I don't know what sort of epiphany I had the other day, but this idea popped into my head: What would my 28-year-old self say to my 23-year-old self? Regardless of how old you are, I encourage everyone to think about what you'd say to yourself five years ago.

Half a decade ago, I'd been married for less than six months, was thinking about purchasing my first home, and had just been promoted to management at a job I was determined not to turn into a career. So many things were knew and exciting, and I was impatient for a lot to happen. In fact, I'd dare say that I'm a completely different person now.

I know a lot of people who are 23, or close to it. They're recent grads with big dreams and a desire to get where they're going now. I was that way, too. I didn't know it all, but I thought I knew most of it. But now at 28, I don't think I even know half of it.

So, here's what I'd say:

• You can't imagine where you'll be in five years. Embrace that mystery.
• It doesn't matter where you'll be in ten years. Just try to be happy with it.
• You're going to start eating a lot of salads. And you'll like it.
• Religious stuff ain't that big of a deal. You write a lot about it now, but you won't later.
• Love your wife more today than yesterday.
• You'll love running again.
• If you want to find balance in life, discover how important both flexibility and stability are to you.
• There are a lot of fine lines in life. Learn how to navigate them correctly and you'll be okay.
• Social capital is everything and it always will be.
• You don't have a clue.
• Your passions will change in life. Sort of like best friends.
• Go see everyone get married, but don't feel bad if you can't make one or two.
• Get better at learning. Always.
• It gets a lot more fun.
• Ask for help and ask for advice. It's okay.
• It gets harder to lose weight and it takes longer to burn off a night out. So even though you want more, one piece of cheesecake will do.
• For the next five years, save as much money as you can, spend time with your family often, and make a list of every good idea that pops into your head.
• Keeping asking, "Why not?"
• In about 10 months, you're going to get food poisoning really bad. So, steer clear of the shrimp on Easter.

I can't wait to see what I think of who I am now when I'm 33.

A few weeks ago, I went to visit my grandfather. During the visit, I went with him to his coffee club, which I've blogged about before.

After that trip, a few college friends visited me. While we hung out, it dawned on me: the conversations I was having with them at 28 were the same conversations my grandfather was having at 91.

The moral of the story: conversations don't change on their own. We have to change them.

Watch this video for more on that:

Changing the Conversation from Sam Davidson on Vimeo.

And, here's the YouTube version.

Yesterday, I performed on the stage of the Belcourt Theatre. This Nashville landmark has hosted the top musical acts, screened award-winning films and also served as a home for silent films and the Grand Ole Opry.

So, I have no idea why they let me come talk about social media on that same stage. But they did. And I did.

Here's a video from my talk. I flew through the whys of social media, particularly as it relates to nonprofit arts organizations. In these 15 minutes (that's all I had, so I speak very fast in this video), you'll hear:

• A little more about me
• About how I cheated on my art appreciation final in college (1:45)
• Who Generation Y is (3:15)
• How Gen Y acts (5:00)
• What the old consumer model is (7:00)
• What the new consumer model is (8:30)
• How arts organizations can have a new conversation (11:15)
• Some reminders before embarking on a social media campaign (12:45)

Enjoy, and pass it along to your pals who work in the arts:


Social Media for Arts Organizations from adam patrick jones on Vimeo.

Check it: This is a video AND content post, so you can choose how to consume my ideas.

Quick video version:

Gen Y Should Talk to Boomers from Sam Davidson on Vimeo.

YouTube version here.

On to the words:
A lot can be said about Gen Y'ers, especially from Boomers and X'ers. And, a lot of other (and even opposite) things can be said about Gen Y'ers, mainly by Gen Y. So, who's right?

I say no one's right until you hash it out over a meal.

Last week, while keynoting West Virginia's Children's Policy Day Conference, I had the opportunity to dine with Karen, a 60-something nonprofit leader. As we sat and talked, she asked me what I'd be saying in my afternoon workshop, "The Fountain of Youth: How to Communicate with the Next Generation." I shared that while I would be briefly touching on some of the tools that might be useful, such as social networks, I'd really use the time to talk more broadly about Generation Y and how they communicate, what they're looking for in good nonprofit appeals, and why it's crucial that nonprofits begin to engage this demographic for the sake of their own survival.

