both they and the civil rights movement as a whole gripped the world, creating meaningful and lasting change.
They are just two examples of people who live beyond the box. So here’s a question for you. Can you imagine the impact leaders of the past would have had if they were born within Generation Z? Generation Z are the cohort born between 1995 to 2010.
We’ve become the first limitless generation, a generation who no longer need to create a full strategy in order to reach and influence thousands of people. We just create a tweet. Think of the power this holds.
The Limitless Generation
Every single Gen Zer has a platform with which they can voice their opinions and ideas. I mean, you only need to open your phone and you’ll probably find any one of your friends talking about a trending news topic as if they were some sort of expert. This concept alone takes our entire generation and puts us beyond the box.
Why? Well, because my parents grew up being told, you’ll be seen and not heard. Whereas I’m growing up in a generation where I can reach a thousand people like that. So instantly our generation is super different.
But what does this mean for a Gen Zer? Well, it means that for the first time ever, we are able to pursue our passions at any location at any time with any identity. But most importantly, to any uncapped level.
Transforming Music and Education
Let’s take a look at the world of music.
Firstly, learning music. It used to be super expensive. It leaves us without surprise that here in the UK, the Royal College of Music in London has the highest number of privately educated students of any university in the UK at 55.9%, which is staggering compared to the national average of 7%.
But this is changing. Now, education is more accessible than ever before. Who here hasn’t been educated by the School of YouTube free of charge? If you have a passion, you can pursue it.
Education and money is less of a restriction. But looking at music specifically, there are other seismic shifts that have caused the industry to change. For example, previously, if you’re looking to make a career out of music, you needed a label. It was a fundamental requirement. It required you to reach out to the right people to then have your music invested in.
Only then could you go out to the masses, where you would be hidden behind a PR team. They created your narrative. They pushed for you to have sets on TV and radio. They grew your following. You the artist were just a small cog in the machine. You were firmly positioned within the box.
But now? Now we’re seeing Gen Zers grow huge followings and gain huge success with their music from their bedroom. A bedroom that’s probably in their parents’ house. But these individuals aren’t just artists.
They’re lyricists, publishers, tour manager, PR team, backing vocals, bass guitar. They do it all. And they don’t even need to leave their bedroom.
So no longer are we just a small cog within a machine. We are the entire ecosystem in which the machine is placed. I’m sure we all have a dozen or so friends who regularly upload music to streaming sites, probably for fun.
What’s really interesting is out of those dozen, you’ve probably got two or three who receive tens of thousands of views. Which means that for the first time ever, a young person is able to derive an income from their passion. I mean, previously, if you were 16 and you wanted to make an income from music, let’s say, you’d have had to go busking on a street corner, practically begging for cash.
But now we don’t need to ask. Our passions, in this case music, are being seen by enough people to be deserving of an earning in its own right. And I want to reiterate, this is not uncommon.
Real-World Success Stories
One example would be a friend who has had a piece of music go platinum on a streaming site. And this has led to him winning a prestigious place at the world’s leading music school. He was just pursuing his passion, using the opportunities available to him, creating music in a niche area that he enjoyed listening to. And now he creates music on a professional basis.
But it’s not just in music where we are following our dreams and our dreams are subsequently gaining us a following. We’re seeing Gen Zers pursue modeling, acting, journalism, comedy, even athletics. And these are just some examples of passions and potential careers that Generation Z are pursuing while still in school.
Gen Z Entrepreneurs
But it goes beyond just careers or just making a bit of extra pocket money. Gen Zers are now even starting businesses.
Did you know that the cost of 10 business failures today is the same as one business failure 10 years ago? So the roadblocks for Gen Zers in terms of starting a business have been lifted.
One challenge that even I faced was, you look young, right? So people judge you based on what they see, not on what you say. They look at you and instantly write you off.
Because just by looking at you, they’re going to presume you have no real world experience, whatever that means. But Gen Zers now, thanks to online platforms, are able to show their passion and knowledge for a field without age discrimination. But it goes beyond that.
It’s not just how we look. It’s how we’re programmed. It’s not just the 2D, it’s the 3D. We are programmed so differently to any past generation. We are growing up super savvy. We are all marketing experts, and we’ve all been developing a personal brand from the minute we joined social media.
So what does this mean? Well, the new world has been moulding us into these mini trailblazers, and we don’t even realize it. Because to us, it’s all natural. So it probably leaves us without surprise that 70% of Gen Z when surveyed said they want to start their own business.
And statistically, 15% of them will do it before they leave high school.
Gen Z Activism
But the real amazement comes from those who are going beyond enterprise to even starting charities. Can you believe it? Young people starting charities.
Now, starting a charity is something which seems unimaginable. And securing government funding, that’s a different world away. But everywhere you look within Generation Z, there are young people doing it.
Every imaginable issue, a Gen Zer is running a campaign of some sort. Ocean plastic, mental health, animal rights. You name it, there’s a Gen Zer promoting and unifying the voice of young people.
But why are they doing it? Is it because for the first time ever, we’ve actually got a platform to voice our opinions? Or is it because for the first time ever, we are being brought up, told, you can do this. Voice your opinion. We want to hear what you think.
