It’s clear the lean community is struggling with attracting the younger generation. Share in this frustration. Have given it some though and am starting to think we have a problem with what lean is versus what motivates young and eager people. Long ago many of us had the light bulb moment when we stopped focusing on tools and started understanding principles. Of course this is part of the lean journey and when we start really being lean practitioners. It might also be the marketing problem. Everyone in the lean community seems to like martial arts references so will use martial arts to illustrate. I have trained in martial arts all my life and can be honest about why. When I was a young teenager I had one motivation. Become as good of a fighter as possible. As I entered my 20’s & 30’s I become really interested in different systems and how they address complex situations. Now at the end of my 40’s I still have my preferences in styles but have different goals. Really appreciate the social & health benefits of training. Simply attending class and feeling motivated to keep learning out ways the actual combative abilities. Perhaps I started to truly embrace the martial arts spirit versus the study of combat.
Connecting this together, will highlight the age profile of martial arts schools today in the west. Traditional styles like Karate generally attract children and parents. Often they actual have child parent classes.
Older teenagers and young adult’s mainly train in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, mixed martials or modern combative. Why? They want to learn how to fight and don’t care about the spiritual aspects.
This is my point. We may realize it’s not about tools but it is the tools which they seek. I wrote this because I love lean and want the next generation to benefit as much as we have. My suggestion as odd as it sounds is to create and promote tools which appeal to this generation. Get them in and then we can show them the light.
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