She then said, "Let me ask you this…" and I knew where she was going.

She began to rattle off some of the more negative stereotypes of Generation Y – that we can't commit, that we're entitled and self-absorbed, and that we're unwilling to "pay dues."

Immediately, a million blog posts I've read ran through my mind. But before I could respond, she continued to talk about her workplace and how she was having difficulty managing some of her Gen Y employees. She shared about her son, who still hasn't finished school, but is doing what he loves as an actor at 26.

And before I could rebut her initial claims, I saw what was happening: she was a frustrated boomer, trying to be a great manager and parent, and really was asking for help. Her humanness far outweighed her boomer-ness. She didn't want blog posts to read to prove her wrong; she wanted concrete suggestions to genuinely improve her situation.

I think a lot of the inter-generational agreements are really just that: one person trying desperately to understand another. But, because it's so easy to get defensive when confronted or critiqued, we resort to generational name calling and stereotyping, tossing gasoline on the fire with all-encompassing blog posts and cries of "They just don’t get it."

And everyone and their organizations is the worse for it, as we fold our arms in disgust and pout as long as we can stand.

So here's what I suggest: the next time a Y or an X or a Boomer tells you that another generation is something or the other, ask them, "Did you discover that over lunch?"

I'm willing to bet that very few generational experts have had a meal with a member of another generation in quite some time. And I don't mean some kind of group lunch or corporate breakroom encounter. I mean a lunch where you can speak your mind and ask questions, much like Karen and I did over hotel chicken and mediocre chocolate cake.

She asked me what I should tell her in order to help her motivate her son to go back to college. She asked me if she did the right thing by hiring an X'er as a coach/mentor' for all of her Gen Y staff, so they no longer report directly to her, but to someone else who gets them a little better.
And I asked her what she looks for in good Gen Y job candidates, and what her expectations are with a new hire. I asked her what it's like to be a lifer in the nonprofit world in this economy.

We had some 'aha' moments, a few laughs, and a moment of clarity.

It's hard to have lunch on the Internet, but it's easy to say something. And our talk is expensive, because it usually comes at the high price of intergenerational conflict that stalls the forward momentum of our work. I hope that all of our HTML and blog networks don't get in the way of the human side of our generational intricacies.

So, the next time you hear someone say that Gen Y is so this, or they say that Boomers are so that, ask them if they've had lunch with the group they're calling out. Because until you're willing to break bread with someone different from you, you shouldn’t be allowed to say anything.

If you're not a nonprofit CEO in Nashville - and therefore can't make it to my presentation tomorrow morning - don't worry. I've got the slides for you right here:

Gen Y and the Nonprofit Sector

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: nonprofit gen)

And, there's more info here.

P.S: This is on the SlideShare homepage for 11/13.

Jeff Cornwall has an excellent (short) analysis of social entrepreneurship in yesterday's Tennessean. The two sentence version of what makes a social entrepreneurship is this:

Social entrepreneurs are increasingly approaching social change in a different way than we've seen in the past. Rather than rely on fundraising and grants from foundations to grow large nonprofits, these young social entrepreneurs attempt to blend free market capitalism with their favorite social causes.

Jeff goes on to highlight why such endeavors seem attractive to young people today"

Several surveys have found that many people in this generation don't believe that government is the most effective means to solve many of today's social problems — the private sector offers more efficient and effective solutions.

Cornwall continues:

The millennial generation is beginning to show some of the same social activism as their baby boomer parents had in the 1960s and 1970s. But, this generation believes so strongly in entrepreneurial free market capitalism that it is entrusting not only its own economic future to it, but the betterment of our society and culture, as well.

I meet more and more people under the age of 30 who are venturing out on their own, seeking to create positive social change. It will be an interesting and exciting time to watch the creative solutions that the most creative generation will initiate in order to address our biggest problems. And the beauty of it all doesn't just lie in its efficiency, it's marketability or its ease. It lies in its ingenuity.

Status quo, the exit is over there...

