The World Government Summit in Dubai, always leaves its attendees and viewers with a gratified, inspirational understanding of what governments and businesses across the globe are doing to improve the lives of citizens everywhere. This year, as the Raising Awareness and Human Social 2.0 panel wrapped up, there was one undeniable takeaway: the voice of Millennials and Generation Zers are forcing governments and businesses across the globe to change how they operate. Through the panel, featuring top entrepreneurs and executives Renato Libric, Rana Gujral and Ryan Patel, we learned that the traditional methods of operating a business has been flipped on its head and now requires much more thought and consideration.
What has changed?
The times have changed from when a company could focus solely on making as much capital as possible without having to worry about their global outreach and opinions. Now, an organization’s stance on what they believe in, as well as their own goodwill in the world, are equal, if not more valuable, than the products they produce. This new wave of pressure to ‘do good’ came about because of the advent of social media, empowering millennial’s and Gen Zers.
The panel moderator ( Melissa Jun Rowley) touched on how millennial’s and Gen Zs are digital natives who have quickly realized, not only the power that they hold, but how to use it. “They collaborate with people on the other side of the planet” and are more “socially aware than any generation ever has been.” Thus, making them a very forceful consumer.
How does this change impact businesses?
As Ryan Patel (Board of Director at American Red Cross LA, former VP of Global Development at Pinkberry) noted, “companies can no longer just be okay with, ‘we made enough money, now let’s do something good’ It has to be engrained in their DNA.” Because if it’s not and if a consumer sees something they don’t like, they’re going to let the brand know directly.
Patel also expanded on this thought, stating that it’s vital for companies to now…