MANAGER MINT MAGAZINE Issue 02 | Page 62

Millennials: The Next “Greatest” Generation?
It feels like I only go backwards baby, Every part of me says, “go ahead.”, I got my hopes up again, oh no… not again. Feels like we only go backwards darling. — Tame Impala
I’ll let you in on a little secret… I love Millennials. I’ve been crushing hard on this generation since 2008, when I agreed to teach in the Management Department at the Daniels College of Business in Denver, Colorado. By 2016, Millennials (those born between 1982 and 2000) will make up roughly 50% of the workforce. The challenges they face are enormous: growing economic problems, entrenched class divisions, a broken system of justice, environmental degradation, competing life philosophies and divisive politics, emerging disruptive technologies, the impacts of globalism, and decreasing mental and physical health across aging populations. I’ve spent the last six years supporting their development as managers and leaders and I’ve come to deeply appreciate their gifts and understand their weaknesses.
Not everyone loves the Millennials however — The supposed naïvety of this generation was skewered by Aaron Sorkin in the opening scene of the show, The Newsroom -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zqOYBabXmA). This scene is typical of the level of contempt that many Boomers harbor against the Millennials… “Worst generation. Period. Ever. Period.”
Here is what stands out for me about this generation:

The Strengths
1. Millennials are clearly less hung up on racism, sexism, culturalism, and ageism. Millennials seem to accept people for who they are and what they can contribute; that’s a huge win for us a society. It’s a step in the right direction towards a more authentic meritocracy.
2. They are less contentious than Boomers. You look at today’s political firefight and it’s mostly due to Boomers and their “Zero Sum Game” approach to life. Boomers like to fight about everything. Everything. Seriously. (They still fight about Vietnam and Nixon as if it mattered.) The Millennials however are focused on solutions. Maybe the “trophies for everyone” has a dark side, but the upside is that they are always looking at the end product. Millennials are solution focused and execution oriented: You tell them to hit a target and they will try their damnedest to hit it.
3. They can team/partner like nobody’s business. Boomers are contentious and endlessly pick sides, Xers tend to be solitary, but the Millennials work together. Camps, sports, and co-active classes have paid off… Millennials can manage their ego needs enough to create group harmony and increase productivity. They’ve watched the movie “300” and have played video games online together enough to know that a. You’re more successful if you work together as a team. b. It’s more fun.
4. There’s a positivity about the future in Millennials that was frankly always missing in GenX and that the Boomers had beat out of them. Think about this… the current zeitgeist of dystopia has largely been ignored by this generation. They’ve been spending their formative years on Snapchat, not watching the Iran-Contra hearings, and that’s probably a good thing. Yes, they’ve had to deal with 9.11, school shootings, and a decade of war but the future is something they believe in and their positivity will become increasingly important as the challenges ahead become more apparent.
5. They’re technologically savvy. We have no idea what’s about to come online in terms of robotics, biomedical, computing, and communications but it will change the world as we know it. This generation embraces, creates, and thrives with disruptive technology.
6. They are Global in values and outlook. I’ve not seen a formal study to confirm this, but anecdotally I believe that this generation has traveled to more parts of the globe by the time they graduate from high school than any generation previously. Technology has allowed them to stay connected with those they meet along their various sojourns in a way that is real and immediate. The world is coming together. Twitter “revolutions” are the future.