Society seems to be writing off an entire generation. Six years after the Great Recession started and four years after it officially ended, the economic fortunes of young adults continue to lag behind those of society overall. These young adults’ educations do not fit employer needs; their salaries are actually decreasing; their financial wherewithal is contracting; and their options for the future have not opened up. As a result, they are creating a new set of Operational Priorities to match and guide them through the Hierarchy of Value, which started with young adults but is, as we have noted, spreading across all of society. These new Operational Priorities – Access over Assets; Process over Products; Capabilities over Diplomas; Conservation over Risk; Satisfaction/Happiness over Traditional Success; Resourcefulness over All Else; and Digital Communications as a Substitute Safety Net – are making young adults harbingers of where society as a whole is headed.