Just like a Rolling Stone

“….How does it feel to be on your own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone?….”

“As an employer of a talent-hungry company with many young employees on board, going through the recently published findings of a survey commissioned by FreeHour Malta was an emotional rollercoaster. As I read through the findings, every percentage felt like a slap in the face,” says MARK AQUILINA, Founder of NOUV.

Last weekend, after a hectic week at the office, I was looking forward to a weekend of catching up with my reading together with a glass of white wine or two.

On top of my ‘to-read’ list was the recently published article about FreeHour Malta’s survey findings which sought to identify the latest trends, perceptions, and behaviours among our 16 to 27-year-olds on matters relating to employment, education, media, health, religion, and the environment, among other sectors.

Besides being an employer of many young people in their early and mid-twenties, I am also a parent. Therefore, parents will understand when I say that once you become a parent, you become more sensitised to aspects related to youth and young adults.

So, as I read through the article, keeping in mind that the world is more than ever connected and accessible, I could not help but feel saddened and overwhelmed at the prospect that at work, these young people whom we employ and whom we face every day could be looking at my colleagues and me as a generation that has let them down. Do they look at us and feel alienated? Probably. Have we disappointed them? Most definitely.

The article sums it up: these young people’s view of Malta is dismal.

This survey showed that 85% of youngsters believed the educational system had failed them in managing their finances. 74.3% feel the same system has failed to prepare them for entrepreneurship and 81.9% are convinced that they have never been taught how to deal with stress. Maybe these are the symptoms of a snowflake generation, but we still need to listen, assess, and remediate.

Whenever I read, I need my music in the background. And as I read through this article and felt one slap after another, Bob Dylan’s song, Like a Rolling Stone, came on. The timing could have never been uncanny. Because although we bump into each other regularly on this tiny island, I am always left with a feeling that one is on his own, especially when one needs the system to protect and help you.

When Like a Rolling Stone hit the airwaves, it embodied what the 1960s represented for millions of people worldwide. It was the soundtrack to a global cultural revolution and was described as ‘the anthem of alienation, a dagger in the heart of the American dream’.

Equally, the findings of this survey must feel like a dagger in the heart of all those who could have done more to ensure a different outcome.

Because if over 80% of our youth feel let down by the system; if the country has failed our future generations in the crucial sectors of education, employment, and the environment; and even worse, if 60% of young people in Malta would rather live in another European country, then where is our longevity and succession planning?

Our current generations have done enough harm. It is time for this country to redress this gross imbalance. Although devoid of musical notes, I hope FreeHour Malta’s survey will, in time, turn out to have been the anthem to a failed legacy and a wake-up call for all of us who are still in time to do something. We owe it to the generations that will come after us. We owe it to our children and their future.

Tourism No Longer an Opportunity

And if FreeHour’s survey results were not enough, within the span of a few days, I found myself reading another study, this time related to tourism in Malta, specifically on the accommodation capacity, with the outcome stating that “Without action, significant risks of oversupply exist over the next five years”.

Are we out of our minds? So up to 2019, with 1.9 million tourists, we already knew that Malta had reached near total capacity – because let’s face it – we never needed a study to tell us that our infrastructure was already over-strained, that our traffic problems were not improving but getting worse or that our beaches are the most over-crowded than in the rest of Europe. And now, we need to aim for more than double what we had in 2019!

We have these problems staring at us glaringly in the face, and although everyone acknowledges them, no one seems willing or ready to state so publicly.

All over the world, everyone is still trying to understand where to start to achieve a sustainable state of being, including here in Malta. This study highlights all the possible red flags of a non-sustainable situation, and indirectly it invites us to come to our senses and plan and strategize conscientiously. Volumes do not always mean a better return on investment or a more robust tourism industry.

No wonder our youths are disillusioned, tired, and rearing to leave!

If we want to be credible when we talk about sustainability, we should start by putting an end to this nonsense. We should start thinking strategically. We need to start being practical and realistic.

Together with my colleagues, we are in the business of steering companies on their respective journeys towards a more sustainable future. We assist companies in optimising their business performance. We advocate for good governance. But we strive to push for things to be done the right way.

If Malta had to be compared to a private company, its brand would be seriously compromised, given that many employees feel alienated and want to leave. Moreover, its performance would need to be optimised. If Malta was a business, its journey and future seem far from sustainable.

For many businesses, the pandemic was a wake-up call, and indeed, many were those businesses that came out stronger and rearing to go. Sadly, Malta is falling short in taking the opportunity to get its act together, to stop and think about how it can transform itself into a sustainable island. Still, we seem to have gone into overdrive.

We need to come together. We are small and can fit around a table to discuss matters and make the best decisions for a better future. As a nation, we have always been strong-willed. It is time to settle for the right choices, for what’s right, for our young and future generations.

It is time for a new revolution.