Introducing: The Millennial View
Note from Art: Today’s guest author, Eric Rodriguez, is a former student of mine and someone passionate about management, leadership and developing as a professional in his career. Eric recently approached me about writing some guest posts here at Management Excellence to build his on-line brand (a great idea on his part), and we sat down to discuss ideas. After talking over potential topics, we both zeroed in on a Millennials in the Workplace theme…but with a twist versus a lot of the other content found on this issue.
Our twist is to change the perspective, and instead of an endless stream of “experienced” authors writing about what it’s like to deal with the merging of the generations in the workforce, Eric will offer his perspective on navigating early career steps from the eyes of a twenty-something.
Neither of us are certain exactly where this will go, but Eric has mostly free reign on his posts here (yes, the “mostly” part is the 40-something in me talking), and I’m encouraging him to not only share his perspectives on life and career, but to draw in the insights and writings of others in this age group. The goal is for all of us with experience behind us and a bit of gray in our hair to better tune in to the voice of this fascinating and inevitable generation we’ve been so busy writing and talking about.
Enjoy this first of what I hope will be many fun and insightful posts!
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Hi my name is Eric Rodriguez and I’m a Millennial.
Roughly a Milennial is someone who was born after 1981, grew up in the booming 90s, operates a smart phone, has a Facebook page, and has been surfing the net since grade school. We are early adopters, expressive individuals, and we have the potential to be great employees and leaders.
There are numerous articles, news panel discussions, and YouTube videos on Millennials. These pieces are amusing, informative, and sometimes they add a sense of urgency and bewilderment to the topic being discussed. However, there is a key insight missing from some of this material because most of it is being made by people who are not part of the group they are trying to identify with and understand.
There is no doubt that there are numerous benefits from the valuable insights offered by generations outside of the Millenials. But, I think in order to better understand the Millennials it’s best to connect with a one, and I want to be one of your connections.
My new blog series, The Millennial View, will cover a range of topics that my generation is experiencing and many of the posts will be based on my own experiences and the experiences of other Millennials.
Like many of my peers I am just beginning to make my mark on my career: I have been employed for three years, never held a management position, and I am trying to move up the career ladder in one of the worst recessions in U.S. history.
My situation isn’t much different than anyone else, but because of my youth my take on career issues will be vastly different from some of yours. And I’m hoping this stirs up some conversation that each generation can relate to.
I can’t think of a better place to have this discussion than on the Management Excellence blog. Art’s blog is diverse and his readers are comprised of a vast span of generations and professionals that enjoy sharing their perspectives. I’m hoping that my series will get the same response, and I’m willing to answer any questions you may have on the Millennials or add to your comments. I’m here to help and I want to relate to you, and it would be great if you could relate with me.
The Millenials have new ideas, youthful enthusiasm and an idealism that is present in every generation entering the workforce, but we need the guidance and experience of the other generations to succeed.
The other generations also need us.
The business world is shrinking and evolving into something different, we can help you market to this new world and understand it. We are the pulse of the future and one day we will be the leadership in the workforce.
Until, that moment happens let’s bridge the gap and work with each other because our future success depends on it.
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You can follow Eric on twitter at: @mvieweric
In Hopeful Praise of the Millennials
To read the articles “The Trophy Kids Go to Work” (WSJ, 10/21) and especially to view programs like “Here Come the Millennials” (60 Minutes), you would be justified if the thought of what life will be like managing and working with this unique generation caused you to roll your eyes and reach for the aspirin bottle.
However, I suggest that you think twice before you prematurely write off the 80 million people born between 1980 and 1995. While most of these individuals have grown up with us as “Helicopter Parents” hovering over nearly every activity of their lives from play-dates through college-enrollment and even job interviews. I’ve seen glimpses of the future and I am encouraged about the potential for this generation.
Much of the content around the Millennial generation focuses on their slightly sheltered upbringing, the emphasis on encouragement that we have provided in the form of constant praise and awarding trophies for just showing up and the widely reported unrealistic expectations that they have about life in the real world of work.
In particular, the 60 Minutes piece (great fun to watch, although watch out if you are showing it to a group of Millennials) goes out of its way to hype the different and potentially selfish expectations that members of this new professional generation bring to the work environment. Things like interesting work, flexible work hours, the freedom to be comfortable, the freedom to remain connected to the technology that they’ve grown up with, are all identified as issues. Additionally, the group has expectations for rapid advancement and the ability to gain access immediately to those residing in the rarefied air of executive suites. Hmmm. So far, I’m not offended, and in fact, quite the contrary, I like the confidence and clarity of purpose that seems to be inherent in this generation.
The very wrong perspective on Millennials is that they are as a group, lazy. Far from it, but they are restless and demanding. Don’t ask them to pursue purposeless work, don’t expect great things if the job demands have them killing time, don’t minimize how important it is for them to be connected and to receive feedback, and most of all, don’t underestimate them.
This is the most technologically advanced generation of individuals in the history of the planet. They’ve grown up using technology to multi-task, to reach large number of people in a hurry and they seem to have a different frame of reference on time than prior generations. Communication is instantaneous, feedback is constant, brand is everything, fads are born, mature and decline in real-time and this group keeps moving, learning and creating. Sounds a lot like the business environment that we find ourselves struggling to understand.
They may not know what they want to do for the next 30 years (an incomprehensible amount of time to think about work), but they do know that they are smart and adaptable and they are clear on what they don’t want to do: waste time like many of their parents fighting a losing battle with loyalty-free corporations. There is little interest in “paying their dues” and frankly after having watched their parents over-pay their dues to be rewarded with life in a world that looks frighteningly similar to the Dilbert comic strip, who can blame them for wanting something different.
