Oh yeah?

View one episode of Jersey Shore, the wildly popular MTV reality show, and you’ll never say that again.

Some are better, some are worse, but today’s youth are definitely different. And even the best among them have a watchful eye on their counterpart peers, who are, theoretically, having all the fun, excitement, and adventure. There are some pretty strong influences available to any one of any age at any time, and there’s no denying the strength of this gravitational pull.

Check out the trailer for the upcoming season of Jersey Shore and ask yourself how proud you’d be if you were the parent of one of these fine young Americans.

(Employers, are you really eager to hire one of these kinds of kids?)

It’s time to quit making excuses, grasp the major shift in cultural values, and boldly do something about it. It won’t be easy, and our actions won’t be popular, but we can affect change.

The short answer is, it’s never too early.

To prove it, here’s a video of me teaching my own 12-day-old granddaughters, Leni and Lou, how to stand apart from all other babies who will be entering the workforce sooner or later.

All too often, young workers who fail early refuse to accept responsibility for their struggles and instead blame the economy, or their company, or their boss, or…

This, of course, leads to more failure, which leads to increased bitterness that in passed on to next employer, which leads to more failure, etc.  The root of the problem is never addressed, and thus, the cycle continues.

However, in this article, a successful millennial reflects on her early job failures and owns up to having a poor work ethic. Interestingly, she cites almost very one of the 7 core work ethic values (attitude, reliability, professionalism, initiative, integrity, respect, and gratitude) when reflecting upon her former self.

I’ve never met Kate Pesich, but she has a new fan, and a new subscriber to her blog.

Below is an actual cover letter submitted by a young job seeker for what he considers his ‘dream job’. Obviously this young man (who can’t spell his own name) is acting on the advice he’s received throughout his life when told, “always remain true to yourself,” to “never put on airs,” and to “be 100% authentic in everything you do so as to always represent yourself as you really are”.

Not exactly the kind of coaching that you want to give a young job seeker who may just take you at face value.

Coach Shea is a great leader, and not just because she named my ten-year-old daughter, Audrey, captain of the lacrosse team – though that admittedly got my attention. It got my attention because Audrey is not the best player on her team. (Well, not the best by obvious definitions.) She’s not the best scorer. She’s not the best defender. She doesn’t have the best stick skills. She doesn’t have the most experience. In fact, she may rank last in all of those categories. What she does have is attitude and work ethic. And to Coach Shea, that is what matters most.

I confess that I was shocked when Coach Shea announced that Audrey would be the captain. This is her first year playing lacrosse, she rarely scores, and she’s playing with girls who have a lot more experience. Audrey is somewhat reserved and soft-spoken; and she’s easy to miss in a group of boisterous and confident kids. But here’s what coach Shea said, “Audrey works harder than anyone on the team. She has a great attitude. She arrives at every practice ready to learn and ready to listen, and she takes coaching and direction.”

Wow. Coach Shea says that she wishes she could clone Audrey, that she’d love to have ten more just like her. Simply stated, Audrey does her best every day. That’s more than can be said of her father, maybe more than can be said of you.

I asked Audrey about her work ethic and she told me that her body often wants to slow down but her mind won’t let it. That sometimes her body tells her to stop, but she just ignores it. She confessed that sometimes when she runs her side hurts, but when that happens she just thinks about something else and the pain goes away. Amazing.

And lest you think I’m the next Earl Woods or Mike Agassi or Richard Williams, I’m not. I believe in my kids and I’ve tried to teach them to believe in themselves. I’m also of the opinion that their lives are their lives and they must choose what to do with the gifts they have been given, and live (and learn) with the consequences of their choices. Yes, I encourage them. Yes, I support them. Yes, I challenge them. I place them in situations that test them and teach them. But I try to do so with love and kindness and respect. And sometimes we get lucky and they have a coach like Coach Shea who recognizes and rewards them for the key foundational elements to greatness at anything in life – attitude and work ethic.

Most teams are captained by the best player — best being defined by number of goals scored or defensive prowess or some other more tangible measure. In the case of my daughter’s lacrosse team, Coach Shea acknowledged and rewarded behavior she wants repeated – attitude and work ethic. And in that category, Audrey is the best. She gives everything she’s got to everything she does. And kudos to Coach Shea for recognizing and rewarding that behavior.

