Can you name a leader under 40 solving social problems?

Even at the risk of making some broad generational generalizations, there’s little question that Millennials across all sectors share something in common -- a burning desire to make a positive impact in the world. It’s built into our DNA and it’s something that is becoming more and more apparent as the blurring of lines among sectors creates enormous opportunities to collectively solve some of our most pressing social problems.  But who are these leaders driving change in our communities -- and is cross-sector collaboration really something that's all talk and no action?

That’s part of what the American Express NGen Fellows, a group of nonprofit leaders under the age of 40, chose to tackle in a recent report released earlier this week. Their final report is based on a survey distributed to more than 2,000 NGeners in the nonprofit, government, and private sectors. It asked about perspectives on leadership development, cross-sector collaboration, and how to respond to major challenges facing our communities. 

So what did they find? Here are the major takeaways – and some of them may surprise you.

• NGeners mostly agree on the top issues facing communities, the nation and the world – with education, poverty, health and the environment topping out the lists

• NGeners feel collaboration across sectors is very important but don’t know the people, leaders or the methods to facilitate collaboration

• The majority of NGeners could not identify a single leader under the age of 40 who is effectively solving a societal problem

• NGeners believe the nonprofit sector is best positioned to take the lead in engaging other sectors to solve problems

• NGeners believe they need more organized leadership development opportunities

There are several things that truly stand out about these findings, and you can download the full report here. Perhaps what surprises me the most is the inability of my peers to identify other leaders under the age of 40 who are effectively solving social problems. Back in February we explored in a post on Social Citizens, "The Lost Generation of Social Entrepreneurs"  and came up with a diverse list of under 35 year olds who will have no problem serving as role models for their peers and who have chosen to focus a little less on profits and a little more on changing the world. That list continued to grow with the help of our readers.

In addition to not being able to identify these so-called generational leaders, I also found it interesting that "next gen" leaders don't have a good understanding of how to facilitate cross-sector collaborations. After all, we talk a lot about how Millennials thrive far better in collaborative environments as opposed to hierarchecal structures. I wonder however if Millennials thrive in groups of similar minded people, making it more difficult to reach across to others who may have different skills and backgrounds.  This is something we'll explore in more detail in a subsequent post.

In the meantime, it’s clear that the fellows' analysis and recommendations are not final conclusions, but instead provide an important starting point for further discussions about what leadership and collaboration really mean for rising leaders and our communities. I’d add that these conversations should be happening across all generations so that we can ensure more two-way sharing of innovative ideas.

Independent Sector will be hosting a call on August 19, to explore these ideas in greater depth - I hope participants in the call will represent diverse backgrounds, age cohorts and sectors in order to truly make it a meaningful discussion.

What are your take aways from this report? Are you surprised by any of their conclusions?