Reflections From The Road Less Traveled

We had hoped to get as many comments, posts and feedback from friends, acquaintances and other peers as possible. To our surprise, we received even more interest then originally planned. Because of this, tomorrow we will introduce the first post in a series titled Reflections from the Road Less Traveled.

The series will consist of posts from members of Generation-Y who have decided to pass on the typical "9 to 5" and are doing their own thing. Some are running their own successful businesses, some are just trying to get established and others have taken off to foreign countries to find themselves.

Hopefully these posts will shed some light on the wide-range of talents Gen-Y has to offer the world. Maybe even inspire yourself (and us) to take a plunge into the "great unknown." I'm sure we're not the only two guys who have friends who decided to take a risk. If you know somebody who stepped off the beaten path and enjoys to write, or wants us to write about them, drop us an e-mail and help us share the stories of the generation that is poised to change the way we think of work.

Some "Special" Solutions

I realize our last post was about the narcissism study and the apparent problem of the all too common "you're special" message, but this whole issue has bothered me so much that I need to make a few more points about it.

Are Baby Boomers beginning to regret how they raised us? I think they are. The same people who raised us to always believe we are special and can achieve anything we want, now have to deal with us in the business world. We are expected to conform to a cubicle and a meaningless job for the good of the company because this is how the current system is set up.

Well guess what? It's not going to happen! We are not going to conform and throw away our ingrained belief that we can make a difference and can be special. I guess the whole plan to raise us differently has backfired. Rather than whining and complaining about how difficult my generation is or how we expect to much, why not start adapting to and accepting these selfish little "monsters" that you created. Look at it this way — if you're a Baby Boomer or Gen-Xer and have children, you think they are the most special thing in the world, right? Well, so do my parents and so do my co workers parents, and for that matter so do I!

So were a little narcissistic, to me this simply means we expect a little more out of ourselves and want to show it. If we had the opportunity to show it, we could begin to prove that a lot of us really are special.

I have a fairly obvious solution to this whole problem. Baby Boomer managers should start treating their young talent much the same way they treat their own kids. It makes perfect sense doesn't it? We have grown up with your peers as parents and you have lived your adult lives with our peers as kids.

How exactly can you do this? First off, I know that in my family, I have always had at least a voice in most major decisions. Whether it was where to go on vacation, where to move or what restaurant we should go to on a given night. Let us help make some decisions in the business world too. Obviously, experienced senior managers have the background, knowledge and expertise necessary to make these important decisions on their own, but what's wrong with a different perspective, it can't hurt. Simply letting us say our two cents in any important decision will greatly improve our morale and help us to feel like we are actually contributing.

Another possibility is to have some sort of partner program. A young "up and comer" can partner with a senior level manager. This will establish a personal connection allowing my peers to see the business from a higher level and maybe start to feel a loyalty that is no longer present in Gen-Y workers.

These are just a couple suggestions to deal with the current corporate generational clash. I know there are many more that could make everyone happy. Anyone else have any ideas? Feel free to comment, we love feedback.

The Most Self Centered Generation Ever?

There's an enormous problem with vanity in this country. It's in the malls, on the television and, of course, here on the Internet. Nobody's guilt-free in this self-centered world of the Twenty-first Century. So why, all of a sudden, is my generation the one with the problem?

CNN published an article last month suggesting that narcissism is on the rise among college students. A group of psychologists at the San Diego State University have been conducting this study since 1982. They call it the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. And guess what? We're the most selfish brats they've ever seen!

Before I delve too sarcastically into this brilliant study, I'd like to say kudos to another group of psychologists attempting to explain the generation gap through the flaws of Gen-Y. Way to step it up a notch.

Let me first and foremost refute the reasoning behind our vanity (according to this study). Professor Jean Twenge and her colleagues blame the "you're special" message. I'll be the first to admit, we're told that way too much, but when you really think about it, what's wrong with that? Maybe it's made us a little self-centered, but more importantly, maybe it's made us a little more self-driven.

So yes Professor Twenge, too much of this "you're special" talk can be dangerous, but the byproduct isn't vanity, it's confusion and apparently, a very real generational misunderstanding. Confusion as to why older generations don't think they are special, and a misunderstanding about what an entry level job should be.

What's more likely to happen when those post-college years creep up and the majority of us realize we're working lame, run-of-the-mill jobs that don't exactly confirm our beliefs that we are special? Is it vanity? Or is it confusion and misunderstanding? Maybe it's a little bit of both.

I'll tell you what will happen. In fact, it's happening right now. We're going to start demanding more than a cubicle and 8-hours of mundane busy-work. We're going to demand a "special" job, and we won't quit searching until we find it.

