In the early days, Camp Start-Up was an experiment.

How, I wondered back then, could we give teenagers a taste of entrepreneurial life that would be as appealing as a summer of sailing, as much of an adventure as Outward Bound, and as memorable as trekking in Thailand? A tall order, but I knew that to get anyone to risk even a little slice of the idyll we dream of as summer it would take more than listening to geezers wax euphoric about the joys of a balance sheet in a stuffy classroom in July.

via Acukiki

That first summer the camp was for girls only and we held it at a spa in Palm Springs, CA. It was pretty cool (116 degrees on some days, but cool). Palm Springs was not, then, a hotbed of tech start-ups. But the owner of the spa (Sheila Cluff) was a founding member of the Committee of 200 (a club for women entrepreneurs) and getting a chance to be ‘backstage’ at a spa, was, a new kind of experience for these girls. Sheila was an ice skating star and on tour by the time she was 16, and her tales of making money by charging interest on loans to the older (and less frugal) skaters on the tour caught the attention of the campers.

The next year we moved the camp to the Sonoma Valley (looking for a slightly cooler summer climate). And that year, Margo Fraser, the owner of Birkenstocks USA, hosted the girls (and made them brand loyal forever by giving them all cute shoes at a discount so deep they each felt the triumph of a great steal). Once again, we had an entrepreneurial role model whose story was so interesting and accessible, the girls could all imagine themselves as successful entrepreneurs.

In the beginning, our biggest challenge was getting the girls to think big, to have a vision. The most common business start-up idea for girls then was a nail salon. Not a chain of salons, or the world’s biggest salon, just one cozy little salon, their own tiny empire. Thinking big takes practice and in those days (when even the idea of Take Our Daughters to Work Day sparked great controversy), girls were not encouraged to think big. Sometimes it broke my heart how pinched their visions were. How could they change the world if they could not imagine themselves as big players in the world?

But when those ‘aha’ moments arrived and the light went on, when yet another teenager saw herself truly as a mover/shaker, who could make an idea come to life, we could see a whole new path open up for herself. The confidence and self-awareness they went home with was so transformative that parents cried, watching their daughters present their first ‘business plan’ at the camp closing ceremony. So maybe camp wasn’t quite like a hike through Yosemite, but the kids did take home some pretty amazing memories.

These days the camps are co-ed (well, we do have one that’s ‘girls only’ in Florida) and focus has widened a bit. We no longer focus just on business start-ups. Kids who have a dream to be an actor, a teacher, a ‘green activist;’ or a writer need entrepreneurial skills every bit as much as the kid with an idea to replace Google. 21st Century kids need to know how to develop financial safety nets, no matter what their career or avocation, and knowing how to make a job will be more critical than just knowing how to ‘get a job.’

Camp is still fun—golf, swimming, tennis, vegging under big shady trees with friends on a warm summer afternoon are still part of the plan. But what we learned from those early days of Camp Start-Up has made the new camp a place for teenagers to become whoever they want to be. And that is an adventure that’s hard to top.

The headline was chilling to firms and families alike: “Growth of Unpaid Internships May Be Illegal, Officials Say.”

In a market offering fewer opportunities for high school and college-age students to acquire life skills once developed as part of a summer job experience, internships have become a significant source of experience and an important part of the launch process for the next generation. But abused by some employers who overuse kids as free summer labor, many companies will become wary of government oversight and may back away from offering internships altogether.

This will be bad for kids—and for companies. Young people will have fewer opportunities to observe and experience the culture of a variety of workplaces, and companies will have fewer low risk ways to vet potential employees.

But there’ s no cause to panic, for either intentional families or good companies. This is an easy—and an important—challenge to manage. The U.S. Department of Labor published [PDF] six criteria for determining if an internship is legitimate or just a thinly disguised means of getting free labor. And the internships we’ve been involved with at IMI meet all these requirements without a stretch.They are:

1. The training, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to what would be given in a vocational school or academic educational institution. This means that the internship setting must treat the intern as a trainee and provide actual instruction. This is what you want anyway. Young people should be able to observe and try activities that are part of a real learning plan. The student can work with employers to create such a plan (much like an independent learning project). Companies can design these as well.
2. The training is for the benefit of the trainees—or intern. While companies certainly benefit from having a chance to observe potential future employees, MOST legitimate internships are too time consuming and expensive to be of much help to the intern host. Free labor is a lot less ‘free’ than most people understand but when the terms of the internship are explicit, this aspect of the criteria is easier to meet.
3. The trainees (interns) do not displace regular employees, but work under their close observation. Since most internships we’ve been involved with only last from two to eight weeks, there is little danger interns are displacing real employees. But this is a workplace accountability issue and one that can be clarified at the start of the internship.
4. The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees, and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded. Indeed, most internships are done as an act of generosity on the part of the employer. Hosting an intern takes up valuable time and resources. Because an intern can hardly understand the environment in less than three months, let alone make a meaningful contribution to the workplace, employers are making an investment in the future when they offer an internship, not gaining immediate advantage.
5. Trainees are not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period. Particularly if an intern is still in school, this is not immediately relevant. But IF the intern goes back to school, or on to another internship and later returns to apply for a job independently, there is no foul.
6. The employer and the trainees understand that the trainees are not entitled to wages for the time spent in training. This is the easy one as most internships are established as free experiences. In some cases the family pays a third party or the employer for young people to gain exposure to industries, professions, and environments they have some interest in or curiosity about.

