The boomers came along next. The boomers, while anti-authoritarian and idealistic, grew up in a traditionalists world. Because there are so many of the boomers, it caused them to become a very hard-working and competitive group. They had to compete against one another for that next leadership role. Because the competition was so intense, the rules of the system stayed largely in tact. Many of the boomers probably would have told you that they would have liked to change some of the rules of the game, but they just couldn’t afford to make the argument in the competitive environment they grew up in corporately. They’ve had to work really hard to get where they are. Some times, they behave as if that’s how the system should work and they resent the up and comers, because they feel like everyone should have to put in their time. It’s a way for them to try to justify all of the years and hours they gave up with their families climbing the corporate ladder. If they had to do it, why shouldn’t everyone else. This is a dangerous mindset that we’ll talk about more in a bit.
Gen X is the group that we should probably be the most concerned about. First of all, it’s the most unique from the others in terms of the lack of similarities to any of the other generations. According to the Bridgeworks Survey, “ When asked which generation they felt most comfortable managing only 14% chose Generation X, and this included the Xers themselves!” Second, as we saw in the slide a minute ago, it’s by far the smallest generation of the four. Let’s take a look at the characteristics. Most Gen X folks know that the labor and leader shortage is coming. They know they have an advantage. They also know that you need them. The worst part is that many of them aren’t so sure they want to play in your game long term. Erickson’s group talks about the mid-life crisis of each generation and how that is reflective of their times. The Traditionalist generation was the generation of the “little red sports car” mid-life crisis. For them, success was measured in accumulated wealth. Many of them had lived through tough times (the depression and world wars) so stability and success was really about visible wealth. For the boomers, they are seeing that it’s about making a difference, giving back. Their idealistic nature is showing through in how they are getting involved in giving back to causes. Take Bill Gates and Warren Buffett as great and visible examples of this. The two of them have invested billions of dollars in the Gates foundation, looking to solve the world’s greatest challenges. Erickson projects that the Gen X generation’s mid-life crisis or transition will be about working for themselves. I can tell you from my experience as a Gen Xer, any of my peers who are talented and motivated seem to all have plans or at least desires to blaze out on their own at some point in the not too distant future. The bad news in that statement is that these folks are secretly planning to leave you when you most need them.
Generation Y is an interesting group. This seems to be the group getting the most attention in the popular media. The most interesting thing about this group seems to be how family centric they are. These kids have grown up with an almost unprecedented focus on children. The Federal Forum on Family statistics reported that the national attention to children is at an all time high. The last peak was in the 60’s when the boomers were kids. In the interim was Gen X, which was the generation of latch key kids, the product of booming divorce rates and the race of the boomers to compete and avoid down-sizing. Gen Y has grown up more supported, encouraged and protected than any children in history. This presents some real challenges for how we as employers and leaders bring them into the harsh world of real-life jobs where there are winners and losers.
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