012 - How Millennials are Changing the Face (and Future) of Business with Conscious Company Magazine

This week is the last episode in our four-part Millennials in the Workforce Series where we highlight the generation who is coming into the workforce and changing how we run our businesses.

This series was inspired by the huge response to Simon Sinek’s recent interview on Inside Quest where he answers the “Millennial question.” Simon Sinek gives a great overview of challenges Millennials face, but not everyone is happy about the way Sinek characterized Millennials. So, we’ve decided to keep the conversation going.

Recap

In Week 1 we spotlighted Nick Sarillo of Nick’s Pizza & Pub fame, who created a leadership model and company culture that retains a 70% Millennial workforce in an industry that typically sees 100-150% turnover.
In Week 2 we took a deep dive into trust-and-track leadership with Kelsey Smith, Director of Nick’s University. Trust-and-track leadership is an approach proven to be highly successful in attracting and retaining a millennial workforce.
In Week 3 we featured a panel of three Millennial leaders who discussed the secret to keeping a Millennial workforce happy, and it isn’t free food and bean bags. They discussed the importance of purpose, autonomy, impact, and adding value as a member of the workforce.

THIS WEEK’S SHOW

This week I am delighted to introduce you Maren Keeley and Meghan French Dunbar, co-founders of Conscious Company Media and publishers of Conscious Company Magazine. Maren and Meghan dedicated the entire May/June 2016 issue of Conscious Company Magazine to the topic of Millennials. This issue provided a broad and progressive perspective on what this generation brings to the world. I’ve been thinking about it ever since, so inviting these two influential Millennial leaders to close out our Millennial series was a no-brainer.

Meghan and Maren have generously offered to give you, our listeners, a digital copy of the Millennialls issue! Download your copy here: Conscious Company Magazine issue on Millennials (Issue 7, May/June 2016)

Let me introduce them and then we’ll get started…

Time Codes

00:33 Preface to our Millennials in the Workplace Series
01:20 Introducing Meghan French Dunbar and Maren Keeley
03:46 How working together at Slow Money led to Conscious Company Magazine, focused on sustainable business and the best practices in this industry
07:57 The Conscious Company Magazine issue on Millennials (Issue 7, May/June 2016): What did the editors learn that reflects on Simon Sinek’s comments? Millennials demand purpose and meaning in their work, impact that doesn’t wait for retirement, and their hard-working commitment and sacrifice.
13:38 What about the idea that Millennials are “lazy” and “entitled?” Where does that come from? The challenge of coming into the workforce during the Great Recession. Millennials are not willing to settle for something that isn’t working for them.
16:40 Humans look for explanations to understand why others do things differently; trying to understand the ways Millennials behave, how they define success. Can we really categorize people like this? Remember the economic forces.
19:47 Conscious Company Magazine issue on Millennials (Issue 7, May/June 2016): How did you choose the 23 featured Millennial leaders? The Millennials that are “blowing our minds.”
21:00 Conscious Company Magazine issue on Millennials (Issue 7, May/June 2016): Catherine Bell’s article on the core qualities of Millennials and what that demands of leaders. The expectation of “unfettered access to information” and how that impacts the customer relationship with businesses.
28:03 Conscious Company Magazine issue on Millennials (Issue 7, May/June 2016): The section on education and sustainable, conscious business MBA programs. Sustainable management, triple-bottom line, business practices that account for environmental and social justice issues, freedom to design the impact you want to have in the world; the blending of business and sustainability into a unified MBA in a diverse, multi-generational environment. Sustainable MBAs are for everyone, not just Millennial leaders.
36:38 Conscious Company Magazine issue on Millennials (Issue 7, May/June 2016): The importance of finance and the Millennial impact on the economy. The trends toward impact investing. Millennial investors want more control, more visibility, and more impact from their portfolios.
40:00 Conscious Company Magazine issue on Millennials (Issue 7, May/June 2016): The section on Conscious Leadership; the shared, distributed leadership model. The mindshare of a group brings more than any one person has alone. The complexity of the world and the problems we face require that we tackle them with diverse strengths and perspectives.
43:40 The blowback from traditional leaders and older generations on why Millennials demand to be heard, to have a voice, and how that translates into “impatience” and “being entitled.” Human 101 – we’re all just people.
45:35 How to get your free download of the Conscious Company Magazine issue on Millennials (Issue 7, May/June 2016). We encourage you to subscribe to the magazine via print or digital.
47:02 Speed Round!
57:21 Closing out the Millennials in the Workplace Series, identifying the themes. Thanks to Simon Sinek for his inspiring interview that has sparked so much conversation on the topic of the Millennial workforce and Millennial leaders.

Episode Guests: Meghan French Dunbar and Maren Keeley

@ConsciousCoMag
Facebook
LinkedIn
Conscious Company Magazine

Meghan French Dunbar

Prior to co-founding Conscious Company Media, Meghan French Dunbar worked in non-profit development and strategy for nearly a decade. She studied Journalism and English in her undergraduate days at Colorado State Boulder, and earned her MBA from Presidio Graduate School. Her passion revolves around inspiring and empowering people to create positive impact through their careers and businesses. Beyond her entrepreneurial endeavors, you can find her running around the mountains of Colorado, making the most of every moment, and trying to make people laugh along the way.

Maren Keeley

Maren Keeley debuted in the media world as a Co-founder of Conscious Company Media. Her professional career started young. She began cooking professionally when she was 14 and kitchens were her world for 15 years. She attended Bard College for her undergraduate education where she earned a dual major in sculpture and philosophy of aesthetics. Work and life took her from the Hudson Valley to Nantucket to Europe, eventually back to Chicago, then to Boulder. Maren continued to cook professionally, she became a certified nutrition advisor, taught yoga, and researched food systems. This led her to study sustainable business at Pinchot University where she earned her MBA.

Maren Keeley and Meghan Meghan French Dunbar met while working at Slow Money, and about a year later, in April 2014, they decided to start Conscious Company together.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Download your copy of the Conscious Company Magazine issue on Millennials (Issue 7, May/June 2016)

Pinchot University & Presidio University – In August of 2016, Presidio Graduate School acquired Pinchot University (previously Bainbridge Graduate Institute/BGI). These innovative MBA, MPA, Dual degree and Certificate programs bridge the gap between commerce and the common good. See the Seattle MBA program as an example of the program we discussed during the interview.

Conscious Capitalism 2017 Conference – April 18 -20, Philadelphia, PA. Conscious Capitalism 2017 is designed to deepen your practical application of the principles of Conscious Capitalism with high potency keynotes, new content for teams, multiple tracks of hands on practicums and rich opportunities to connect with and learn from peers.