Why companies should hire 14-year olds!
by Roger
A lot of companies lose momentum because they fail to see the opportunities social media could give them. They fail to react to the opportunities they do notice, and most of those who react, are doing it all wrong.
Forget expensive trendwatchers. Most of them are now discovering Facebook and god forbid if you mention Twitter. As soon as someone calls himself a trendwatcher, he/she is a late adopter at best. You’ll pay a lot of money for something most of your competitors already know.
Managers don’t have the time or the skills to do the necessary research. That’s why they hire employees, but they all have a job to do. Being creative online takes time, and face it, with smaller budgets, fiercer competition,… time spent on something that doesn’t immediately adds value to the company seems like time wasted.
I think it was Tom Peters who said CEO’s should hire kids.
Especially since a lot of the social media opportunities require a certain level of being savvy enough to understand and more importantly, to find them all. Your solution, hire a few kids to spend some time with the company.
· Kids have all the time in the world
· They are more keen to try new things
· Ever since VCR’s came into the living room they are more techsmart
· It’s cheap. You could probably seal the deal with a month’s supply of pizza
The company checklist
· Don’t overthink the group of kids you want to use. It really doesn’t matter where they’re from, what they believe in or how old they are. As long as they know how to use a computer you’re good.
· Give them at least one day to get used to the environment and each other. Try to put them into a room that sparks creativity.
· Toys, crayons,… No Wii’s or Playstations though, you want them to focus.
· Give them their assignment after they are settled in, this will prevent someone playing leader.
· Don’t push them. Kids don’t respond to deadlines, orders or anything we have to cope with.
And of course, afterwards, use their findings to see what they could mean for your company.
Did some of you already try this?
I’d like to know how it went, what you did and how it turned out.
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Comments
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I wonder if performing the same experiment on ADULTS might yield similar results – remove the deadlines and bullshit of meetings, chain of command, office politics, etc.
Kathy @ Virtual Impax´s last blog post..When You Hear Hemp, Do you Think “Rope” or “Dope”?
@styletime great post: http://tinyurl.com/6kakfk let’s hire more 14 year olds, pay with pizza :)
Could be fun to organize some sort of summer camp… Who knows what the results would be. I’m not convinced, but would not mind trying it out. (especially with the pizza deal)
Hi Kathy,
Good comment and it illustrates the fact that when we grow up we’re faced with all these things that keep us from moving forward. It all starts simple… one person, one job, but than you add layer and layers of office politics, weekly meetings, deadlines,… not to mention organized company ‘free time’, something done with best intentions but with small results (especially in big companies). Remove all the clutter and maybe we all have time again to be like little kids…
Thank you for the comment.
Tom
Tom´s last blog post..Why companies should hire 14-year olds!
Peter, good idea to organize a summer camp. This can be a creative way to channel loads of new ideas and discuss them at a big meeting in fe September.
However, I would try to do it more spontaneous, to solve ‘problems’ more quickly. Summer camps are maybe a bit too holiday-like.
Thanks for the comment,
Tom
Tom´s last blog post..Why companies should hire 14-year olds!
Should biz hire kids to innovate? http://tinyurl.com/6kakfk Commenter says no, just unshackle the adults. What an amazing idea!
Why companies should hire 14-year olds! http://is.gd/c1wR Interesting blog post by @styletime