My usual field to till is entrepreneurship and behavioral economics.

But allow me a bit of circular travel.  I belong to a “lunch bunch” that consists of 12 to 15 old white men who gather twice a month (dressing on the side) and discuss the world.  A recent topic was the SAT exams and where they should play in the realm of college admissions.  

As you can imagine, given that the average age of this gaggle is 75+ and that all of them have college degrees (some MDs and some PhDs), they came down pretty clearly on the classic measure of scholastic aptitude.  According to a recent article in Forbes, “One in eight freshmen at UCSD place below high-school levels in math.”  A report from the UCSD Senate-Administration Workgroup said that “8.5% of 2025 freshmen’s math skills fell below 8th grade level.”

Point made.

A recent New York Times guest essay by Emi Nietfeld, 34, makes the case that “Gen Z has fallen out of love with work, and it’s easy to see why.”  She went to Harvard, majored in computer science, got a job at Google and then quit to write a book, “Acceptance.”  

Nietfeld is a millennial, and she argues that Gen Z’s (1997 – 2012) prevailing sentiment is “that basically nobody under 40 right now expects good things to happen ever again.”  There is uncertainty in the world (look, life is what happens while you’re making other plans), and she says that generation “feels it is pointless to prepare for tomorrow.”

Now there is some nuance here.  It is not a complete stretch to see certain segments of the economy as nothing more than a casino.  Windfalls are given quickly and taken away just as fast.  Catch a hot stock startup or an influencer gig, and the world begins to seem like a lottery ticket.

Her article goes on to say that many young people consider “owning a business to be the key to unlimited opportunity.”  That is the spark that connects a generation to entrepreneurship and its twin sister, ambition.

Now back to the old folks at the lunch.  Every one of them started out somewhere between lower middle and middle class.  No trust fund babies.  So where did they find the ambition, which Nietfeld argues is diminishing in the Gen Z cohort.

A recent Federal Reserve study found that “nearly half of 18-29 year-olds now live with their parents,” — not a surprising statistic.  There are fewer jobs, there is a rise in AI, housing is often a pipe dream, scrolling is universal, social media lies to us, and depending on your politics, you are either thrilled, dismayed or homicidal.   

And then there is money and fame and the pursuit thereof.  Try balancing that two-headed monster against self-mastery, agency and simple satisfaction at your work.  Finally, let’s take a look at privilege.  Nietfeld says that her goals gave her dignity, her aspirations carried her forward, she studied the SAT book in her “rusty car,” but then laments that she “bears the scars of her work ethic.  I wish I had known, like today’s youth, how to give myself more grace.”  

Really, come on, lady, Harvard, Google and The New York Times.  She says she “worshiped at the altar of work.”  OK, seems that turned out pretty good.  It is easy to see the trees if you are standing on the mountain looking down. 

Finally, what I see in the embrace of entrepreneurship is having the belief, the faith that you can in some way control the outcome, that you can shape your destiny, that you are not merely a random dot on the ocean, thrown around with no rudder.  Entrepreneurship is one way “to find a center.”   

I grew up angry and not particularly admired by my parents.  I had something to prove, and I spent a lifetime doing just that.  I got good grades, and I went for it with a vengeance.  Without sounding like some drool-cup old man, I am not willing to forgive the generation that thinks that it is now hopeless.  Look at the history of this country and find a pick and shovel that fits your hands and get after it.

Those old lunch-bunchers believed in their own ability to shape a life. In the end, that is the destiny and the definition of the entrepreneur.

Rule No. 836:  2+2 = 4, it’s just math.

Senturia is a serial entrepreneur who invests in startups. Please email ideas to neil@blackbirdv.com.