The Leading Edge

In politics Obama ran a 21st century presidential campaign.  If you study his campaign in depth you'll see how he used tactics that were both 20th century (i.e. television ads, traditional fundraising dinners and good ol' grassroots organizing) and new school (user generated content, social media and an internet marketing campaign).  He understood (as he now continues to tout) the value of "reaching across the aisles".  Now that could be across party lines or across generational lines. In either instance Barack understands the value in both the old and new school. His approach to politics is on the leading edge.

Over the past couple of weeks I  stumbled across a couple of groups online whose focus and demographic audience is the 35 and under crowd (their language made it undeniably clear that they are about movers and shakers under the age of 35 and 30) - which is fine. In reading their verbiage it's not a far stretch if you came to your own conclusions that they definitely consider themselves as leading edge thinkers. 

In today's business environment (the workforce and the market) you see innovators and leaders consisting of Baby Boomers, Gen X'ers and Millenials intermingling, and you do yourself a disservice by thinking that you (and your age group) can exhist in a vacuum. 

Innovative ideas and companies (being run by all three generations) that all age levels are benefiting from are impacting the market; from Al Gore's Current TV to Mark Zuckerburg and Facebook. There is an enormous amount of value in being aware and wanting to engage those people who are "across the aisle" (culturally, generationally, etc).  

The leading edge thinkers of the 21st century will be those who can bridge the divide between the old school and the new school and in the process create something of value that every generation wants - the ability to grow in their own personal understanding of the world, learn new ideas they can share with others, pursue happiness that leads to a better life and give something back to the world that positively impacts those who will follow in their footsteps. 

Now this is what leading edge thinkers will do.