What’s ur carbon date? U know ur old when your dentist doesn’t know what carbon paper is. U know ur old when you say ‘true dat’ to the 20-something you are trying to impress and they get a nostalgic look in their eye and say “wow, I haven’t heard that in years!” U know ur old when your audience doesn’t laugh at a promise to “mimeograph that to all staff on Monday.”
I am a card-carrying Boomer and proud of it. If I get too proud, however, and blinded by my own sage light, the Millennials will move on and I’ll be left in my own dust, having not connected or been respected. A Boomer Bummer, big time.
We boomers need to get over ourselves and get on with partnering with the Millennials. Why? Start the list. #1: We need their new thinking and world view to solve problems we’ve created in our environments – the environment within our corporations and the one on the planet. This may be on the only item we need on the list.
Lisa Orrell, www.theorrellgroup.com, the generation expert, author of Millennials Incorporated, and my co-facilitator of Transitioning to Leadership Program: How to Effectively Move Your GenY Employees Into Leadership Roles (for program info, www.wipcoaching.com), reminds me that “the Millennials are not young boomers, they see work and themselves in very different light.”
During a recent panel Lisa moderated on the topic of Working with Millennials at Cisco for the www.Fountainblue.biz series, When She Speaks, a Women in Leadership Series, the following was revealed: Millennials are energetic with a ton of ideas and a direct, assertive style in communicating them, without necessarily following established business etiquette or without (or even knowing they need to) respecting the chain-of-command expectations (e.g., they may speak to top management over or before their direct bosses). They are globally-minded and techno-savvy, leveraging social media tools (YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter) to build their networks and knowledge.
They are used to multi-tasking (texting during meetings, committing to many work and life projects and juggling multiple priorities), to confidently speaking what’s on their mind (directly communicating their goals and objectives), and to being global in their interests and connections. In addition to these strengths, a noted weakness is that many Millennials are more interested in generating ideas than in seeing them through to results and conclusions, often distracted by the next idea.
What’s are we Boomers to do? I say Adopt a Millennial. That’s my 09 project. Anyone interested? I am accepting applications now. Tell me what you want to learn in the domain of leadership and I’ll mentor you to succeed. In exchange, you teach me about your world. True dat.
Camille Smith understands what it takes to change at the individual, team and organizational levels. It’s not easy, it’s worth doing, and it’s required of today’s leaders. Specializing in transformational leadership, she provides the knowledge and coaching to teach others to create and sustain breakthroughs in performance. She can be reached at camille@wipcoaching.com.
