I recently read an article on the 40 reasons Your Kid will Become a Barista. First, I’m not too sure there is anything wrong with being a Barista. I love coffee. My clients love coffee. What could be better than serving delicious coffee all day? This said, I understood the point of the article. The workforce of the future might be lacking a little drive when it comes to separating jobs from actual career ambitions.

The article I read suggested kids don’t have enough match and science training in elementary school to really become professional anythings. I’m not keen on this theory. There are plenty of people who do great at math and science and decide to become homemakers or fashion designers or even baristas.

Again, motivation is my concern. I recently walked into a mom and pop owned mail business. I will not name the chain as to not embarrass the franchisor, but the pop had his 14 year old son working. I wasn’t greeted when I walked in. In fact, the child sat in chair at the front of the store, not the work counter, playing on his iPhone and waving at his friends walking by. When I did ask HIM to help me, he said he wasn’t familiar with email and couldn’t. I doubt he isn’t familiar with email judging by the $400+ phone in his hand.

When his dad did walk out from the back, I still wasn’t greeted. I had to ask HIS dad for help and he , without checking the system, said they never received the email I sent to be printed, faxed and then shipped to clients. WOW! Motivation and leading my example are the reasons I think the up and coming generation of workers and professionals will have a lot more mature workers holding jobs normally occupied by teens- not a lack of math and science training.

If you want to read the article that inspired my blog post, you can find it here: http://fistfuloftalent.com/2014/01/5-reasons-kid-will-end-40-year-old-barista.html

Britanie Olvera, CEO of Building Team Solutions