By Eleanor Patten
“I know this may come across as pandering to my audience, but I really do think that this generation is the next great generation.” After listening to author Dan Lyons speak to Social Enterprise Students on his experiences this quote was one that really stuck with me. It would have been easy to walk away from the event demoralized. Luckily, amidst discussing income inequality and the challenges facing young employees Dan Lyons imparted an inspirational message. The message being, change is possible and it is up to future employees to ask for more from their companies. What the workforce demands has the potential to shape how corporations address societal issues. Capitalism is not evil but currently it is being misused.
Dan Lyons is a well known journalist and author most famous for his work on the book Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble where he details his experience entering Hubspot as an older employee. When he starts at the company he is thrown off by the cultish nature of training and of the high levels of uncertainty that permeate the workplace culture. When writing the book Mr. Lyons perceived the tale as a quirky anecdote that others may find interesting and funny. What he wasn’t expecting, however, was that so many people had similar experiences. After publishing the story he was astounded with the responses he received from employees who said they had experienced the same thing. The start-up culture was toxic for people everywhere and there was a lot more to be learned.
As a journalist Dan Lyons had a penchant for getting the final story which prompted him to write his second book: Lab Rats: How Silicon Valley Made Work Miserable for the Rest of Us. In this book he explores what is wrong with the work environment today and what can be done to fix it. Everything Dan Lyons does is done with biting humor so the crowd was full of laughter even when discussing trillions of dollars that have left the middle class and landed in the bank accounts of the 1%. He balanced concerning statistics with hopeful stories of employee ownership, CEOs that capped their personal salary, and how in his travels and interviews he is consistently inspired by younger generations and their outlook on the future.
Northeastern’s Social Enterprise Institute has a chapter in Lab Rats because Dan Lyons believes that education on social enterprise is one of the best ways to shift the corporate landscape and make business work for people. People want stability, security, and to leave the world a little bit better. Shareholder value is not holding the value it once did and authors like Dan Lyons believe that once the start up bubble pops, good human-centered business will be what stitches our country and planet back together.