The Greta Thunberg Effect
So when we look at stories like Greta Thunberg, maybe we’re left without surprise that Greta Thunberg, a leading climate change activist who recently spoke to our MPs in the UK, calling for fast and real action, explained that Britain has an absurd response to climate change. Even arguing that our future has been sold for us. Now, Greta Thunberg started the school strike for climate movement in August 2018. And this has since taken off globally.
Let’s just take a step back for a second. Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old at the time, started a movement initially by skipping school. And six months later, this movement has taken off to become a worldwide phenomenon.
Not only is Greta mobilizing thousands across the world, but she’s influencing millions via the internet. She’s influencing discussions in multiple parliaments around the world.
And influencing new movements to form all around the world due to her inspiration. Greta is the perfect example of a Generation Z campaign gone well. Generation Z campaigns are a groundswell of genuineness.
Authenticity Matters
Now, thousands of new Gen Z campaigns do start every single day. Because it’s so easy to do. So, a lot of what is produced is often empty. By that I mean it lacks substance. So, how many times have you seen a company use charity as a vehicle in order for them to gain hype and sales for their company?
So, if you’re a Gen Z-er, or someone looking to attract Gen Z, you need to be really careful because Gen Z are more astute than ever. It’s said that we have an 8-second attention span, meaning that anything generic simply does not stand out.
If they BS, we swipe on.
So, if you’re a musician looking to gain a following, or a business owner looking to gain sales, or maybe you’re the leader of a movement wanting to grip Generation Z, you need to be socially aware. Promoting a 100% authentic message, and that message needs to be consistent. Because if it’s not, Gen Z will see right through you.
The Power of Competition
Some people may question, is this opportunity for everyone to create a campaign on us actually a good thing? But in my eyes, it’s truly awesome. Never before has there been more competition.
But what that means is, if you have the ability to stand out, that means whatever you’re doing is really special. It’s something which maybe is a one-in-a-generation campaign. So, if you’re standing out, people are buying into your movement, people are supporting your motion, your potential reach is now infinite, thanks to mainly platforms like social media.
So, young people now have the opportunity to do bigger things than ever before. Small people can now do incomprehensibly big things. So, when we, Generation Z, come together for a collective cause, we don’t just leave the box behind, we blow it out of the water.
Reimagining Historical Movements
But that brings me back to my original question. Can you imagine the impact leaders of the past would have had if they were born within Generation Z? Could the suffragettes of 1907, who recruited 50,000 members in the UK, have instead recruited 55 million across the world? Or could the bus boycotts of Montgomery in 1955 have instead been the bus boycotts of the United States of America?
The world is changing at an ever-increasing pace. The fabric of life progressed more in the 19th century than the two previous centuries combined. The 20th century, even quicker still, led first by industry, then technology. And in the latter half of the century, obviously, there was a huge push for equality across the board, namely with the civil rights movement.
Accelerating Change
But now, we’re progressing at a quicker rate than ever. Since the year 2000, in just the last 19 years, we have seen the development of cars that drive themselves, computers that teach themselves, currencies sustained by algorithms with no further human input. We’ve even had medical discoveries, notably with stem cell research. And arguably the coolest, we’ve taken a photo of a black hole.
So you name it, it’s happening. We are living rapid change. But not only are we living rapid change, we’re driving it.
Challenges and Questions
There are some queries. If it’s that easy, why isn’t every Gen Zer a multimillionaire or a leading activist? In fact, if Gen Z are so impressive, why are they only influencing government and not running government? Maybe it’s because we’re not currently utilizing the opportunities we’ve got at our fingertips en masse. Sure, some people are using them, and we’re seeing more and more young people creating and driving change than ever before, from a younger age.
But how can we encourage more to make the most of this opportunity? Are you? Are you using your opportunity to live beyond the box?
It’s tricky. By no means do we have the perfect hand. We have new expectations. We are expected to be wise beyond our years. We are expected to be a force for good. And we are expected to be a global citizen, all whilst being ourselves.
By no means do Generation Z have the perfect hand. We have it no easier than any other generation. We just face different challenges.
But then again, you could argue that other generations don’t have the same opportunities that Generation Z have. So surely we’re in a better position if you look at it that way.
Beyond Social Media
Now, I really do want to emphasize this is not a social media talk. I’m not here to say that social media is what has made Gen Z so amazing, because it’s way more than social media. But what online platforms have allowed us to do is we can now create, learn, try, fail, and publish. In an easier way than ever before.
Which is meaning that we’re developing skills and traits that kids our age have never historically been able to develop. Because these are traits you would have only been able to develop once you’re in the working world. So this new world around us is allowing us to mold into more mature human beings.
Meaning that we’re able to pursue our passions in a more impactful way than ever before.
Conclusion
Generation Z, you have no limits. Have a look at the leaders of the past. Whether it be the modern day leaders, Emma Gonzalez, Mary Cockney, or Greta Thunberg. Or compare them to Thomas Edison, Rosa Parks. Those kind of leaders, all of them had one commonality.
Passion. They had a genuine passion for their field. So if you as a Gen Z’er have a genuine passion for your field, embrace this opportunity you’ve got to live beyond the box.
Because I have no doubt that leaders of the past would love to be in your shoes.
Thank you very much.
Related Posts
