The Future is Young

Why this book

but they often lack inspiration and hope. This book is about supporting young minds’ probing efforts with creative vision, energy and ambition.

The future is ours to create. We wrote this book as an optimistic manifesto. Having explored topics that are linked to talent and the future of talent for the past several decades, we refuse to allow today’s skeptical and downcast mood to turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. We strongly believe that today’s young generation – perhaps more so than any previous generation – is guided by a strongly prosocial compass and nurtures a rich set of hopes and ambitions. If these hopes are connected to a coherent vision, allowed sufficient freedom of action, and provided with the right tools, they are bound to lead us to a vibrant future that merges faith in progress with imagination and realism. To put it in one sentence: Our future is still young, and it can be shaped in any way we want it to be. Looking forward, yet knowing where we come from Although the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates (470 – 399 BCE) lived through a time of decline in Athenian democracy, he was undeterred in concerning himself with the pursuit of goodness. What is known until now as the Socratic method has to do with breaking a problem down into a series of questions, gradually constructing an answer. Our approach is similarly Socratic: We are conscious that starting and guiding a conversation doesn’t automatically produce answers or clear-cut, definitive solutions. But it does help raise pertinent questions and frame the dialog in constructive and inclusive ways. It is our hope that the dialog will involve young people interacting face to face with national institutions, government agencies and academia, as well as employers, technology vendors, industry regulators and other organizations around the world – at community, city, region, country, and international level.

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