You probably have some cherished beliefs about how your business works, how marketing works, and how you can make more money. If you really want to change things, you need to open your mind to what data can tell you, even if it destroys some of the those cherished beliefs.
Let’s take a very common belief (at least amongst us older people) these days: Millennials as a group are selfish, lazy, entitled, and have no work ethic (at least not as strong as mine!) Now, let’s look at some data:
- 81% have donated money, goods or services. [Walden University and Harris Interactive]
- Millennials say they do not deserve special treatment and are equally as committed as non-Millennials. [PWC]
- 35% of employed Millennials have started their own business on the side to supplement their income . [Iconoculture]
- 54% either want to start a business or already have started one. [Kauffman Foundation]
- More than a quarter (27%) are already self-employed.[US Chamber of Commerce]
And that is just a few things from just one source – who sourced all of his statements. You can see the original blog post from Dan Schwabel.) While this is hardly definitive, it makes you pause when you consider your own beliefs.
We often get our information anecdotally, for millennials it might be from a friend who had a friend who had a cousin who knew someone who owned a business and had trouble with some younger workers, and then form an opinion.
My point here is not whether millennials are lazy and entitled or not, but rather “beliefs” need to be evaluated against data. How many of your beliefs about your business might change is you started looking at some cold hard data?
I love comments good and bad! Let me know what you think!