Whether I’m engaging with the older Millennials in my MBA classes or watching my own sons and their friends grow up, I can think of countless examples that make me excited about the impact that these people will have on our world. The MBA students are wicked-smart and frighteningly worldly for their youthfulness. The creativity and good character that I perceive in the older teens that I come in contact with are both exciting and reassuring.
My son on his own volition is traveling a great distance this weekend to spend a few minutes at the memorial service for a high school coach who passed unexpectedly. He’s doing this because he knows that this is a simple token of respect and thanks. It turns out that this coach’s former players are coming from around the country to spend a minute to say thanks to one from our generation that took the time to see the potential in them. You wouldn’t recognize this loyalty and sense of responsibility from the content in the popular press about this generation. It’s there, but it requires our own creativity as managers, leaders and parents to figure out how to tap into it.
The Bottom-Line for Now:
I’ll opt for the dissenting view on the Millennials. Where others see management headaches, I see fire, creativity, passion, skill and maybe the capacity to face a world that looks very much the worse for our efforts. Maybe, just maybe, this group will earn the label of The Next Greatest Generation. Perhaps like the coach referenced above, you can still make a difference by helping this generation realize its potential.
Overall, I’m encouraged and hopeful.
The Emerging and Strange Alliance Between Boomers and Millennials
If you are leading a team today, chances are you are dealing with one of the fascinating experiences of our time: how to manage teams increasingly comprised of aging Boomers and newly graduated Millennials. Your first thought might be that you couldn’t find two groups farther apart in terms of values, priorities, interests and capabilities. Well, your first thought is wrong.
On the surface, the evidence seems to support your case that Boomers and Millennials are polar opposites. Consider:
- Millennials were practically born with a cell phone in one hand and a computer mouse in the other. They are the most technologically sophisticated generation ever. While some aging Boomers have embraced technology, for a large number, many of the latest advancements are truly foreign. Ask a Boomer to contact someone and they pick up a phone. While the Boomer is dialing, the Millennial has texted and received an answer, scheduled a social engagement and made small talk about last night’s game, all with their thumbs.
- Boomers have the benefits that accrue from age and experience. They’ve forgotten more than the Millennials know about the big bad world, with much of this experience developed during some tumultuous times.
- Boomers have one eye on retirement and Millennials have both eyes on a bright future.
- Millennials are used to getting trophies just for participating and Boomers are used to working hard at thankless tasks. Boomers have put in hard time in organizations that showed them the door without hesitation. Millennials expect to start a job and be promoted within the first few months.
- Millennials want to work where and when they want and they are adamant that the conditions are right, the work interesting and that it not interfere with their inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. Boomers want….
It’s at exactly this last point that the differences between these two generations begin to melt away with a unique and perhaps surprising alignment developing. Millennials and Boomers share many of the same life and career priorities. Your understanding of this emerging alliance may prove critical as you increasingly deal with managing the generations in the years ahead.
For all of the reasons described above: long years in thankless jobs, falling victim to the lack of corporate loyalty and gaining experience through tough times and hard work, the Boomers can now afford to begin looking at life and career through different lenses. As the tidal wave of demographic change starts to hit the workforce over the next few years, Boomers will increasingly require:
- Opportunities that allow them to work when and where they want
- Interesting assignment that leverage their vast experience
- Engagements that provide psychic and social rewards
- Flexibility driven by a high priority on social time.
- Varying experiences and short-term engagements where they can learn and grow while contributing.
Boomers and Millennials are almost in complete agreement on the above priorities, and while the cynics among us might be quick with “that’s nice, but it’s not reality,” comment, it is most definitely going to be the new reality. The demographic numbers don’t lie and the world is not growing less complex.
Over the next decade, organizations will increasingly struggle to bring the right talent to bear on executing complex and ever-changing strategies in this global world, and both the Boomers and Millennials are the source of that talent. Enlightened organizations get this situation and are already creating systems and approaches to meet the needs of these critical groups. Less enlightened organizations will be clubbed over the head by this issue in the not too distant future.
In the interim (between now and the exodus of the boomers), what’s a manager to do?
Some Suggestions for Leveraging the Strange Boomer/Millennial Alliance:
- Create opportunities to leverage the experience of age and the energy of youth by blending project teams where the respective skills and energies spell success.
- Use judo on the age differences by openly encouraging Boomers to provide mentoring and guidance on career development and any of the broad areas in business that Boomers are experienced at.
- Encourage Millennials to educate Boomers on technology, current trends and social issues, and all of those issues that have changed so radically over the past few years.
- Create and celebrate victories regularly. The Millennials expect the celebrations and the Boomers are overdue for a few trophies.
- Embrace this new project-driven world, and provide Boomers with the flexibility to work when they want on projects that truly interest them. Boomers as contract knowledge workers may be your secret weapon to success in the years ahead.
- Get rid of the last vestiges of “I have to see someone to know that they are working.” There’s still some of this running around and it is silly.
- Challenge the HR functions in organizations to enable this new alliance and to provide the systems and support necessary for virtual teams and projects and contract knowledge workers. Most of this doesn’t fit the old HR model…and the model has to change.
- Quit giving lip service to “people are our most important asset” and start living it. (This is one of the most abused phrases in all of business…stop the abuse.)
The Bottom-Line for Now:
The great news is that for forward thinking managers and organizations, the availability of experienced talent has and will never be better. The trick of course will be how to capture and benefit from all of that talent. In my book, recognizing and leveraging the strengths of Boomers and Millennials is essential for success. The Millennials will moderate over time (as happens with every generation) and the Boomers will ultimately fade into history. However, for the here and now and for the next decade, managing the generations is one key to success.
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