This Is Bullsh**t: Managing Generations

Let’s play a game. It’s a guessing game. Ready? Here we go:

How many times do you think I’ll say, “Picking your management approach based on someone’s birthday is astrology, not strategy“?

I’m setting the lifetime over/under at 975… what’s your guess?

Is this Millennial generation different? Yes, for sure, absolutely. Are those differences actionable? Heck no, absolutely not.

The generations we speak of are a function of a graph showing ups and downs in birth rates. Nothing more, nothing less. When you go on a hunt for cultural differences across people of different ages, you can find them, but cultural shifts don’t line up with the peaks and valleys of birth rates. We keep using fertility rates to gauge the generations, when what we’re really after is something really quite different.

Is there something unique about every generation? Sure. Did mankind’s propensity for entitlement start appearing for the first time ever in the history of mankind in or after 1982? Did the expectation that one can rule the world begin with Millennials? Is this the first generation to expect life to be handed to them on a silver platter? No,

Heck no, and

Hell no.

Why Is the Generational Thing Bullshit?

Generational shifts are masked by complicating factors. Specifically:

1. Demographics. Take a look at the census data: 32% of US population growth from 7/07 to 7/08 was attributable to immigration. Whatever generational cohort we’re talking about, it’s face is changing in real time.
2. Economics. Economic changes beget social changes, especially amongst underrepresented groups. As economic fortunes rise and fall, various groups become emboldened, spotlighting various social inequities. It’s not a generational thing, it’s an economically-based social thing… and we’ve been here before.
3. Politics. You can cry “Millennials don’t get it!” all you want, I’d wager that a Millennial progressive has far more in common with an older progressive than a conservative peer.
4. Technology. Once upon a time, you left school with a few close friends and then spent a decade building a broad network from that small group. Not anymore. Social media has fundamentally changed the definition and need for networking. This is true for everyone in business, and looking at social media demographics, it’s clear that we’re all learning to adapt.
5. Career phase. The most under-reported generational issue seems to be that older ones feel they’ve earned the right to be grumpy/have high expectations/demand flexibility/choose lifestyle over money, and they’re a bit ticked that younger workers are demanding the same without having earned their stripes.

The Real Solution: “That’s Interesting.”

Those two words are the sum total of the solution to the “Millennial problem.” As in, “You think Nelly is an ‘old school’ rapper? That’s interesting. Let me play some Sugarhill Gang for you, tell me what you think.”

“That’s interesting” is respectful. It’s obvious. And it gets you out of this “generational” conversation which, in our hearts, we know to be an intellectual fraud.

Now I know, boo hoo, change is hard, you shouldn’t have to change to accommodate someone else’s craziness, why does nothing go the way it should, how come you’re always the one to sacrifice?

Whatever. Enough of the bullshit, you’ve got work to do.

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