Search results

We start from the assertion that the concept of “global citizenship” is neither simple nor stable. Rather, it is a contentious idea that is often uncritically based upon assumptions of the “global” and “citizenship” as positives. In geography, however, the “global” and how it relates to the idea of the “local” is a complex and debated concept. Drawing upon critical geographic theories of scale, we suggest that the concept of global citizenship should be thoroughly interrogated to understand its problems and paradoxes as well as its possibilities. In this chapter, we offer one such interrogation grounded in the experiences of designing and implementing the Parks and People experience. We identify tensions within the program such as how to sell the program, how to navigate between individual and group experiences, and how to simultaneously support one-time encounters and ongoing relationships. In exploring these tensions, we demonstrate how the everyday practices of “global citizenship” are enmeshed in uneven geographies of privilege. We suggest that our goal should not be to separate ourselves from such inequality, but, rather, to face the complexities of the relationships we are trying to foster in the name of promoting social justice.

In light of the new way of interpreting work spearheaded by Generation Z, the objectives of this study are to investigate (1) whether young entrepreneurs identify their start-ups with “zebras” – that is, as a concrete response to the evanescence and fantasy of “unicorns” based on the simultaneous pursuit of profit and social value, mutualism and resilience – and (2) whether they adopt a “teal” organizational configuration – that is, one characterized by evolutionary purpose, self-management and wholeness.

Through a qualitative approach with 41 interviews, this study focuses on start-uppers and companies that are particularly innovative and promising in the Italian context, as selected by Forbes magazine in its ranking of the brightest entrepreneurs, leaders and stars under 30.

The results suggest that young entrepreneurs recognize the importance of the common themes of the zebra movement and therefore identify their startups with zebras. More specifically, Generation Z entrepreneurs: (1) pursue a dual (economic and social) purpose, (2) are mutualistic and (3) build their organizations with resilience and capital efficiency. In addition, the interviews show that the organizational approach taken follows the paradigm of teal organizations, particularly in terms of evolutionary purpose, distributed leadership and decision-making power, and employee wholeness and empowerment.

This is the first study to analyze the evolutionary trends of animal entrepreneurial “species” led by Generation Z entrepreneurs and organized on the basis of the teal paradigm.