"The American Identity Crisis" is coming—how to avoid it

Americans are less than two years from an identity crisis.

We may already be in it.

If you’ve traveled abroad, it’s hard not to realize how young our country is. I’m just six generations away from a family member who fought with George Washington. Lt. James Tomlinson, my sixth great grandfather, fought to help create a country founded in liberty. I am embarrassed to think of him realizing that merely 225 years later, apathy is more common than any sense of liberty.

Amid all of the “woke” cultural discussion around quitting quietly or whatever flavor is trending this week, we're entering a dangerous era where Americans are creating a brand whose core value is corporate complacency.

Americans are facilitating this idea that work doesn’t matter.

In turn, I think corporate America is going to have no problem replacing its payroll with robotics and AI.

At this point, it may be what we deserve.

Complacency doesn’t have a place in capitalism

Famed category designer and marketer, Christopher Locchead, has been sounding the alarm—modern startups are being built on the back of AI, requiring far less capital—human or financial. Make no doubt, these efficient startups will be first acquired by corporate behemoths for their efficiencies, but the Fortune 500s will (and already are) looking at how to be more lean with less.

Last year, I was asked to give a presentation to a Fortune 100 company. The entire presentation was about how we operate so lean, fast and efficiently. The company had built a committee to evaluate startups and how they operate so they could execute within their organization, an American Goliath. This was before AI began to eat the world.

With complacency setting into our modern culture and remote work falling into question for some corporate giants and even startups, there is no doubt that Americans are sowing their own demise with this “laissez faire” attitude towards work.

Quite frankly, it seems like we just don’t care.

This generation of quiet quitters are going to be surprised to find that while they were skipping out early or putting in a minimal effort, their employers were creating ways to do more with less. People not putting in the effort to keep up with how their field is being impacted by rapidly evolving technologies like generative and conversational AI are going to find themselves 10 years behind in a matter of months.

This is where I see the identity crisis setting in.

The American spirit was grounded in resourcefulness, the right to pursue your dreams and of course, liberty. Over a few generations, my family has worked its way literally out of the mines and into roles in tech, insurance and healthcare. I fear for future generations when we, as a society, have lost our appetite for innovation, creation and entrepreneurship. And I fear for our current workforce when they realize that while they were being weekday wanderlusts, they were quietly being replaced.

The American spirit

I saw an investor tweet that he would never invest in a founder who wasn’t ready to put their life savings into their company.

I found it insulting at first, but came to realize this person had likely never built anything. Anyone who has built a company from scratch knows founders make huge investments.

No, it’s not always money.

But let’s not pretend that converting time to something of value isn’t a punishing exchange rate. I know what building my company has cost me.

For example, GoWild became my baby, and cost me time with my other babies.

You know, the human ones.

The pursuit of building a company that means something to other people has been a powerful experience for my children to see happen in real time. While time with family is critical, there is great value in kids seeing their parents working hard.

I will die on this hill: My work is very important to me, and a part of who I am.

While it may cost me time with family, it's also creating tremendous lessons for these kids:

• Real balance. My kids are learning life is not all roses and 4 hour work weeks. Work-life balance is achieved by earning the ability to play.

• Independence. Raising great kids is not just letting them win—whether that’s at checkers or winning your time. Teach them the world doesn’t revolve around them and that other people depend on you.

• Accountability. Be clear with your kids just like you’d try to do with employees. Be consistent. Be firm. Hold them accountable.

I am a father, but I am also a builder.

I need that part of me to exist—it helps me feel fulfilled, and whole when I am at home. I fear our country is building a class of complacent—if not outright lazy—workers. I'm determined to not be a part of that movement, and to raise my kids to be disruptors amid the champions of commonness.

I love these kids. Along with getting this wonderful woman to marry me, they're my greatest accomplishments.

But they can't be my only accomplishments and I won't use them as an excuse to not pursue my dreams.

One day my kids will outgrow my household. They will go on to have their own families, jobs and homes. And I assure you, it is not lost on me a single day that their contributions to society will be largely rooted in how good of a citizen they learned to be under my leadership at home.

While I'm not founding a country, I am still a founding father. And I am laying groundwork for the next generation, and their heirs.

3 ways to ensure you’re evolving instead of atrophying

1) Build a 5 year plan

I did this with my very first corporate manager, and kept up with the process up until I founded GoWild (now my 5 year goals are generally done from GoWild’s perspective). Write out your 1, 3 and 5 year goals. List 3-5 goals for each year, then start thinking through what you need to do to achieve these goals. I often found that by creating the goal, I was able to achieve my 1 year goals in months, 3 year goals in a year and 5 year goals in 3.

2) Learn new skills

It’s a no brainer, but if you’re not looking at the rapidly evolving space and how it applies to your job, you’re falling behind. I assure you, AI applies to what you do. This space is growing faster than the Internet or mobile phones did—it’s not going away.

3) Push yourself by reading more

Too few people understand the value of books. It’s so obvious, yet so many people turn their time towards garbage content instead of enrichment of the mind. I quit podcasts all together when I realized how much time I was putting into being entertained instead of educated. Now I “read” 25 to 40 books a year, and learn from dozens of people’s mistakes and successes every single year.

Who I’m listening to: Abby Hamilton

What I’m reading: “Only the Dead” by Jack Carr

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