being able to engage and learn with 1000s of inspiring people every year. This is the blessing of my life. I work with parents and educators all over the world who are raising our Next Generation with care, determination and unswerving belief in their contribution. I will be forever grateful that they have allowed me to engage with them.
It might take a village to raise a child, but it takes a tribe to support the writing of a book about those children and their future. The first and foremost member of that tribe is my wife and lifelong partner Sharon, who has a beautiful mind and soul; and was the best ever sounding board when it was needed during the writing. Naomi is the most awesome daughter anyone could have; and I'm lucky enough that she's mine. Her creative genius enlivens all discussion about the future. My grand-daughter Dana is a gift in my life, and already demonstrates what the Next Generation will accomplish.
Joan Dalton is the most outstanding educator in the world (and that's saying something!). Without her editorial advice in the initial stages of writing, this book would not have happened. She resonates with its core intent as strongly as I do, and I'll be forever grateful for her support.
My perceptive niece Kate Davies offered some superb suggestions for the chapter on ‘All in a day's work'. Thanks also to the rest of my gorgeous family – my mother Maureen, who is my greatest fan; my supremely talented sisters Tricia and Mary-louise; Patrick, Terry, Glenn, Matthew, Linda, Owen, and especially Hugh.
So many other high achievers believed in the book's message, and gave support accordingly. The intuitive Alie Blackwell can scan an early draft for just a few minutes, and then offer the most incisive and compelling advice. Sporting mate Dr Timo Dietrich provided invaluable support with digital marketing and web development.
A very special group of talented people offered an endorsement. They are each a tribute to education and parenting. Endless thanks to Michael Grose, Joan Dalton, Bill Jennings, Dr Stephen Brown, Dr Cheryl Doig, Professor Chris Sarra, Karen Boyes, Dr Paula Barrett, Sean Gordon, Steve Francis, Fran Turner, and Faye Hauwai.
The Wiley crew has been hugely supportive. This book is so many degrees better than it would have been without them. Lucy Raymond was my initial contact, and totally has her heart in publishing. Jem Bates thankfully tempered my exuberant enthusiasm with his insightful and measured editing. Talented editor Chris Shorten shadowed me every step of the way, and has made the process more seamless and enjoyable for me. Theo Vassili was always supportive of my provocative conjectures on marketing. May they all continue to superbly support the literary world.
INTRODUCTION A CALL TO ACTION
What are we doing to our young people? This is the best time in human history to be alive, and the future offers such amazing potential. Yet we constantly overwhelm them with how difficult the world up ahead might be.
While the future might be a complex and unpredictable place, that doesn't mean we can't positively influence what will occur. On the contrary, we have more control over that future than we might initially think.
In many ways, we can even create what is up ahead; and we need to help our kids to believe that they can do this too. One recent experience brought home to me the importance of encouraging this hope and creative capacity for the future in our young people.
For the past seven years, I have presented an annual Rotary talk to 100 young leaders from all walks of life. My session is on social contribution and how exciting the world up ahead can be.
At the conclusion of my latest presentation, I was approached by several of the attendees. They said it was heartening to hear such optimistic messages, and that they rarely heard such upbeat views from anyone.
According to them, every single adult in their lives, including their parents and their community leaders, consistently griped about the state of the world and maintained there was little chance of the future being any better. In fact, their elders often insisted it would be much worse.
It's time to turn this around. Let's dump the scare campaigns that leave our Next Generation feeling helpless, and instead show them how their choices today can create an inspiring future.
Rather than asking them, ‘What's the world going to be like up ahead?', ask, ‘What sort of world do you want to create up ahead?' The first question suggests they have no control over it, while the second demonstrates they do.
If you want to help children engage with the second question, this book is for you. It is organised in three sections:
◊ Part I. What's up ahead for our children. These introductory chapters clarify some of the exciting possibilities with our children's future, with a focus on the mind-altering world of technology and the manner in which it will influence work choices.
◊ Part II. Essential capabilities. Facing an uncertain future, today's children will require the critical capabilities outlined in these three chapters – specifically, adaptive agility, empathy and a love of inquiry.
◊ Part III. Actions for creating an extraordinary life. These concluding chapters offer three approaches to putting the knowledge in this book into everyday practice – through enterprise, philanthropy, and action projects.
The best time to plant a tree, according to the Chinese proverb, was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now. Let's get started.
PART I
WHAT'S UP AHEAD FOR OUR CHILDREN
CHAPTER 1
A window into possibility: coping with the beautiful mess
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Today's children will become tomorrow's adults in a time of dramatic, often exponential changes. This chapter will explore some of these possible changes, and how we can prepare our children's thinking for the exciting new world they will find. Let's begin by meeting someone who is already creating this amazing future.
#thenextgeneration #promisingfuture #beautifulmess #predictingtheirfuture #transhumanism
A FUTURE FULL OF PROMISE
The future is meant to be a promise, not a threat. If Boyan Slat is any indication, our Next Generation will rise to that promise. This young Dutch entrepreneur is part of the new cohort determined to create an inspiring world up ahead. While he was still a teenager, Slat launched the Ocean Cleanup project,1 which has been dubbed the largest clean-up in history. His astounding proposal? That up to 40 per cent of all rubbish in the world's oceans be removed within 10 years.
This is no small ambition. About eight million tonnes of plastic enters our oceans every year, and the cost of conventional removal methods is prohibitive. Slat asked, Why move through the ocean with a clean-up, when the ocean can move through you? His ingenious system relies on the ocean's currents collecting the debris inside what is called an Ocean Cleanup Array. Much of the oceans' rubbish presently accumulates in five ocean garbage patches around the world. In 2017, the first pilot installation of an array became operational in the largest of them all – the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California.
Their unprecedented entrepreneurial involvement will unleash one of the greatest economic and social evolutions in human history.
Boyan Slat is just one of millions of energetic young entrepreneurs determined to make the world an even better place. Around thirty-five per cent of the world's population is under 20 years old.2 It is they who will become the movers and shakers of the 21st century. Many already are. With increased access to the internet, and to learning opportunities that were simply not available at the start of the century, this generation will transform the planet. Nearly 90 per cent of these under-20s live in emerging countries in Africa, the Middle East, South America and Asia.3 Their unprecedented entrepreneurial involvement will unleash one of the greatest economic and social evolutions in human history.
For the purposes of this book, the Next Generation refers to two cohorts: Gen Z (born between 1994 and 2009); and Gen Alpha (born after 2009).