In the generations that preceded Gen-Z, we lived in a world in which the life-plan of many was to get an education, get a job, raise a family, retire, and die of old age. This plan served the needs of a substantial portion of the population through the 20th century. However, in the latter decades of that century and into the 21st, wealth distribution was skewing toward the Baby Boomers. House prices spiralled out of range for young people and the traditional dream of owning a home and raising a family was eroding.
Meanwhile, as computer technology evolved, corporations were able to hire people on contract without making them employees of their company. Gradually, there were fewer defined-benefit retirement plans as corporations moved to defined-contribution plans, enabling the corporations to limit the risk that their pension plans would become insolvent. The risks were increasingly borne by the employees. These changes made it clear to those born in the 21st century that they would have to earn money through wages, rather than salary, or by some entrepreneurial venture. Useful skills of the kind offered by community colleges, for electricians, HVAC providers, plumbers, construction, computer programmers etc. promised more immediate economic rewards than a degree in philosophy or sociology. Even many of those at the very high end of the IQ spectrum were choosing entrepreneurial ventures rather than the comfort of an academic life at a university.
In Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960–2010, Charles Murray states:
Over the last century, brains became much more valuable in the marketplace. … What was someone with exceptional mathematical ability worth on the job market a hundred years ago if he did not have interpersonal skills or common sense? Not much. … What is a person with the same skill set worth today? If he is a wizard programmer, as people with exceptional mathematical ability tend to be, he is worth six figures to Microsoft or Google. If he is a fine pure mathematician, some quant funds can realistically offer him the prospect of great wealth.
While the GenZers were exploring how they would generate the income needed for their future, they were observing the high profile entrepreneurial billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison–the new “heroes” of this century. These charismatic individuals are fulfilling their dreams about making an impact on human civilization. Elon Musk is building a rocket to Mars to make humans a multi-planetary species, Jeff Bezos, after revolutionizing the retail sales industry, is developing spacecraft for commercial travel, and other billionaires in Silicon Valley are developing artificial intelligence to augment human cognition.
Many of the Gen-Z members of the population are watching how the 21st-century heroes are pursuing dreams of a giant magnitude and they too are “dreaming big.” Creating something that has a major impact on the world brings substantial revenue, elevated status and personal fulfillment. It’s an alluring goal, but one that will come to only that special fraction of the Gen-Z population that has the personal discipline and intensity to deal with multiple failures, risks and economic challenges that are required for high achievement.
