A couple of weeks back we went to a friend’s wedding, and because that friend was an old school friend of ours, naturally, we had a school reunion of sorts. So I met all of the friends that I had long lost touch with, and naturally, we did our catching up.

7 years after our graduation, I see them all complaining about their jobs, and looking for options – mostly looking to do their own business. This seems to be the same case with almost all the friends I meet lately. Suddenly business is looking quite ‘glamourous’ to them – pardon the pun, i used to think so too. It made me wonder: why is our generation giving up hope on ‘climbing the corporate ladder’ and turning their attention to other means of achieving life sustainability? It took me quite some time to put two and two together…

My father had mentioned to me that during his time, even without a degree, you had a good chance of climbing the corporate ladder to success – my mother worked her way up that way in the multinational she worked in – she started out as a clerk. These days, starting out as a clerk pretty much doubles the amount of time you need to spend in a company to climb up – IF they let you climb up. The reason, so my father says, was that the country was growing during their time. Foreign companies were setting up shop, government entities were being created – and the top positions for these organizations were still pretty much ‘empty’. Business is not an option if you’ve got the chops to make it in the corporate world.

These days, you’ll find that most management who ‘retire’ get rehired as contract management, most political leaders carry out their terms way into their golden ages, and most large companies have slowed their headcount growth – some even shrinking them. In these conditions, its no small wonder that ‘climbing the corporate ladder’ is an extremely slow and painful (your pay doesn’t get adjusted according to inflation rates) process for many us. It’s this that’s led many in our generation to consider business as such a viable and attractive option.

Yet, our parents, who’ve either experienced or seen success at ‘climbing the corporate ladder’ will always discourage us from leaving the corporate world. This is only because of their world view, and we shouldn’t blame them, because if we succumb to it, and find ourselves going nowhere later, we’ve only got ourselves to blame. It’s time for mutual understanding. Our old folks need to understand that things are no longer what they used to be, and we need to understand where our folks are coming from when they say “you shouldn’t do it”. Find agreement, and support each other through whatever it is we’re embarking into.

The country needs to grow again – but now it’s up to the small starters – the startup folks – those who, tired of ‘climbing the corporate ladder’ – seek to make a change not just in themselves, but in the world. Those who have the chance to hit it big in the world market, send their companies to the sky, and generate a whole new set of ‘empty’ top positions. How ’bout that? It’s time for the new generation to keep this country moving forward – because we’ve got nowhere else to hang on to