Just Do It.

One thing I greatly admire about good salespeople is that, unlike me, they are willing to put themselves out there in situations regardless of whether or not the conditions are ideal. I have intended to start this political blog for well over a year, yet haven't managed to get anything accomplished because I keep telling myself that I need some sort of perfect construct in order to present myself the "correct" way. So the other day, when I was buying shoes (natch), the salesgirl Liz asked me why I hadn't started yet, and I mumbled some sort of nonsense about getting an official website and she looked at me, incredulously, and said "Why don't you just go on Blogspot for free and then change it later? Who cares?"

Indeed. Who does care?

When I was in college, most people I knew were in liberal arts pursuing History, Psychology or maybe Economics with an eye towards some level of graduate school. Large companies like IBM and GE came to campuses routinely to recruit. People went into professions. You might become a doctor. A lawyer. An engineer. An advertising executive. The idea was that you should learn to specialize in something, thus ensuring economic prosperity in a post World War II economy built on a combination of corporate expansion mixed with entrepreneurship. Higher education was billed as a "magic bullet" of sorts. An opportunity afforded my generation by our parents who, through much sacrifice, made it possible for us to have professional stability. Steelworkers and farmers who had broken their bodies in physically demanding and often lousy paying jobs, took on second jobs and debt to enable their children to have access to professions that would allow them to use their minds long after their bodies were worn out. This was, simply put, progress. The American dream. Sacrifice yielding stability. This was the gift my generation received.

Now twenty or so years later, it is my oldest daughters turn to go to college. The world she is entering is far different from the world laid at my feet when I was eighteen. The Cold War is over. We live in a world more global in scope than most of us could have ever imagined. Professions like medicine and law are not the idyllic paths to stability and prosperity that we once believed them to be. The government, not large private corporations, is the largest employer of Americans. Companies that were once thought too big to fail and provided thousands of jobs each year to college graduates are now insolvent, non-existent or outsourced. And higher education has itself become a business so large in scope that it has lost much of it's intended purpose. 

What to do...

The financial meltdown and housing crisis that this country has experienced in the last decade has been nothing if not thought provoking. It is a clear sign that the financial models, government controls and economic ideals that our parents generation had put in place are evolving. Due to the loss of standard of living that so many people have experienced, it is easy to say that this transition is a failure. And to some degree, it is. But when taken in a macro perspective, it becomes clear that we are, in fact on the precipice of something that could be even greater. 

The opportunity to think as individuals. 

Companies like Apple, Google and Facebook are examples of forward thinking financial modeling. The implosion of companies like Merrill Lynch and General Motors indicates that their style of doing business is no longer feasible in a global economy. This is a difficult thing to accept. But it is a reality. The idea that large companies are always going to be there to provide jobs is now archaic. And while this may be stressful to my generation, trying to provide for their children while simultaneously staring down the barrel of aging baby-boomer parents many of whom have dwindling pensions and long life expectancies; it is an opportunity for our children. The key is to not allow yourself to get stuck in an outdated mode of thinking.

To wit. How much money should the average high school graduate be willing to spend to get a four-year degree? What will this degree yield? No one knows. On it's face, it would appear, given current economic conditions, that a degree in engineering or computers would be a good bet. But ask yourself, isn't that what we thought twenty years ago about a legal or medical degree? Not to say that those degrees have no value. They do. And the world will still need doctors and lawyers. But at what cost? What percentage of your adult life do you intend to delegate to you or your parents paying off your education? It's a real dilemma for today's youth. So I am telling my daughter, what I believe to be true: 

You must learn to sell. 

Sell widgets. Sell clothing. Sell cars. Sell yourself. Sell your ideas. Whatever it takes. One basic concept that holds true in America is that if you can gain the confidence to sell, you will probably always have a job. It might be at McDonald's. It might be at Goldman Sachs. Or it might be acting in a movie. But whatever you are doing, you have to sell it. And you have to realize that you are never too good for any job. Whatever needs to be done, you must do it. You must have the confidence to take a job you feel overqualified for until something better comes along. And if it never comes along, you must use your free time to think about how to make it come along. If you want to get a PhD in Classics and English Literature, I support that. But you are going to have to sell something in order to make that work in our economy. Sell a book. Sell your expertise. Whatever. And if English Literature doesn't pay, you are going to have to use your sales skills elsewhere to support yourself and write your book on the side. I support the idea of going to an institution to become educated. But I do NOT support institutional thinking. College is a business. They are no more enlightened in their approach than any other corporate dinosaur. So get your degree. Have some fun. But don't fall into the trap of believing that ANY institution has the answer. Try to harness this current breakdown in the economy in a creative way by thinking of new approaches. This is not a difficult time to be young. It is an exciting time. Because you are at the beginning of a new dynamic. Embrace the chaos and look for opportunities in the gaps being created by the decimation of old ideas. You can publish your OWN book online now. The corporate stranglehold on creative ideas is waning. And that might be bad news for Wall Street, but it's very good news for a young aspiring author. 

So today, I start this blog, in my own attempt to sell. Because a salesperson lent me her enthusiasm and confidence.

Thanks, Liz.

BB