Millennial Ambassador: The Leaders Behind the Movement

Unveiling the Power of High Achieving Millennials: How SparkVision’s Research Ignited a Movement in Workplace Culture

Last summer, sitting around my dining room table with SparkVision’s first-ever intern, an idea was born. I was fed up with being told what millennials want in the workplace and why we were so awful. Even worse, most of the leaders of those conversations were people who were not of the generation themselves nor did they ever work strategically to empower or engage millennials in mass. What made them an authority that folks were eager to listen to?

Now that I had my own company I thought, I can do something about that! Formerly, I ran a young professional program with thousands of emerging leaders who were almost always eager to talk about their workplace wins and woes. I had a lot of ideas on what those workplace characteristics looked like for those who were thriving or drying out. But everything I knew for sure was anecdotal, no hard data to back it up. Once again I thought, I can do something about that! So we did.

Through our High Achieving Millennials Research Project, SparkVision continues to give voice to our generation in a way we hadn’t heard before.

We are shining the spotlight on young workforce members who are nothing like the rotten jargon we’re all too often associated with. And we’re digging into ‘the why’ behind those inspiring young leaders.

By way of survey and 1:1 interviews, we asked deep questions about:

Experiences in upbringing

Workplace culture preferences and deal breakers

Personal and professional values

Motivators

Stress Inducers

We started with a basic survey and over the phone interviews to follow. It was fascinating! And the results of that initial research were invigorating – we were on to something!

When we formally presented the results at our sold-out Launch Party in late April our goal was the inspire at least 10% (equating to 10 individuals) of the people in attendance to take action and join us as we kicked off Phase II of the research. Much to our surprise and extreme delight 23 people signed up before they left our party! And in that moment, a movement was born. It was only the beginning.

Over the past four months, the following individuals and organization stepped up to use their voice, social capital and leadership to support our mission to better understand the workplace cultures, values, upbringing and stress indicators for high achieving individuals who happen to be born between 1980 – 2000.

With these incredible advocates, we crushed our initial target of 1,000 participants just weeks after they were ignited to recruit! We upped our game to 2,500 participants and far exceeded that lofty goal when we closed the survey two weeks ago.

Many people ask how we were able to get secure so many folks with little “reward” for their efforts. The beautiful thing is, these leaders stepped up because the work resonated with them and, just like us, they thought “I can do something about that!”. We planted a seed, tended to it and many flowers bloomed. Our weekly transparent communications, occasional phone calls, and informal coaching set the stage for these ambassadors to take action. It was a true commitment on everyone’s part but well worth the incredible result in the end.

It’s with immense pride, humility, and appreciation that we officially recognized and thank the following individuals for being our fearless HAM Ambassadors:

Many more individuals supported us in these efforts. We continue to thank each and every person who participated in the research and shared it with others! You all inspire us every day.