Rebecca Thorman's blog post about how social media doesn't create a new generation of leaders remains embedded in my mind as prophetic beacon of how all of this online networking may not be getting us as far along as we'd like. Two magazines I've recently read prove she's right.

In last month's Wired Magazine, Tim Harford explains why new technological tools, which intend to eliminate the importance of geography when it comes to collaboration, actually do just the opposite. As wonderful as email and wall posting are, it doesn't decrease our need for human interaction. Harford writes:

Business is more innovative, and its processes more complex. That demands tacit knowledge, collaboration, and trust – all things that seem to follow best from person-to-person meetings.

In other words, if you're going to do work, you may need to meet people in person. As Harford correctly points out, business travel isn't dying out, and air travel is at record highs.

Likewise, two items of note jump out in this month's Fast Company (which is the best magazine you could be reading if you want to know anything about anything). We'll start at the end.

Rob Walker's back page column points out how online marketing may not live up to the hype. Even with Facebook's Beacon advertising and marketing program, a targeted market may be elusive. Sure, lots of folks are sharing information on their profile, but perhaps they're omitting what it is they really need, thus leaving advertisers in the lurch. And that's if you’re lucky; some folks might lie on their profile outright.

Secondly, an excerpt from Richard Florida's new book is a perfect compliment to Harford's article, in that he also highlights the importance of geography in today's global economy. He departs from Thomas Friedman's groundbreaking theory that the world is flat and instead suggests a spiky world, where peaks of innovation are cropping up in selected areas. Even if similar types of folks link themselves digitally by being 'friends,' Florida points out the importance of linking via geographical proximity:

Geographic concentration encourages innovation because ideas flow more freely, are honed more sharply, and can be put into practice more quickly when innovators, implementers and financial backers are in constant contact. Creative people cluster not simply because they like to be around one another or prefer cosmopolitan centers with lots of amenities (though both things tend to be true). They cluster because density brings such powerful productivity advantages, economies of scale, and knowledge spillovers.

So perhaps all of this technological innovation isn't taking us as far as we think it is. Maybe it's just a better way to play Scrabble.

As someone who runs a digital property, I'm constantly looking for what all this means for CoolPeopleCare and our mission to enable people to change the world. Yeah – we've got the Facebook fan page, we've got the MySpace profile, we Twitter and we blog. But why do we do all this, especially when we believe in the power of the offline community so much and that change happens best face to face?

Because we have to be where people are. And people now gather online. Even if the ultimate action we're soliciting is one of offline, real world, or analog behavior, the doorway into people's minds is a digital one.

So by all means use social media and use it well – but don't expect it to save the world in an instant. Countless individuals are finding that social networks could lead to social fragmenting. Rebecca's found that social networks don't create new leaders. Even if there is a digital doorway, the pathway to change has to still be traversed with two very real feet.

Yes, it's a question many folks are asking. But it's also the title of a book I just finished.

Po Bronson's work is long, but it might be worth your while if you're looking for stories about individuals who have dared to answer the title question. The stories are all engaging, and many seem ordinary. But in their ordinariness is where many of us can find direction.

Bronson interview countless people while working on this book. He traveled and listened to stories, some of them heartbreaking, all in an attempt to show the reader how many paths unfolded for people who own catfish farms, work as lawyers, and teach school.

Even though some of these quotes are ripped from their context, these are worth sharing as they got me thinking:

Many people use the dream-job-or-nothing goal as a way of ensuring their dreams are never challenged by reality - by hoping for too much, they can preserve their dream as a perfect fantasy. (page 13)

Passion is infectious - so few people have it for their work that when you do glimpse it, it makes an indelible impression. (page 15)

We live in a rich country, so rich that we're blessed with the ultimate privilege: to be true to our individual nature. Our economy is so vast that we don't have to grind it out forever at jobs we hate. For the most part, we get to choose. And so a status system has evolved that values being unique and true even more than it values being financially successful. (page 20)

We all have passions if we choose to see them. But we have to look backward even more than forward, and we have to chase away our preconceptions of what we think our passion is supposed to be, or not supposed to be. (page 37)

