How Do We Train Leaders for a Green Economy?

As a country, we have lost 1.9 million of them in 2008. Economists and even our national oracle of optimism, President-Elect Obama, recognize that another 2-3 million jobs are likely to be lost in 2009. While those of us in the career coaching business continue to proselytize that jobs in healthcare, human services, engineering, and education are actually increasing, the number one growing sector is one that is just beginning to shift from a vision to fruition: the green industry.

The notion of evolving from an oil-based economy to a green one is not new. What has changed is the widespread societal recognition that such a shift is not only the “right” thing to do but also the “only” thing to do. It puts people across racial, class, and educational divides to work at living wages in industries that will cut carbon emissions, create clean energy, end America’s dependence on oil, slow the process of global warming, and most importantly, create a sustainable and just future for our nation.

So how does this happen? Van Jones, the Founder of Green for All, a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty, provides the answers in The Green Collar Economy by detailing a bevy of interrelated projects not only in energy independence but also in food, waste, water, and transportation sustainability. These innovative technologies first and foremost necessitate professionals to design, build, install, and maintain them. However, they will also require professionals to market, sell, educate, evaluate, and create the culture surrounding them. In other words, a green economy includes all of us, particularly those who educate, train, and employ millennials (the generation born between 1978 and 2000) who will be the largest generation in the workplace by 2012.

While not as seriously impacted as Generation X and Baby Boomer workers, millennials have nevertheless received a harsh slap in the face over the last 3 months. No longer courted and plucked directly from college and graduate school, we have to network and interview like everyone else, negotiating between taking a job that enables us to make the minimum monthly payment on our egregious student loans with not branding ourselves in a way that will prevent us from aligning our purpose with our career once the economy picks up. If we want the next generation of leaders not only to be able to survive but also to thrive in a green economy, we have to train them to do so… and fast. President-Elect Obama wants to invest $150 billion in the creation of 5 million green collar jobs over the next 10 years.

These entry-level jobs (which although lower-skilled will still pay between $9-$15/hour) include retrofitting energy inefficient buildings to installing solar panels and drought-tolerant landscaping. They necessitate face-to-face contact between workers and clients. Urban Habitat, a social and environmental justice organization in the Bay Area, says green collar employees will therefore need to have excellent interpersonal communication skills, be timely, and be able to work efficiently without direct supervision, traits not necessarily endemic to millennials.

But perhaps most importantly, for the green collar economy to be inclusive of all Americans and truly model the ethical and environmental values thought-leaders purport it can, millennials and other green economy leaders must have opportunities to train and practice being values-driven leaders. They must be able to articulate their leadership vision and mission; know how to coach and be coachable; embrace change, diversity, and innovation as core values; speak and negotiate effectively. and be resilient in the face of unexpected but unavoidable professional and personal setbacks.

What shifts can you make in your career, business, organization, university, or association to empower emerging and evolving leaders to be successful in the green economy?

Future Proof Your Finances and Career

Check out my feature article in The Woodhull Institute Leader.

Attention, Uncle Sam, I Deserve a Bailout Too!

Like many in America, I have been glued to the news since September of this year, equal parts confused and intrigued by the corporate bailout process. Last night, as I listened to institutions ranging from the CEO’s of the big three automakers to a suburban Cleveland, Ohio school district requesting government monies, I realized I should be able to get in on the action. I’m a millennial. Isn’t a sense of entitlement my birthright?

Oh, I kid. I kid. While my generation has been branded entrepreneurial, innovative, and tech savvy by some, others have indeed labeled us disrespectful, whiny, and outright lazy. Call us what you want, but according to Eric H. Greenberg and Karl Weber, the authors of the new book, Generation We, millennials or Gen-We’s are also the first generation to inherit a nation in economic decline. And yet, many of us have a history of paying OUR bills on time.

Since I received my first university-sponsored MasterCard at nineteen, I’ve paid each of my credit cards off fully each month. Ditto for my cell phone and utility bills. And as for my egregious student loans, my gift for pursuing a master’s at a private university? Well, not only do I pay the required monthly payment, but I also have been saving a little extra to double up on my payments to try to get 100% debt free before starting a family. The real kicker is that the recipient of these payments, Citibank, is in the throes of a bailout rescue.

But surely my economic responsibility has paid off in other ways. I have a nearly perfect FICA score. I am one of the few people in this nation who could get credit. Unfortunately, this means absolutely nothing to me since the only way I could buy a car or condo living in the NYC tri-state area would be to STOP paying my monthly expenses on time. And then all of this responsibility would be for nothing.

To be clear, conceding to the American trend of spending beyond one’s means has absolutely no allure for me.

And enough of my criticizing. I’m a solutions-oriented gal.

Therefore, I’m proposing a bailout. Scratch that, an economic stimulus (much more positive rhetoric), to any millennial with perfect credit. We are as low-risk as any U.S. group and will be the largest generation by 2012. Uncle Sam, do you really want us to be supporting our financially struggling boomer parents in retirement, starting families, and leading organizations without being able to afford so much as a slice of the American dream?

Don’t answer that. Just remit payment to the aforementioned group, starting with me, Alexia Vernon. You have access to all of my records, so I trust you know where to find me. I promise, I will do my generation and my country proud!