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Ryan Paugh graduated from Penn State in 2006 with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business. After working in corporate communications, freelance writing and reporting, he co-founded 
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At the risk of being mocked by all the critics, I have a confession – I’m a helicopter child. When it comes to my personal and professional life, my parents may have more energy than I do.
And why shouldn’t they? If you ask me, they sculpted a pretty excellent individual.
My work on Employee Evolution in no exception. My Father especially, loves to critique me. Mostly, he says to be less audacious with my readers. But as a writer, it ain’t easy to give up your preferred style. It’s like asking a painter to give up his favorite brush. Still, every once and awhile my Dad brings something really interesting to my attention.
After one of our talks about the generation gap he sent me a chain-letter that got both of us thinking:
One evening, a grandson asked his grandfather what he thought about the modern age – school shootings, terrorism, the computer age and just things in general.
“Let’s see,” said the grandfather. “I was born before television, penicillin, polio shots and frozen food.”
“In my day, ‘grass’ was mowed, ‘coke’ was a cold drink and ‘pot’ was something my mother cooked in. Back then, ‘hardware’ was found in the hardware store, and ‘software’…heck, it wasn’t even a word.”
“Damn,” I thought. “This guy must be ancient.”
I couldn’t be more wrong.
At 59 years old, this man had seen more changes in the world than my Dad even realized occurred. And go figure, they’re the same age.
The moral of my Dad’s story was change happens. We either voluntarily embrace it or we’re forced to. Those who do so willingly end up doing “okay.” Those who have to be forced typically don’t do so well.
Perhaps the reason my Dad couldn’t recall all of the changes in his lifetime was because he embraced them so well. Consequently, he did “okay” for himself — more than “okay” if you ask me.
Gen-Y is embracing today’s remarkable pace of change pretty well, but we’re still young. There’s plenty of time for us to become old and grumpy, fall into a pit of stubbornness and become what we fear the most.
Twentysomething years from now, when I look at the changes that pesky Gen-Z (or whatever ridiculous name we give to them) is rolling into our world, I’ll remind myself of the story “Papa Paugh” told me back in my youth.
And I’ll think, “Hey, those guys are alright.”
Technology, medicine, the environment; it’s a little scary to think what lies ahead. But if we want to do “okay” we have to embrace it.
But see, that’s simply if you want to do “okay.”
“Greatness,” requires a leader. A person that’s bold enough to be the first to change – to “grab the bull by the horns” and gear up to get hammered by adversity.
That’s when you stop being “okay” and start being “great.”
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My grandfather was 93 and telling me in the nursing home his amazement of bombs that had cameras in them that could be guided to a target — in Vietnam. Today, in the world of war, this is considered commonplace technology. Hell, my GPS unit can tell me which lane of a three-lane highway I’m traveling in.
But my grandfather was never intimidated by the change; simply amazed and then moved on.
How we deal with change — embracing it, looking for the opportunities provided by it, and trying to influence the course of events effected by change — is the premiere challenge to all of us today. How we deal with change will help us or hurt us in our careers. How we deal with change will tell us our path in our career. How we deal with change will leave us open to new challenges or merely stuck in our generational stereotypes others provide us.
When I’m 100 years old, I still want to be learning. I still want to embrace change. If it’s close to bleeding edge, I want to be doing it.
That will ensure I’m still embracing change in the world and adopting to it.
Great post, Ryan. Sometimes those older types look even smarter over time!
Hi Scot:
Thanks for sharing that insight. My grandfather, 91, is just the opposite.
I show him my digital camera and he freaks out. He also gets kind of frustrated because he can’t figure it all out.
“How is this better than a regular camera?” he asks.
I wish he would embrace the changes like your grandfather. In a way, it keeps you young.
I’m with you though, when I’m 100 years old I better still be learning. Embracing change and living life the best way I know how.
My own mom isn’t really big about adopting to change. She insists that she’s too old for it. I would usually insist that she try and keep up with the new stuff (i.e cellphones, laptops, internet, etc.) but more often than not she just goes on to say “haiyah” (which is a Chinese exclamation for “oh brother”, or something like that) and then just keeps doing wat she normally does.
I guess sometimes the person has to want to change. If he or she doesnt, well… you can’t force the change on them. Just my thoughts on the matter.
Thought I whole heartedly agree with this statement —”Greatness,â€? requires a leader. A person that’s bold enough to be the first to change – to “grab the bull by the hornsâ€? and gear up to get hammered by adversity.
The thing that scares me is the state of our leadership