Internships are vital as vehicles for helping the next generation integrate into the social network of an entrepreneurial culture. Giving kids access to role models, specialized language, and industry knowledge is key to helping them launch into adulthood. Now is not the time to panic. It’s time for next gen members and their families to plan and propose an internship for the summer experience of choice.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor “ADVISORY: TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER NO. 12-09”

In early January I mentioned to my Facebook friends that I’m working on a new book, a follow-up to Raising Financially Fit Kids, that, for now, I’m calling Great Families. It’s a topic I’ve been thinking about for a long time, mostly because ‘raising financially fit kids’ is easier in families with an intention towards family greatness. What that means, how they attain it, and what the impact on the rest of the world might be is the focus of this next book.

For the majority of us, achievements of individual family members were noted and celebrated. And having a parent, sibling, or other relative who achieved greatness of some kind might reflect on the rest of the family in some way. But family greatness, in the sense of a group of people bound by a shared vision that rests on the shared development of human and financial capital, is a notion that has only recently gained traction.

Dynasty might once have been thought of as a form of greatness, but dynasty, in the sense of power and influence for its own sake, is not what I’m interested in. Rather, I’ve become intrigued and fascinated by families who are as interesting, dynamic, and exciting as a Google or a Pixar. These are families with a purposeful mission statement, and a meaningful plan for realizing their mission statement, families that invest real time and money in the development of family.

I’m not writing ‘secrets of the rich and famous’ (trust is, after all, one of the most valued assets of great families), but I plan to share insights gained from the extraordinary families I have the privilege of working with.  I’ll be interested in your thoughts, musings,  and points of view. This is a big topic—begging questions like, what is family? What is family greatness?  And, why does it matter?

Stay tuned. I’ll use this blog and my Facebook page to share some of my work and get your feedback as the work unfolds. Send me a note if you’re interested in hearing more.

The devastating news from Haiti will, like the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, launch thousands of new recruits to philanthropic action. This is a good thing as the world needs all the humanitarian soldiers we can get.  And it’s good news for that stricken country. Until the 7.0 earthquake struck, Haiti was the second poorest country in the western hemisphere–the quake could move it into first place. They have extraordinary needs.

So what parent, faced with the heartfelt plea of a teenager (“I want to use my spring break to build shelters in Haiti,”) or the well-reasoned argument of a college student (“..taking a semester off to help rebuild the country will be good experience,”) could/would turn them down?

Hopefully not many. But this sad moment is a teachable moment. Encouraging humanitarian concern doesn’t have to be accompanied by a willful suspension of critical thinking. “Yes, I support your desire to make a difference,” can be followed by questions and criteria that will make the aid effort, whatever it is, more effective, while reducing some of the risk that comes with a plan not well considered.

Five parental requests will help high school and college students make a real contribution to disaster relief. “I support your intention,” the wise parent responds. “And if you respond to my needs with the same care you hope to respond to the needs of the [Haitians, homeless, etc.], we’ll do our best to support your plans.”

1. You have to do a thorough due diligence. This is a skill that will serve a lifetime of needs (from supporting philanthropic causes to taking a job or investing in a new company). But if they’ve never been involved in a disciplined process of investigating the capacity of an organization, they will need direction. Send them to the web to read “Exercising Due Diligence for Disaster Relief.” Written in 2004, it’s an excellent brief on what to look for in a ‘helping’ organization.
2. Show me what you know. [about Haiti, the homeless, etc]. The video feeds are powerful and YouTube will be running footage that fuels an understanding of how dire conditions in Haiti are. But a blind impulse to help, untempered by an understanding of context and on the ground conditions will put everyone at risk. Help them find a few knowledgeable adults who can provide background (you have a wide social network, now is the time to tap it). Send them back to the Internet to gather data on issues that were active before the quake. Encourage them to confer with teachers or professors who have expertise in Caribbean and/or Latin American politics and issues. Ask them to consider urgent needs versus long term needs.
3. Give me a budget. This is another way of helping them understand what they’re getting into.  They will be working with people, many of whom make less in a year than the cost of sending kids to the front lines. Require the work of tallying the cost of tickets to the site, accommodations (no matter how humble), food, and out of pocket cash needs that may come up while they are there. Which do they think will make greater impact: their presence or the money they would have spent to get there? The answer may be ‘both’ but walking them through the consideration may be an eye opener.
4. Inventory your skills. Kids who are caring, smart, and brave enough to volunteer for disaster work typically have plenty of human capital to contribute. But it will be better directed if they can articulate what their human assets are. Energy and physical strength may be obvious, but ask them to create as comprehensive a list of their contributions as possible. Help them think about the basics: Can they cook? Do they know how to assemble things? What experiences have helped prepare them for this task? Do they have first aid skills? Do they speak other languages? Granular skills: the ability to communicate, move things, solve problems, sustain life, are critical in the aftermath of a disaster.
5. Show me a plan for your own safety net. In other words, who do they know who will also be there, what networks can they tap in case of a personal emergency? What provisions will they need for their own sustenance? Do they have medical issues that will be compromised? What can they expect in terms of climate, resources, etc.

If your young humanitarian demonstrates preparedness, you might want offer more than a blessing and resource support. You might decide to go with them. Our list is a great start, but kids interested should take a look at this list from Take Part  to get an idea of the breadth of organizations offering help.

Getting ready for our Fashion and Finance Retreat, I’m  paying attention to who’s saying what about fashion. So Vera Wang got my attention this week when she said:

“In my 40 years in fashion, I’ve never seen women scared to shop — at all price levels.” [Vera sells dresses at $2000 a pop, as well as a line for Kohls that offers dresses closer to $100 and under.]  “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said, referring to the future of prestigious labels.

The tension between the micro-economics of fashion (smart consumers rethinking their spending priorities) and the macro-economics of the industry (jobs, creativity, leadership, profits, etc.) is causing tremors in the world of fashion.  The size of the earthquake–and what it means to both consumers and investors will be one of the topics covered at the Retreat Oct. 9-11. I hope you’re as excited about it as we are.