Millennial Generation: We raised these kids, why can't we manage them?

“We raised these kids, why can’t we manage them,” was the salient quote from the recent lecture by Ron Alsop at the quarterly breakfast meeting provided by the Samford Brock School of Business. Alsop is certainly a noted and long time writer, and you may recognize his name as the business editor for the Wall Street Journal. He speaks frequently on the topics of corporate reputation, business education, and career development, but on this day, we learned about the “Millennial Generation.”


In his book entitled, “The Trophy Kids Grow Up,” Alsop writes at length on his research concerning the dynamic known as the millennial generation. Millennials are young adults born between 1980 and 2001. They are heralded to comprise a full 35% of our workforce in the next three years. Now is the time to appreciate how this huge driver of our workforce has been formed and what they have to offer. But first, take a pause and appreciate how they are different, and it doesn’t take long to see that the differences are marked.

Looking back since the early 1920’s we have seen several transitions in workforce trends. The Traditionalists (born 1925-1945) are clearly some of the most patriotic of our work force. The Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) are those workaholics like me who take on way too much and wonder why there is so little free time. We love the effort and enjoy the output of our labors. Following the Boomers is the Generation X’ers (born 1965-1979) and they have a trend to tech savvy and latch key independence. Enter now to the workforce and the playground, the Millennial. This group has high self esteem born in the “they all get a trophy” competitive environment. Tech savvy? Please. They are tech savvy, multi-tasking super geeks with limited work place loyalty, but a parallel high civic mindedness. Dutifully watching over their millennial off spring is the seemingly ever present Helicopter parent. The Helicopter parent has been known to not only arbitrage for grades on behalf of their child in high school, but to attend a college interview when the child had a sporting event, and even ask to sit in on a job interview or two. Alsop reported parents that had requested that their travel to their child’s job interview also be covered, and how about an occasional “Parent Day” at work for good measure. This is truly an amazing shift as Alsop reminisced about us Baby Boomers being dropped off for college with a kiss, a wave, and a “see you at Thanksgiving.”

The young millennial in your office or home that are now nine years of age to thirty years of age are a force to be reckoned with as they are driven to succeed, prone to job hopping, and yet have very close parental ties. They seem to be less cynical at work than their predecessors, and because they like their parents, they also seem to like and get along with their managers. They are highly concerned with work life balance, and will take less money in the trade off for more fun. In a world where global competition is the name of the game, we would be advised to keep this in perspective as their Asian Millennial friends report that they are in fact less concerned with work/life balance and are ready to work. Time will tell, but this dynamic may change with work choice scarcity in the current recession for our job hopping, fun seeking employees.

A typical Millennial will state that they look at the work place as a social organization, not just a job, and they need to have fun. They report to be very credentials driven which is not surprising given their high self esteem. This group does not seem to have patience “paying their dues” and are not likely to desire the true entry level job. (It is this writers opinion that this is a great opportunity for the displaced Boomer who just love to work.) This seems to have been born in the environment where the driver is to get into a “good” college and all of the competition that goes along with this. Alsop reported that one parent interviewed had kept a spreadsheet of all their child’s accomplishments since kindergarten for inclusion in the interview process for college. Thus this group views the world as a “meritocracy” where you merit the advancement, and as such they are constantly asking for feedback. The challenge for employers is going to be a big one to retain the talent once you invest in the training of this group. Millennials want to be casual and enjoy work, and they make it clear that their lives come first, and jobs come second. Where did they get this idea? Probably from us workaholic Baby Boomers that give everything to work because “it matters”, only to find out in this current economy, you can in fact not just be replaced, but displaced and the company can do more with less.

There is a saying, “God gave you kids, because he isn’t finished with YOU yet.” This may be worth thinking about as we spend time raising and managing our Millennials.

Trends in Business Continue

I have truly enjoyed the last few weeks searching for information concerning trends in business that are driving our undercurrent of change. In my search for more information, I was able to attend a lecture this week by Frank Luntz, noted Political Pollster and Communications Professional. Mr. Luntz was the key note speaker among several noted speakers at the Business Council of Alabama 2010 Health Reform Update. Luntz has been called the Poll Czar by Fox News, and his research tells us what Americans are REALLY thinking. While the presentation by Mr. Luntz focused heavily on the health industry, I find his ideas to have far reaching relevance to many areas of business. Luntz has conducted much respected research that is helping us to better understand the hopes and fears of Americans. As the saying goes, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood,” and it holds particular relevance in today’s fight to stay competitive.

According to Luntz, what customers want is to RESPECT the company that they buy from today. Stretching this idea further, loyalty to corporations and governments has declined to such a degree that it is imperative that it be regained. How do you do this? A good start may be found in seeking ways to regain respect of the employee and the consumers. According to Luntz, the directive to company leadership should be to allow the customer to feel more in control of the buying decision. Alternatively, it is important for the employee to feel a sense of ownership in the decisions that drive business. A sense of control on the part of both the buyer and the seller is the bedrock to building trust.

This is a tall order given that consumers are expressing serious frustration with corporate America where CEO’s continue to give themselves big bonuses while they lay off people. In Luntz research he states that only 22% of people favor Corporate America, and even fewer at 15% favor CEOs. He positions that the employees view of the company, not just the consumer is at risk. According to Luntz, employee trust in employers is gone. They have grown to resent the stock options, year end bonuses, and golden parachutes that are funded by employee layoffs, wage freezes, and benefit limitations. Government does not escape this ire. Issues with healthcare remain in play in spite of a solid lack of support by American voters. Pundit Dick Morris states this morning that the bill is highly likely to get passed anyway. Astonishing! Makes you wonder who is really listening.

As companies continue to reinvent themselves for the coming decades, much of the work and energy toward branding and identity creation may want to pull from the work of Luntz. Taking a lesson from his first book entitled, “Words that Work: It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear,” Luntz encourages businesses to focus on opportunities to exhibit social responsibility and accountability, as well as measureable results. He encourages us to be mindful of our word choice and to say what you really mean to be best understood. For example, we should say “free market”, “not private.” Say words like performance, not bonus and profit. Use words like lawsuit abuse, not tort reform, prevention, not maintenance and health, not healthcare. You get the picture. Words mean something and people are listening as well as watching. Consumers want to buy from a business that has more in mind than just the bottom line. Employees want to work for a company that has more in mind than just the bottom line. Communities want leadership that is accountable and responsive and interested in more than getting reelected. Consumers are expressing a desire for companies and government leadership that can do it all. They want to work for companies that make quality products that they can afford without causing loss of jobs and without excessive wasteful spending. They want to live in cities where leadership keeps them and their children at the forefront of decision making.

Can it be done? Time will certainly tell, but there is a trend emerging from the frustration with corporate America that may be driving the growth in Stay-at-home workers. This trend represents a 23% increase from 1990, and 100% increase from 1980 in the number of people who work at home. This doesn’t include the estimated 20 million people who work from home “sometimes”. What is allowing this exodus from corporate America? According to Micro trends, the primary reason driving work-at-home is because you can. Blackberries, cell phones, videophones make the home office nearly indistinguishable from the office. Think about it, does it really matter if you take that conference call from your office at work, or the Starbucks around the corner? Besides, when you work from home, you feel more in control, more like the boss, and closer to the day to day decision making and challenges. Hey, you may just become the very boss that you were complaining so much about!

And remember, take care of your customers, or someone else will.