{"id":2297,"date":"2020-04-23T07:23:51","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T11:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/?p=2297"},"modified":"2020-04-16T11:24:21","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T15:24:21","slug":"weve-been-wrong-about-millennial-entitlement-and-4-other-hot-takes-from-diane-abruzzini-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/2020\/04\/23\/weve-been-wrong-about-millennial-entitlement-and-4-other-hot-takes-from-diane-abruzzini-17\/","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve Been Wrong About Millennial Entitlement\u2026 and 4 Other Hot Takes from Diane Abruzzini ’17"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post was written by Kate Barry ’20 and Taran Catania ‘<\/em>20<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent interview with Kathleen Burns Kingsbury in the Breaking Money Silence\u00ae podcast<\/a>, Diane Abruzzini \u201817 gave us a handful of fresh insights on impact investing, millennial entitlement, recession-driven entrepreneurship, and how women do money and business differently. We\u2019ve collected five of our most favorite \u201chot takes\u201d below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. We\u2019ve Been Wrong About Millennial Entitlement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diane is quick to\npoint out that the concept of \u201cmillennial entitlement\u201d on its own is a\nhalf-baked concept: \u201cIt’s a funny thing to call anyone entitled because there’s\nmore to that sentence — you’re entitled to<\/em>\nsomething.\u201d The stereotype of millennial entitlement to money is not actually\nengaging with who millennials are. \u201cWhat might be a truer statement is that\nmillennials are<\/em> entitled, but they’re\nentitled to different things. They’re entitled to [the] ethos that we were\nraised with\u2026 of transparency, of equity, of equal access to resources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as Diane puts\nit — what if this entitlement is a good thing? And what if it\u2019s something\nbusinesses can use to help reach and engage millennials, and not simply to\ndismiss them (as the world makes continuous jokes about the things millennials have \u201ckilled\u201d<\/a>)? The\ntruth is, millennials\u2019 preferences are making big changes in the business\nworld. \u201cAnd if you want to be able to connect with millennials,\u201d Diane notes,\n\u201cyou’re going to have to be able to reach them in helping them create the world\nthat they want to live in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Recessions Produce Entrepreneurs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In light of recent\nevents, we have our eyes on the job market and the economy at large as we\nprepare for our graduation in August. Diane graduated from college during the\n2008 recession, which made landing a conventional post-graduation job for her\nand her peers more difficult than usual. Because of this, many, including\nherself, turned towards non-traditional and entrepreneurial ventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this,\nDiane is not surprised that millennials are more entrepreneurial than past\ngenerations\u2014we live in economically volatile times where flexibility and\ncreativity are key for a savvy millennial. Diane claims, looking at the history\nbooks, those who often become entrepreneurs are \u201cpeople who are usually boxed\nout of traditional well-paying sustaining jobs.\u201d This list includes immigrants,\nwomen, and people who aren\u2019t able to find what they are looking for because\nthey don\u2019t fit mainstream demographics. Millennials, women in particular, are simply\ndoing what they have to out of necessity, to shape a world that works for them\nmoving forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Female Entrepreneurs are Having a Moment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically,\nwomen-owned businesses have not been able to pull in venture capital funds at\nthe same rates as their male-owned counterparts. However, as Diane notes,\n\u201canytime there\u2019s a group of individuals that have been overlooked, there is\nuntapped potential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Luckily, certain\nfirms are catching on that women-owned businesses are offering products that\nthe male-dominated financial world has missed. Diane gives the great example of\nBurlington-based Mamava<\/a>\n\u2013 a women-led business that designs lactation suites for breastfeeding moms on\nthe go. While this might sound like a simple idea, as Diane says, \u201cit\u2019s never\nbeen done before because no one has taken that design perspective for the young\nmother consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, because women are half the population, products made with them in mind resonate with a significant customer base (duh<\/em>). So it\u2019s long overdue (in our humble opinion) for Diane\u2019s declaration: \u201cfemale entrepreneurs are having a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Women Invest Differently<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re glad Diane\ndoesn\u2019t shy away from this one: \u201cThe language in traditional financial services\nis super male.\u201d Even the way investing is framed semantically is competitive\n(\u201coutperform\u201d) and individualistic (\u201cwinner-takes-all\u201d). But generally\nspeaking, women and millennials alike tend to look towards our own goals: we\nmay not have a goal of a 9% return in the stock market, but we have a goal of\npaying off our student loans or saving up for a home. So as Diane explains, if\nmillennials and women \u201ccan’t connect to the [financial] advice that’s been\ngiven to us, \u2026then they’re not going to seek that out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diane wants to\nchange how people view the connection between their personal goals and their\nfinances. \u201cBeing able to use your money and your power to fund what’s important\nto you\u2026 [is] really powerful. If more women, [regardless of generation],\nunderstood that you can invest according to your goals, there might be a little\nbit more excitement around investing and using financial power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Money is Power<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diane cites a shift\nin finance towards impact investment as her reason for pivoting her career.\nShe, along with many others, see the power of the capital market to instill\nlasting, sustainable change, and the financial world is starting to shift\naccordingly. Diane says \u201cThe more we can divert capital and money into the\nfuture that we want to believe in, then the more emphasis and the more strength\nis going to be behind that movement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we couldn\u2019t\nagree more. This is what makes us so excited to take part in the shift to\nimpact investing for VENTURE.co<\/a>\nwith our practicum project this summer. The private equity market is uniquely\npositioned to allow investors to make direct impact by supporting growth-stage\nbusinesses with social and environmental missions. And the research from our\npracticum project will do just that for VENTURE.co and its clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And one final thought\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you like the sound of our VENTURE.co practicum project, you can read more about it (and check out all this year\u2019s Sustainable Innovation MBA practicum projects) here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Kate Barry ’20 and Taran Catania ‘20 In a recent interview with Kathleen Burns Kingsbury in the Breaking Money Silence\u00ae podcast, Diane Abruzzini \u201817 gave us a handful of fresh insights on impact investing, millennial entitlement, recession-driven entrepreneurship, and how women do money and business differently. We\u2019ve collected five of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “We\u2019ve Been Wrong About Millennial Entitlement\u2026 and 4 Other Hot Takes from Diane Abruzzini ’17”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4489,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[163314,33374,46457,427000,38462,26,425091,427011,272245],"tags":[17503,427001,41478,551],"class_list":["post-2297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-us","category-alumni","category-jobs","category-from-the-web","category-interviews","category-learning","category-practicums","category-social-mission","category-strategy","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-impact-investing","tag-innovation","tag-vermont"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8b9n0-B3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2297"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2299,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions\/2299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/si-mba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}