People have this stupid fantasy that if you're the creator, or the inventor, of the artist, you hand over your creation to businessmen and cash the royalty checks. That's a fantasy. It's irresponsible to their gift. If you have a gift, you should take care of it. (page 42)

The same goes for figuring out your place in life. It's not a puzzle that can be figured out on paper. You have to try something, see if it works, and learn from it. (page 46)

The conclusion that brain candy is not enough is probably the most threatening to our generation's belief system. In this belief system, the world is a battle between the Boring and the Stimulating. We channel-surf through jobs and relationships, pushing the button at the first hint of slowing down. Like Lori, we've rejected the compromises of our parents' generation, who sought safety and security. Anyone who comes along and murmurs that "stimulation is not everything" is quickly tuned out, because we don't want to hear it anymore. (page 47)

The relevant question is not what you will do, but who you will become. (page 48)

We can worship saints, but we can't emulate them. I would rather hear how the weak of will end up doing some good. (page 92)

For all those who were morally troubled by their work, it surprised me how few ever considered simply switching sides. (page 95)

The hardest thing about doing the right thing for yourself is you usually have to do it alone. (page 96)

If you need to summon the will to make a change, don't debate ethics. Get personal. If you don't believe in the integrity of your profession, you can debate the ethics of it forever and never do anything. But if you define the personal toll it's taking, it hits a lot closer to home. (page 102)

If I was financially independent, I would never have to take work I didn't want to do. But to become financially independent, I had to take work I didn't want to do. (page 113)

Failure's hard, but success is far more dangerous. If you're successful at the wrong thing, the mix of praise and money and opportunity can lock you in forever. It is so, so much harder to leave a good thing. (page 114)

If you have a passion then making your dream come true is so easy compared to the hard part. (page 144)

People have a natural tendency not to work on problems where they can't make a difference. (page 162)

Passion is really a complex organic chemistry between an individual and her job that isn't replicable or mass-producible. (page 174)

Intensity is external; passion invokes something inside you. It's a call-and-response with your soul. It's not just adrenaline. (page 175)

I'm not saying the community is everything, but it makes success possible. (page 236)

Don't doubt your desire because it comes to you as a whisper. (page 268)

The things we really want to do are usually the ones that scare us the most. The things you'll not feel conflicted about are the choices that leave no one hurt. (page 268)

You want to know where your fears are hiding? Tell me what you know about yourself. Tell me what you can't live without. (page 282)

Many of our fears and misconceptions about our careers stem from our fears and misconceptions about being a parent. (page 307)

But I'd rather help than watch. I'd rather have a heart than have a mind. I'd rather expose too much than too little. I'd rather say hello to strangers than be afraid of them. I would rather know all this about myself than have more money than I need. I'd rather have something to love than a way to impress you. (page 360)

Finding what we should do is one of life's great dramas. It can be an endless process of discovery, one to be appreciated and respected for its difficulty. (page 362)

Passion is rooted in deeply felt experiences, which can happen anywhere. (page 365)

Overall, this book is a bit tedious in its description and ultimately offers little in the way of resolution. But that's what also gives the reader a sense of community. Pick up this book if you're looking to listen to others about how they landed where they are.

While attending the YP Summit last month, I received a free copy of Rebecca Ryan's book, Live First, Work Second: Getting Inside the Head of the Next Generation. I enjoy Ryan's thoughts on the next generation, so I would have bought it even if I weren't given it for free.

If you're familiar with Ryan and her work with Next Generation Consulting, the book isn't really a big surprise. But, if you're looking for ways to make your city, company or community attract and retail young talent, the book is a welcome punch in the mouth.

Live First is a compilation of Ryan and NGC's work over the years. They've spoken to countless young people and have consulted with organizations and communities of nearly any and every size. So, they know what they're talking about.

In addition to being informative and insightful, this book is full of examples, suggestions and good ideas to make your area appealing to the next generation of workers, patrons, families and attendees. Ryan cites ideas that have worked well in many cities, but offers comprehensive frameworks that have you thinking that your town may just be cool enough to pull off something similar.

