Over 4 weeks ago I launched a podcast called “Agile and Beyond”. In the last 7 episodes with practitioners and thinkers I have explored the future of work, the evolutions in leadership mindset and the revolutions in the human-centered innovation around experience and purpose.

In most of my episodes I interview Agile practitioners, design thinkers, team builders, organization designers, and systems thinkers. My most recent episode, however, was a little different. It began as a joint experiment with a nebulous mission.

With 6+ participants, spanning 3+ countries, 3 continents, and 3 generations we explored not only the future of work, but also the future of education.

Click Here to Listen >> The Future of Work and Education – A Millennial Perspective.

This episode exists thanks to ants and their social behavior, and my earlier podcast with Erika Lenz, which I highly recommend.

Click Here to Listen >> Starting From Where the Learner Sits – Part 1 – Erika Lenz.

In this inspiring international discussion with Millennials, I was honored to be joined by two co-hosts: Dawna Jones of Vancouver and Gert Penne of Belgium.

Dawna Jones is the author of Decision Making for Dummies. Her book appears on Steve Denning’s (Forbes) list of 8 Noteworthy Books for 2014. Dawna is also the host of the “Evolutionary Provocateur” podcast.

Gert Penne, an account executive in the tech industry, is a an Empathic Problem Solver, who takes a principle-centered approach to teaming across cultures, disciplines, and generations.
And three (3) Millennial guests: Willow Bumby and Lindsay Henwood of Vancouver, and Josh Shaffer of Tampa.

Willow Bumby is an iOS Engineer, designer, and writer, as well as a teacher at Lighthouse Labs.

Lindsay Henwood is a User Experience Design Instructor at Red Academy, a rapidly growing Tech School startup.

Josh Shaffer is an early Millennial, and works for Accenture in Talent Acquisition.

Some weeks ago both Gert and I sent messages to Dawna making reference to ants. Dawna, not one to believe in coincidence, immediately organized an ad-hoc conversation with the three of us.

At the end of this 2-continent, 3-country Skype call, we found ourselves talking about generational differences globally.

With the goal to learn how the next generation sees the Future of Work, we decided to invite 3 Millennials to a follow-up call. This show is that call.

Millennials fall just after the Gen-Xers. They were born between 1982 and 2004.

We were fortunate to have three (3) Millennials join us – Willow, Lindsay, and Josh.

Two other Millennials joined us virtually.

Lauren Kirmil is a Marketing and Media Specialist and a former technical recruiter in the San Francisco Bay Area. During her extensive travels throughout Southeast Asia she worked as a freelance travel writer.

Grace Liu is a former Outreach Support Officer at the British Consulate in Guangzhou, China. She recently received funding to start a venture in Shenzhen. With the assistance of her NYU professor she also plans to start an NGO incorporating ancient contemplative practices, including meditation.

In this discussion we covered a wide range of topics.

• Distributed workforces and workplace flexibility and the “big American offensive to change the workplace”.
• Self-responsibility, self-awareness, self-perception.
• Cultural fit: the “techie” mold and the pressure to fit in.
• The dying days of the industrial model, the irrelevant university degree and the rise of bootcamp style education.
• The need to understand the next generation, and the companies which will die.
• The rise of the robots and the growing fear of job loss.
• Capitalism and its schizophrenic booms and busts: do we want an economy based on self-interest or creativity and collaboration?
• Tribalism and the need to belong: do we become global citizens or nationalists?
• Surviving the industrial model and designing the new workplace.
• The need to shift easily into different industries and the costly risk in over-specialization.
• The silliness of our current system and people’s inability to work with power.
• And the power coming from the “Millennial values”.

(Interestingly these are not new values. They are old values originating from Humanism in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries and then finding a new life in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Enlightenment and Classical Liberalism. For some reason, humanity keeps forgetting how to be human.)

And now welcome to our conversation exploring the future of work with the Millennials.

Click Here to Listen >> The Future of Work and Education – A Millennial Perspective

You can connect with Dawna Jones through her website – and subscribe to her big-picture, forward-thinking “Evolutionary Provocateur” podcast on iTunes.

You can listen to my interview with Dawna on “Agile and Beyond”. I was honored to have her on as my very first guest. It was a far-ranging and fascinating discussion, where she shared her earliest memory of her unique take on the world.

Click here to listen: From Insight to Action – Dawna Jones

You can connect with Gert Penne, Josh Shaffer, Lindsay Henwood, and Willow Bumby on LinkedIn.

While you will unfortunately not hear them share their thoughts in their own voices on this episode, you can also find Lauren Kirmil and Grace Liu on LinkedIn as well.

Thanks again to all our guests and contributors.

If you or someone you know would like to be a guest on our next episode with the Millennials please connect with me, Dan Feldman.

About Dan & Agile and Beyond:

Dan Feldman is the creator and host of the Agile and Beyond podcast. With Agile practitioners, design thinkers, team builders, organization designers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries, he explores the future of work, education, and society. With the digital age demanding greater collaboration, enhanced creativity, and heightened agility, he examines avant-garde, responsive, collaborative team and organization designs as well as the shifts in our individual and collective perception of experience and purpose. Tune in!

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