As a leader, your job is to be clear about your expectations and create an environment that enables your people to execute on those expectations. Coach Shea is clear – she wants players who work hard, have a willingness to learn, and are committed to doing their best. Everything you do as a leader sends a message to your people. And the message from Coach Shea to her people is simple – work hard consistently and you will be rewarded.

The cool thing for Audrey is that when Coach Shea explained why she chose Audrey to be the Team Captain, the other players nodded in agreement. It made sense to them. If that’s how they will be judged, then the choice is obvious.

How will you judge your team? What do you want from your people? Are you clear about your expectations? Are you acknowledging and rewarding behavior you want repeated? As a leader, you establish what matters most within your organization. Just make sure the actions you take are congruent with your desired outcomes.

If you do those all of those things, I might just write about you next.

Theo Androus is a speaker who delivers customized and personalized seminars on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development. To book Theo for your next event, visit http://www.GitomerCertified.com

****  BLOGS & ARTICLES  ****

Study Finds Smartphone Ownership Among Youth Has More Than Doubled

Arbitron & Edison Research release the results of The Infinite Dial 2011: Navigating Digital Platforms. Among the notable highlights of the results was the percentage of American’s over the age of 12 who have a smartphone has more than doubled in the past year.

Eric Chester’s comment on this: WOW! More than 30% of all teens in the US now have a Smart Phone?  Imagine how accustomed they are to getting their information with high speed graphics and in real-time as it happens… How long before land lines, text books, classroom learning, televisions, radios, etc. become obsolete? http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=2154348&spid=1314

McDonald’s Aims to Turn ‘McJob‘ Image on Its Ear in Recruiting Effort

Hyping what it calls National Hiring Day on April 19, McDonald’s today launches an ambitious campaign to recruit a whopping 50000 people to its already-massive workforce of 600000. http://adage.com/article.php?article_id=152930

Eric Chester’s comment on this: Many teens think they are above flipping burgers or working in the fast food industry. McDonald’s, the 800-pound gorilla in the industry, is putting a lot of money behind an effort to reverse that misconception.

The New Allowance: Putting Your Kids To Work Creating jobs at home

Old-fashioned allowance had its place, but can it actually do more harm in today’s society than good? We look at why creating jobs at home for kids to earn money is better than the “pay up” mentality of just a few years ago. http://tinyurl.com/3efp3w6

Eric Chester’s comment on this: Love this article!  These are great actionable strategies to instill fiscal responsibility within young people rather than fostering an entitlement mentality by simply handing them money for nothing.

****  VIDEOS  ****

TEMPEST FREERUNNING ACADEMY – Jesse La Flair

Jesse La Flair does a little parkour and freerunning while he explores the Tempest Freerunning Academy before the grand opening. Please hit like and or favorite if you enjoyed this video. Please let me know if you have any questions. The Grand Openin…

Eric Chester’s comment on this: Freerunning (or Parkour) is a new sport that’s sweeping youth culture. This video features the first gym in America (California, not surprisingly) that is dedicated to this phenomenon. If this sport were around when I was young,  I sure wouldn’t have wasted years trying to be a competitive bodybuilder.

The teen dream of becoming a star—a rock star, a movie star, a football star, an Internet star, a reality show star—is now more of an entitlement than an aspiration. The question for many people today isn’t so much if they’ll get their fifteen minutes of fame but how they’ll get it and what they’ll do with it.

In the past, fame and fortune came mainly through high achievement. To attain it, you had to become the best of the best—the best actor, the best baseball player, the best scientist, the best writer, the best artist, the best politician, the best business person, or even the best outlaw. And even if you were the best, in many scenarios you still had to be ‘discovered’ by someone who was in a power position to catapult you into the very narrow spotlight where the attention of the entire nation was centered.

Today there are hundreds of television and Internet channels begging for content and the spotlight is very large. Now anyone can get ‘discovered’ regardless is they have a high-powered agent or even any measurable talent.  If you’re willing to do something incredibly bizarre, dangerous, weird, or self-deprecating, you too can have millions of adoring fans.

I could provide hundreds of examples, but I’ll let Keenan Cahill (35 million views) and Sexy Sax Man (2.5 million views) make the case for me.

The bar to fame rests very low. No wonder so many teens and young adults question the need for developing a solid work ethic. Why put forth the effort and personal sacrifice to find success on Work Ethic Lane when Just Get Noticed Drive leads to bright lights and big bucks and appears so much easier, sexier, and a whole lot more fun?

