India, March 28 -- It's almost laughable. The dreams we were taught to dream as kids are now the stuff of nightmares. Aim for a stable job, teachers said - all it does is make us nervous about the next layoff. Own a house by 30, parents said - but real-estate prices rise faster than our salaries can keep up. Drive a nice car, movie heroes said - but what about parking, petrol and the planet? One generation ago, "grindset mindset", "hustle", and "working around the clock" were all positive terms.

Now, more of us are hitting backspace on that formula. No one wants 2.5 kids - India's birth rate is 2.03. No one wants the corner office, either. A survey conducted last year by HR firm Randstad suggests that 42% of American employees don't want...