Maybe this is why we see so many articles focusing on the generation gap in terms of Gen-Y's flaws. The "Boomers" and the "X-ers" are scared of the fact that we are going to turn their world upside-down…

I digressed – let me get back to our inflated egos. Twenge and her colleagues simply lose their credibility when they suggest that Web sites such as MySpace and YouTube reinforce our narcissism. This is a ridiculous generalization based on a brand name.

Speaking as an avid user of both these technologies, I know that there is little to no vanity associated with them. In fact, they offer an opportunity for people of ALL ages to share information about themselves with one another. It's like creating a social resume, but get this, it's actually fun! It's an environment that makes exclusion literally impossible. Find the vanity in that and I'll give you a gold medal.

There's one piece of Twenge's study that does bother me about our generation. According to the survey, being well-off financially was one of our highest priorities. Okay, I understand completely, money is important and it will buy SOME happiness, but what about fulfillment? You really have to love what you do to get that.

I'll tell you right now, I love seeing that huge direct deposit in my bank account every Friday, but that alone will never make me love my job. I can't stress this enough, find something you like to do.

I'll leave you with this. Sure, maybe we're a little more narcissistic than we used to be, but let's look at the big picture here. It's not just Gen-Y, it's everywhere. And maybe it's not all bad either. Gen-Y is learning to harness that self-centered attitude to their advantage. Take some notes on our behaviors…maybe you'll learn something.

What Flexibility Really Means

I recently read a comment to a very interesting posting by Penelope Trunk titled What Obama Means to the Workplace. Don't worry I will not get into politics or my opinion on the article. I am more interested in the comment posted by a baby boomer manager who appears to be unimpressed with Gen Ys attitude toward work. The comment more or less describes her Gen Y employees as selfish, immature people who still live with their parents, but make enough money to buy designer clothes, shoes and handbags. She further went on to complain about these workers leaving at five pm, while their older peers remained at the office.

To say the least, this comment infuriated me and prompted me to write this post about flexibility. Flexibility means I have enough time in the day to; complete my work, exercise, run errands, read, relax and catch my favorite television shows. If I leave for work at 7:30 in the morning and don't return until eight or nine in the evening, how can I possibly accomplish all of these things?

I can only imagine what baby boomer managers who happen to be reading this must be thinking. Probably something along the lines of, who does this kid think he is? Or everyone has to work late to complete some tasks. Yes, this is completely true, often times leaving work at five will not cut it. If you have a major deliverable due the next day or you are simply behind on your work the typical 8 hour work day is not enough.

My peers also recognize this fact and we will not hesitate to work until the job is done. We spent our 4 years in college cramming until all hours of the night for tests and spending countless days researching and writing papers. We know what hard work is, and we know that sometimes you have to sacrifice your social life, exercise and favorite TV shows for the greater good.

However, from my minimal work experience and countless conversations with peers I have discovered that often times us entry level workers don't actually have a lot to do during the day. How much sense does it make to stay in the office until five if we can finish everything by two? Forcing us to spend three extra hours in the office for a little face time instead of giving us the freedom to leave and run some errands or spend a little extra time at the gym will send my peers and me running for the exits at five pm every day. Eventually we will run to the next employer who doesn't concern themselves with unproductive face time.

The only reason this system actually does make sense to many older employees is because it is how the system has always worked. You put in your 8+ hour day, every day. In case nobody noticed, this is the same system that was implemented 150 years ago during the industrial revolution when employees cranked out widgets on an assembly line!

My suggestion is to do away with this notion of a minimum amount of time worked in a day or week. Face time does not equal productivity. Hard work does equal productivity. Focus on the quality of the work being produced rather than the time of day someone leaves the office and you will have happy and productive Gen Y workers. In case you haven't heard, our generation is one of the most self driven, entrepreneurially spirited generations in recent history. Allow us to have this flexibility of getting the job done, regardless of how much or how little time it takes and we will return the favor with an excellent product.

Obviously other factors such as allowing us to occasionally telecommute and providing adequate vacation time will contribute to this flexibility that we demand. These topics will surely be covered in the near future on this site. However, doing away with this idiotic concept that everyone must work a minimum number of hours to do a good job is an easy way to give us the flexibility that we crave while simultaneously improving worker productivity.

A Little Background

Over the next few weeks, months and hopefully years we will be discussing the increasingly popular topic of Generation Y entering the workforce and the profound changes that are undoubtedly going to occur because of this. We will write about the differences between our generation and older generations (mainly boomers and Gen X). We will provide input about what we look for in a job and discuss current theories and articles written on the topic. Because of the nature of this topic, we encourage comments, feedback and suggestions. Hopefully we can spark some productive dialogue between the generations. For more info please view our About section.

Now let the dialogue begin….