Zac (my 26 year old son) is now in San Francisco and he’s searching for a position as a copywriter for a burgeoning advertising agency. (Assuming there are still a few ad agencies that are burgeoning.)

After two nights on a buddy’s couch, Zac sub-leased a one bedroom near downtown that’s a short walk from a bus stop.  He had picked up a transit pass upon arrival, so with a roof over his head and a nifty way to get around, he’s ready to get in the game.

In creative advertising, any prospective employer is going to want more than a resume; they’ll want to see his portfolio. So Zac spent a day and a half creating a very cool website that shows the ad campaigns he’s most proud of.  He’s got his video demo reel posted to YouTube and he links to it on this site to where it plays nicely. But Zac’s website shows a side of himself that is not, well, …not exactly professional.

For starters, the photo on his ‘About’ page will reveal to his next employer that Zac values humor and loves to play the clown.  His paragraphs are in all lower case letters showing that he’s not bound to structure when it conflicts with personal style. Finally, check out the last section on his resume and you’ll conclude that Zac’s not keep on joining force with any agency that takes themselves too seriously.

Add this to the list of things I would never have done when job searching at age 26 ‘back in the day’.

Nonetheless, the smart money is on Zac.

Stay tuned.

Since graduating from the University of Colorado in 2006 with a degree in advertising, Zac has worked for one of the largest advertising agencies in the world writing copy for ad campaigns of major household brands. His work has been seen on prime time television and in leading magazines. He’s been living in a trendy apartment in downtown Chicago and his work has taken him from New Zealand to Toronto to New York to South Africa. The agency has treated him extremely well and has paid him many multiples of what I made as a high school teacher and coach back in the 80′s.

Zac loves his job, his boss, and his coworkers. And as much as he’s enjoyed living the dream in Chicago, he’s packed up all his worldly possessions and is leaving town this afternoon. He’s always thought San Francisco would be a cool place to call home, and for about six months, he’s tried to land a job with several ad agencies located in the bay area.  He hasn’t found a job, though.

So why is he moving 2131 miles away to a city where he has no family, no job, and not even any promising job prospects?

Because he can.

Zac is single, untethered, and he has saved well.  Even still, I have cautioned him to find work before making such a risky move.  The way I see it, he’s got a great job and a great life and hey, “it’s a tough job market out there,  …you can’t leave something for nothing!” You can pretty much script out our heated debates over this. After all, I remember when I was 26, and that’s how I would have done things.

The Zacman is wired differently than his dad, but similar to many–if not most–his age.  His life does not revolve around his job.  His job will always take a back seat to his life. He doesn’t think “I’ll go to where the job is and make it my home” but rather, “I’ll go where I want to be and then figure out how to make a living once I’m there.”

Zac told me his first purchase will be a metro transit bus pass.  He plans to find a small studio apartment to sublet and he will sleep on an inflatable mattress for as long as he needs to.  Zac says he’ll try his luck with free-lance copy writing, but he’ll wait tables or drive a cab if that’s what it takes to  pay rent and buy groceries.

I just don’t get it. Clearly, one of us has his priorities completely out of whack.

The other is gonna buy a 49′ers hat.

My message to teens was simple. A career doesn’t suddenly “happen” to you when you’re 26, 35, or 48. It is the sum total of your entire body of work that begins the day you deliver that first newspaper or accept your first babysitting job. Everything you do prepares you for the next thing, and that experience prepares you for the next. And each of those work-related experiences follow you, defines you, and will either launch you forward or hold you back. There is no such thing as a ”blow off” job. Put your best into whatever you’re doing and you’ll be astounded at how fast you rise to greatness.

I’d tell them that a career will determine whether or not you spend the next 50 years loathing Mondays and only living for the weekend when you could stop working. If you make the right choices and listen to those who’ve paved the road you drive on, your work can be as fulfilling as your play and make you look forward to Mondays.

Sadly, very few high schools in America today still schedule a Career Day. It’s become a Herculean undertaking to round up enough adults from a variety of occupations who are willing to sacrifice a day and who are brave enough to address Gen Y students.

So with few exceptions, most schools are choosing college preparation over career preparation or even career exploration. Combine this with the Katrina effect the current recession has had on the job market and it’s easy to see why so many college graduates are moving back home and delaying the pursuit of a career.

It doesn’t justify it. It just helps some of us understand the realities and the reasoning.