Are adults missing out by not knowing this!? What is the "qualitative influence" of young people?

In a society with a declining birthrate, ignoring young people does not result in significant short-term losses.
However, treating them as outsiders and distancing ourselves from youth prevents society from benefiting from their ability to challenge assumptions, hindering the adoption of new systems and initiatives. This "youth allergy"—where organizations and management decisions avoid engaging with young people—seems to lead to an "allergy to change" that shies away from truly necessary transformations.

Young people embody the "post-information revolution mindset"

The "influence of quality" mentioned at the outset – the power to create businesses and products with original ideas unimaginable to previous generations – is not unique to today's youth. I believe it is a power possessed to some degree by young people in every era.
However, today's youth possess a significant, unique "qualitative influence": they are equipped with the "post-information revolution paradigm."

Freemium, sharing economy, cloud computing, open source, IoT... Various "new premises" have emerged that fundamentally overturn the foundational assumptions of how society has been structured. Young people today, born and raised within this environment, believe things like: "You don't need to own things, sharing is enough," "Work isn't just for money, it's for society," "There's no such thing as a uniform form of happiness," "There are things more important than borders, race, or age"... They hold these sensibilities – which older generations might find utterly baffling – as their "natural way of thinking." This shapes their lifestyles and values.

Which stance leads to the future is obvious: outright rejection of the ideas and actions born from these perspectives versus an effort to understand them despite initial discomfort.
Precisely because the total volume of thinking and acting based on questioning existing assumptions and embracing new ones appears numerically small, the willingness of adults to listen attentively becomes a crucial key. This is highly likely to create a significant gap between organizations that can do this and those that cannot.

The "dialogue-oriented" mindset required of adults

"I can't believe our new hires have anything that amazing hidden inside them!"
Such opinions are likely to surface. Of course, young people themselves don't think being young alone makes them unconditionally amazing. Whether young or old, talented people are talented, and those who aren't, aren't. However, considering the fact that youth inherently comes with fundamentally different "assumptions" than those of older generations, I believe the difference between gaining insights or not hinges on whether adults have a "dialogue-oriented" mindset rather than one that "rejects them as foreign objects." Recognizing the differences, then figuring out how to bridge them and connect. It might feel like the difficulty of translating between English and Japanese at first, but Wakamon believes that beyond that bridge lie information value and the seeds of ideas accessible only to those who cross it.

The Presence or Absence of "I" Shaping Youth's Nature

Regarding whether a young person's potential emerges, the book "Youth Disengagement" identifies the presence or absence of their "sense of self-affirmation" as a major factor.
Whether they can achieve "I = affirmation of their own way of being" can completely transform how the same "post-information revolution" traits manifest. Haven't you seen it around? A subordinate who makes you fume—"What's wrong with that Yutori kid...!"—is praised elsewhere as "That kid is truly original and fascinating!" Perhaps how we utilize them, how we shine the spotlight, and how we engage with their "I" are essential to the conversational stance adults need.