The biggest distinction in the book: for many people, there's no such thing as a work/life balance. That's because it's become a life/work balance. And, if your business doesn't realize this, your youngest workers will be heading for the exits before lunch. It also means that if you're a community leader, you've got to build buildings, design communities and create opportunities that allow the next generation to do more than work, or else they'll fill a UHaul in search of a place that does.

The book is short, but well written. It reads like Ryan speaks – a bit irreverent, but always engaging. An afternoon spent with this book will position you to take an active stance in embracing tomorrow, no matter what age you are.

For years, companies have offered more and more perks in an effort to lure talented workers. There have been pensions, 401(k)'s, health insurance, stock options, relocation fees, use of the company car, on-site day care, and expense accounts.

I've written before about the great perks at Google and Facebook. These two organizations know that to keep being the best at their respective games, they've got to continue to recruit and retain the best emerging (young) talent out there. So far, they've been able to do that, and they've been extremely remarkable.

But tonight, I was reminded that more and more young people are looking for a workplace where they don't have to leave their values at home. After all, we work nearly as much as we sleep. Therefore, it doesn't make sense if we have to leave behind what we believe in whenever we head out to earn our paycheck.

I caught my first episode of Big Ideas for a Small Planet, airing on the Sundance Channel. This show examines some of the coolest ideas out there. This episode was about work, and it featured different companies going green in the workplace, as well as contributing to their local communities in various ways.

One company profiled was the New Belgium Brewing Company, responsible for Fat Tire. Based in Fort Collins, Colorado, one scene showed the celebration going on for three employees celebrating their one-year anniversary with the company. As a gift, each received his or her very own bicycle, just like the one that adorns the label of Fat Tire.

But that's not the perk I want to highlight. New Belgium has figured out how to make its values the best perk available. When asked why she chose to begin working at New Belgium, one employee celebrating her anniversary explained how she moved from Missouri to Fort Collins, hoping to work for New Belgium because she had heard about their sustainability practices, their idea that work can be fun, and their values as a company.

By being a company with values, New Belgium saves money. Watch the episode and you'll see how they save on energy costs by having lots of 'green' practices at work in the brewery. But even better for the bottom line is what they spent to get this employee, who is motivated, energetic, and completely loyal to this organization: $0.

It cost them $0 to put an ad in the paper to attract her attention because the company's values were newsworthy already. It cost them $0 to move her form Missouri to Colorado because she moved on her own. It cost them $0 to motivate her to make sure she comes in to work everyday and does her job well. It cost them $0 to replace her after she found a better job, because to her, she's got the best job out there.

People today, especially young professionals, are looking for a gig in which they don't have to put their value in daycare while they're at work. They are deeply passionate people, aware of more ideas and beliefs than any other generation before them. If you think all the young workers are leaving your company because they're lazy and in search of a fast promotion without the hard work, you might want to take an inventory of what your company stands for.

It doesn't matter if your company sells widgets or hybrid cars. If employees aren't able to feel like their employer cares about what they think and feel, they'll be looking for one that does before their dental plan kicks in.

How many bottom lines do you have?

Penelope Trunk, of Brazen Careerist, links to an amazing report done by Deloitte. This is a short, but imperative, read for anyone who has a job. Or knows anyone who has a job. Or interacts with another human on any sort of level.

At CoolPeopleCare, we're all about connecting people who want to change the world with organizations already doing so. We especially help nonprofits recruit and retain young(er) volunteers and donors. Some of the recommendations in this report apply to volunteer situations with Gen Y'ers just as well as they do workplace ones.

Here are 5 recommendations from the report that will help any organization looking to entice volunteers from the younger set:

• Provide engaging experiences that develop transferable skills. By making them more employable, we actually increase the odds that they will stay.
• Provide a rationale for the work you've asked them to do and the value it adds.
• Provide variety.
• Grow teams and networks with great care: develop the tools and processes to support faster response and more innovative solutions.
• Provide a work environment that rewards extra effort and excellence.

Now, go and read the whole thing.

Penelope Trunk says to ignore your birth year and instead look around at what types of media and technology you use.

She's got a neat little quiz for you to try and figure out if you're a Boomer or an X'er.

I'm a Y.