The Next Generation

Results of a survey of high school students on their attitudes about entrepreneurship.

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"W hen the rate of change outside exceeds the rate of change inside, the end is in sight."

-- Jack Welch, chairman and CEO, General Electric

The MTV generation knows what it likes (see [Article link]), and one thing it apparently likes is the idea of being your own boss. In a recent survey conducted by the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, in Kansas City, Mo., 69% of high school students expressed an interest in starting their own business. Although only 18% report that money would be their principal motivation, about two-thirds of them believe that money is the principal reason other people launch companies. That's hardly a surprise when you consider the impressions of business life conveyed to the public by the general press and the entertainment industry. Evidently, this is also a generation that knows what it doesn't know: 86% rate themselves as very poor to fair when it comes to the business and entrepreneurial know-how required to launch a company.