Every week, there is a story on millennials, describing them as everything from entitled to lazy to privileged. And I must say, I agreed with all of them. Until I looked a little deeper.
The only thing that separates Boomers from Millennials is age. The zeal and passion is quite similar.
My parents were members of the 'greatest' generation. They had survived the depression and spent the wonderful post-war era as adults, starting families, moving to the suburbs and living the American dream. As the child of this generation, we were determined not to work at a company for 30 years only to receive a gold watch and a kick in the ass or do things according to the right way of seeking out a career and playing by the rules.
As a Boomer, we set out to do things differently. We would choose a career we wanted, not what was expected. We challenged authority and as adults would enter the workforce, and work to effect change. Many of us succeeded. And we experienced the joys of family trips across America, parental support for extracurricular activities, finding our own way, and doing something that would 'make us happy.'
Somewhere along the way, we Boomers forgot the lessons of hard work and expression because some of us raised kids, telling them that 8th place was the same as first place. We shielded them from life's lessons. We became their friends, not parents, determined to take the same things our parents gave us and give to them. But too often, the lessons that came along with growing up, were not passed down.
We must take some blame for how many perceive this Millennial generation as we boomers sometimes fed it, but many seem to be striking out on their own. Granted, some in this sector expect that as the commendation generation, they are entitled to promotions for just doing a job, not always a job well done.
Work has in some instances, replaced loyalty as they see how recessions affected their parents and grandparents, much in the way their great-grandparents lived in hard times. Nothing was a sure thing. But loyalty also counts for something. It cuts to the character of the person.
What some perceive as anxiety and impatience seem to me, to be a frustration of this changing of the guard. The Boomers have moved out of the workforce, though not as quickly as they should and GenX between 41-58 are the CEOS that are running companies, except for Congress, where old age translates to entitlement in its own way.
It's our world today where the Millennials are challenging the pace of their bosses, who are faster than their parents the Boomers, but not fast enough for them.
The Millennials are not much different from us Boomers and while I might suggest they stop for a minute and smell the roses, I envy the lightning speed by which they are changing the world.
Entitled? A little. Lazy? Not really. The paradigm has shifted and to broadly label this group would be a mistake. A big one. The technology they are creating, the social issues they are supporting, and the search for self-worth are the same as what we went through. And I, for one, am excited by what they have in store.
Millennials really don’t seem that different to me than Boomers when we were their age. The landscape has changed, so they act differently to work and life issues just as we did. And, sadly, many of us Boomers don’t seem that different than our parents and grandparents who may have thought we were a bunch of lazy kids, who didn’t appreciate hard work, and who listened to lousy music. (They were totally wrong about the music!) Memo to Millennials: when you’re 60+ one day, you’re going to have similar thoughts about some younger generation yet unborn.
Many years ago, someone taught me that “styles and techniques change; principles never do.” So it’s unsurprising how similar generations can be at the core. Thanks for another insightful column, Barry.
So many of my sentences start with ‘many years ago.’