Awake at 2 o'clock?

Thanks for this John…I know it’s very hard for some Boomers and X’ers to understand, but you’re right about the Y’s.
I find if funny that Mr. Konopaske is a consultant for Millennials but has no ways to follow him? (twitter, linked in, fb)

The article reminds me of an old allegory.

4 generations of women are in the kitchen preparing a Thanksgiving meal. The youngest great-granddaughter watches her mother cut the ends off a ham and place it in the pan. “Mother,” she says, “why do you cut the ends off the ham?”. Her mother answers, “That is the way we have always done it. Your grandmother taught me.” The girl goes to her grandmother and asks the same question, and gets the same answer. She was taught by the girl’s great-grandmother. So the girl goes to her great-grandmother who is dozing in a chair by the window. She wakes the old woman and asks why the family cuts the ends off the ham. Her great-grandmother answers, “I do not know why your mother does it, but when I was growing up our pan was too small.”

Great post John…

Face to face communication is essential. It helps to ensure “buy-in” from the team. No one liked to be be given instruction from their parents “because they said so”. Memos or emails can give this impression. Face to face communication gives the team the opportunity to understand the “whys” of the new change and enhance team buy-in.

Nothing, but nothing, replaces face to face communication. Our company engaged in regular appraisals ensuring that it was clearly understood that it was for the benefit of both parties and that salary reviews were not a part of these meetings. At these face to face get together’s both parties had to submit and exchange items for discussion in advance. I used these meetings to update the person with the company plans and aspirations; this not only ensured they were in the loop and felt valued but they in turn passed on to colleagues the correct information. From the outset we would both agree that the meeting was personal and confidential and also what subject(s) could be shared with other our team members. We also held a yearly company meeting at which each director presented a report concerning their sector of responsibility, the past, present and the future. We rarely encountered subsequent misunderstanding – if there was any, we reminded ourselves that the fault always lies with the sender of the message, never the receiver. We also walked the building at least once a day and visited branches once a week.

The whole field of hiring and applying for a job has relegated itself primarily to an electronic process. I think it is very interesting that the “final decision” ultimately requires the “human touch”.

Great article. Now get some sleep!

John, I appreciate your articles and I often agree with you on many of your assertions. On this topic though, I must introduce an alternative not in sync with yours. That is … when the egg’s not frying fast enough … often the solution is to turn up the heat.

You are correct that time is a limited commodity. And you are also correct observing that many individuals identify their own success “by position and consumption.”

But comparing the priorities of the sub-40 generations with those of the “boomers” today is not a reasonable comparison. The “right” comparison would be to compare the sub-40’s to the “boomers” when they were sub-40. Individuals younger than 40 will naturally have different priorities at this earlier stage of their life than a “boomer” does now. Who’s to say that at 45 to 55 those sub-40’s won’t decide to “turn up the heat?”

I agree that there a differences in generations. But sometimes differences have more to do with stage of development than with the constraints imposed by the arbitrary age cut-offs required of generational labels. What may be more accurate is that, to some degree, we all define ourselves “by position and consumption,” and when one’s actual circumstance does not reconcile with one’s desired level of position or consumption, that dissonance can create a sense of urgency to move closer to accordance. In response to the dissonance, some will choose to “turn up the heat” while others will simply adjust their self-definition.

I suspect that every generation will contain an ample cohort of individuals who will not be satisfied until there is a good fit between their own wants and needs, and their ability to satisfy those wants and needs. It may even be true that given the opportunity that the “boomer bust” creates, the “sub-40’s” will elect to “turn up the heat” a little earlier to seize the unique opportunity presented to them.

Thanks again for your thought provoking articles John.

Mike

in your last paragraph you say that GenXers “better learn how to hammer a nail” as their reduced productivity will cause them reduced disposable income. That warning is looking at the world from a Boomer perspective. When i talk to my GenXer kids and their friends, they’re quite willing to live on reduced disposable income – they have no desire to “judge their success by position and consumption”. My (Boomer) initial reaction is to try to talk sense into them; but them i think about it more and say – maybe you’re right. Take that year sabbatical at age 28 and go to Spain with your girlfriend. The rat race will be here when you get back!

While I’m no coach, so therefore, don’t have the broad background you have, my experience in working with Millennials is that they’ve learned lessons from their parents quite well, thank you very much.

The small group of entrepreneurs I’m working with now are looking at leverage, from every angle. Several want the material trappings Boomers are noted for, yet I agree, they don’t want to work the long hours they saw (and many still do see) their folks put in every week.

So they’re finding ways of creating passive revenue, at every turn. While they’re willing to put the time and energy in getting something off the ground, their overriding goal is to have others do the work, so they can do something else. (I’m assuming they’re starting other ventures for more passive revenue streams. But you know what they say about assume!)

So what do they do? They follow in their parents’ footsteps: They outsource, both stateside and overseas. There are still plenty of other millennials who are willing to put in the long hours, and this group of millennials I’m working with are happy to leverage that.

They’re also leveraging their outsourcing efforts, too. Because they’ve watched their Boomer parents’ loyalty get in their way of profitability and progress, they’re not overly tied to one vendor. So they find a few who will do the same tasks. If one rises to the top, they’ll outsource more to that individual or organization, but not all of it. From what I’m seeing, they’re not putting all their eggs in one basket.

Yes, they’re more group-minded, but they’re also very bottom-line driven. And if something’s not working, they’re willing to pull the plug faster than their elders.

Because not all millennials are like this group of people I’m working with, I think there’ll be plenty of folks who will still be willing to put in the long hours, just because they’re having so much fun doing it. As long as it’s fun, Millennials will play the game. Once it stops, it’s game over — and on to a new one.

Most of my 20-year career as a custom publisher (magazines and newsletters, both electronic and printed) has been spent working with Boomers. As one myself, I understand them, their motivations and how to make them happy. Millennials have opened my eyes to doing business a different way. I find it refreshing to work with and learn from this group of business people.

And if I can get out of my own way and take a page from the millennials’ book, I, too, may just find myself with a nice passive income stream. Until then, though, the 40+ hour work week beckons…