Youthful Hustle Mindset
Youthful hustle is widely encouraged in our society. This mindset pressures us to achieve greatness before youth slips away. Under such pressure, youthful hustle focuses on success, resorting to shortcuts. Encouragement to “fake it till you make it” contributes to this mentality as does busyness and success.
Charlie Javice, Martin Shkreli, Elizabeth Holmes, Trevor Milton, and Sam Bankman-Fried share a common fate. They made headlines and face the consequences of a youthful hustle.
Chris Bakke highlights that Forbes 30 Under 30 collectively raised $5.3 billion in funding but were arrested for frauds and scams worth over $18.5 billion.
Sam Bankman-Fried, once enjoying the good life, now faces charges like bribing a foreign government and money laundering. Caroline Ellison, his former partner, pleaded guilty to seven criminal charges. She may receive a more lenient sentence due to her cooperation.
The Youthful Hustle
Charlie Javice, founder of Frank, experienced success before being charged with inflating her company’s customer count. Frank only had about 300,000 clients when she claimed five million. She hired a data scientist to invent millions of customers.
And JPMorgan Chase acquired her company for $175 million, but none of its employees or executives detected the fraud during due diligence. Javice now faces conspiracy charges with a maximum 30-year prison sentence. But denies all allegations.
What if making it on the cover of a magazine is a delusion that feeds the ego, rather than reflecting true leadership? What if we stopped celebrating financial winners, billionaires and philanthropists? Why have we been led to believe they are special?
Because they are not really when we wake up to reality.
We have an opportunity right now to author healthy stories. When we see this as an opportunity, maybe we shift our focus from chasing short-term gains to cultivating conscious leadership?
By doing so, we inspire a new generation of leaders who recognize that true leadership comes from within. Can we value integrity and self-awareness over fleeting fame and fortune?