Russ Steele
I found this comment from CNET interesting and worth bringing to the attention of our economic developers and government leaders.
Red Hat CEO faces generational divide
Posted by Stephen Shankland
SAN FRANCISCO--Red Hat Chief Executive Matthew Szulik, leader of the most influential open-source software company, suffers from a new variety of age discrimination.
"When I walk into a customer (meeting), I always find it amazing--the demographic split," he said in Tuesday a speech at the Open Source Business Conference here. "The people 40 years old are on one side of the table, and they absolutely hate me, and the other side is 25 and under, and I'm pretty cool to them."
MySQL Chief Executive Marten Mickos said in an interview that he's observed a similar phenomenon. People rarely change, he said, so usually the shift to open-source software use comes with the arrival of a new generation of technologists at a company.
A few week ago I posted this comment.
So let me ask, has anyone considered creating a Cousin Jack and Cousin Jenny persona on MySpace and post their adventures in Grass Valley and Nevada City? Has anyone considered making videos of Grass Valley and Nevada City events and posting them on YouTube? Has anyone considered creating a Nevada County Travel Bureau on Second Life? It is time for a little disruptive thinking!
And not one of our local economic development leaders, or government officials concerned about declining tax revenue, commented on my proposal. I am well over forty, but putting forth ideas that would be on interest to the under 40 folks we need to attract. Was my idea discarded because it did not fit the over 40 mind set? Or, no one read it? Steve Frisch, Sierra Business Council, who lives in Truckee made some interesting comments, but just silence from the local folks. It could be they do not have time to read my ramblings, or thought the idea not worth considering.
I participated in a Sierra County Economic Development workshop last week, and asked the audience how may people had heard of MySpace and if they had a MySpace account, or if they had watched YouTube videos. Given the number of over 40 folks in the audience, I was surprised by the number of hands that went up.
As we seek to attract the next generation of the creative classes to Nevada County, first to visit, and then come here as business innovators, we need to get beyond our over 40 thinking and start thinking like the generation we desire to attract. See you on MySpace
