Who’s Got Next?

In today’s fast-moving, Internet-driven, hyper-information society, one thing seems to remain true: If you want to stay on the cutting edge of business, technology, politics and societal trends, you must constantly be in pursuit of “what’s next.”

Just look at the success of billion-dollar enterprises that have shaped our entire world culture—companies such as MTV, Apple and Facebook.

All of these companies (and many more) can point to a strategy where the lead decision-makers leaned on the intellectual property of a younger generation for driving the latest ideas and innovation, while at the same time, the emerging generation looked toward the more experienced ones to guide them.

In the post, “Why Won’t the Old Guard Pass the Torch?” Bed-Stuy Patch blogger Melissa Danielle asks why the elected officials and other officers that hold community board positions in Bedford-Stuyvesant are resistant to helping usher in the next generation of leaders.

She asserts that passing the torch is how businesses, companies, institutions and societies grow and thrive well into the future. She adds that a failure to do so leads to arrested development and the dissolution of power.

However, ask those in the current positions of power, and they will tell you that they simply have not seen younger people involved in the community in any real numbers. Many of them view the current Internet Generation of leaders as far more self-involved and far less active in the community, and they have serious reservations about their overall ability to lead.

Do you believe it is time for Bed-Stuy’s current leaders to begin passing the torch, or do you feel that the up-and-coming generations lack real committment and the necessary experience?

Take our poll, and tell us what you think in the comments.