Are Gen Z ‘sellouts’ if they take corporate jobs?

News stories about Gen Z have grown to a fever pitch. Likely, they are the most editorialized generation in history. We’ve learned that they are the richest generation ever . They are the most over-parented yet least equipped to enter the adult world . They don’t know their gender, won’t get married , and refuse to have kids . They are disillusioned , don’t trust anyone, and are antiestablishment, yet demand that the government provide a universal basic income.



On the one hand, they care more about equality than any other generation; on the other, they are individualistic, intolerant , and reject free speech for identity politics. Their mental health is poor because of the terrible state of the world , social media , and incessant coddling by teachers and parents . They have yet to learn the work-reward ethic and demand to work for mission-driven companies with unlimited mental health days . They reject the idea that economic growth is good for everyone, yet strive to work for some of the largest companies in the world. They are socialists trying to make as much money as possible . If this sounds a little muddled to you, then that’s one thing we can agree on.



I collect surveys, stories, and books on Gen Z to complement my survey work on the attitudes of young Americans toward capitalism . The recent protests and counterprotests on college campuses surrounding the Israel-Hamas war have heightened an interest in what kind of citizen higher education is turning out.  



I’d wager that most recent editorials focus on a narrow slice of the 43% of Americans who attend college: those who attend and graduate from elite universities. There are almost 4,000 degree-granting postsecondary schools in the U.S., and the shenanigans of students, faculty, and administrators in a few elite institutions, public and private, dominate the media’s attention.



The young people in these stories do not represent most of their generation, and even if some have misguided views, most of these views come from the adults around them. A pervasive narrative that can be found at many elite schools is that opportunity is dead, wealth is immoral, and capitalism is killing the planet. Gen Z are told they are inheriting a broken world and if they choose to work in business they are selling out.



This narrative is reflected in a recent New York Times story suggesting that the atmosphere in college creates an unreconcilable choice of entering finance, tech, or consulting and being a sellout, or pursuing any other career path and worrying about being seen as a failure. Even if students “arrive at college wanting something very different,” by the time they leave, they want to “make a bag (slang for a sack of money) as quickly as possible.” Prohibitive housing costs, exorbitant tuition, rising inequality, and their parents’ expectations limit their choices. Sellout firms target them, and it’s hard to resist the siren call of trading your morals for money. Life is beyond their control. One Harvard student explained that being a sellout carries an “implicit judgment.” It is “almost a descriptive term at this point for people pursuing certain career paths.”



By some estimates, half of the elite college students decide to sell out. These students have choices most undergraduates don’t. Students attending thousands of universities could not choose to major in English and assume they will get a job in “finance or management consulting for a couple of years before writing their novel.”  



Why do they do it? One said there’s a “herd mentality,” and another said, “It’s hard to conceptualize other things.” The author noted, “They believe they can have greater impact by maximizing earnings to donate to a cause than working for that cause.” The drawback? “People on the “prestige escalator become accustomed to a certain salary, and walking away can feel funny.”



Most comments on the New York Times story were harsh on Gen Z, elite schools, and sellout employers. Eighty-five percent of Americans work in the private sector, and one reader said society has set up binary incentives for economic success. You choose a meaningful career or one where you might be rich by someone else’s standards. Most dismissed what they said were the crocodile tears of these young people. The comments reinforce that Gen Zs didn’t make the discordant and dissonant world they inhabit.



The higher education industry generates close to a trillion dollars in revenue . Most private schools glean millions in profits from investments and donations by wealthy donors. Young Americans are encouraged to attend college, especially elite institutions, because they open doors. In too many, they find attitudes that describe wealth as immoral and free enterprise as killing the planet. One commentator on the New York Times piece, Mike Donatz, who describes himself as a Harvard graduate and professor, said people are “Lazy, Selfish, Stupid, and Mean” and “all organizations and corporations in particular are driven by Greed, producing Fraud and Waste.”



Consider the blurb for Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire by Harvard professor Rebecca Henderson: “Capitalism is on the verge of destroying the planet and destabilizing society as wealth rushes to the top.” Henderson is a renowned scholar who is seriously engaged with capitalism as an evolving system. She has made important contributions to the field and is well-received by many business leaders. Her book blurb describing capitalism as a destabilizing system that has “lost its moral and ethical foundation” is the type of language that feeds a pervasive negative narrative.



As the list of business industries contributing to planetary destruction grows, so does the perception that starting a career in one of these industries is selling out. A sellout cannot hope to reinvent capitalism or impact the world as an intrapreneur or activist leader .



The average age of entrepreneurs is still north of 40, and many entrepreneurs work for large firms before going out on their own. Serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban worked at Mellon Bank. Navrina Singh, a founder of Credo AI, worked at Qualcomm and Microsoft. However, Harvard professor Mihir A. Desai suggests working for a firm like Goldman Sachs and McKinsey makes most people “habitual acquirers of safety nets.” It might be suitable for a few, “but for every one of those, there are 10 entrepreneurs, artists, and restaurateurs that get trapped in those institutions.” Are students really trading their potential by taking a job in finance, tech, or consulting? If they don’t, are they really failures?



This dissonance kills joy and encourages lousy ideas like effective altruism , a worldview that resonates with some Gen Z in elite colleges. Rooted in utilitarianism, it focuses on rational decision-making to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number. It ensures a never-ending power struggle over who gets to define good: Plato’s Republic, the AI overlord, or maybe another Stalin. Effective altruism supposedly leads people to choose careers to maximize wealth and use it to tackle human priorities like inequality and climate change. It produced Sam Bankman-Fried and, in the United States, is linked to the tech culture of Silicon Valley .



If higher education cannot encourage young people to be curious, have a spark for life, and dream about a better future, it certainly should not tell them that everyone who works in finance, tech, and consulting is a sellout. Working for J.P. Morgan Chase does not make you evil; helping companies grow and create jobs is not paternalism.



At Wake Forest University, my colleague Steve Nedvidek and I teach a course called Finding Your Personal Value Proposition, and I know other faculty in other colleges have similar courses. Ours encourages undergraduates to reflect on their strengths, interests, and what they want to contribute to the world. We guide them in critically thinking about how to apply their talents and help them identify tools to track and reflect on their journey. We emphasize the significance of their freedom to foster empowerment and agency. They have more opportunities today than ever to try, fail, learn, and forge their destiny. As Jerry Seinfeld pointed out, living on peanut butter and bread because you want to be a comedian does not make you a failure. Forgetting the importance of humor will.



Anyone who takes a job thinking they and everyone they work with is a sellout will need help working well with teammates who prefer an inclusive, diverse, collaborative, and tolerant workplace. How about some fun and a respite from cultural craziness? The world is not dying, and youth should be enjoyed. 



It was heartening to hear one young college graduate, operating far from the madding crowd, express this sentiment: “I recognize, despite the outsized and insular focus of the NYT, this is not the majority of my generation.” This sentiment resonates with my observations. Most Gen Zs are learning to navigate the complexities of life, questioning and choosing, rather than passively accepting unreconcilable messages or the status quo. They strive to make the most of life and treat others well. Denigrating their choices jeopardizes everyone’s future.