GenY

All posts tagged GenY

GenWhiners, GenXcusers, Baby Blamers: Enough Already!

Posted by Steve on April 28, 2010
Posted in: Social Media. Tagged: , , . 8 comments

Perhaps 20 or so years ago, I had a girlfriend come with me to my parents for dinner; it might have been some Jewish holiday (which would make the telling of this story more poignant as my mom is a classic Jewish mother). She always enjoyed bringing up such important facts like the size of my shmeckle when I was born or how she had my brother go inside the locker room after I had shaved my head for the first time prior to a championship swimming meet – with a box to place the shorn locks into (which she kept for 30 years). Walking on the deck on my way to a heat, I still remember her yelling from the stands, “Oh Steven, I can still see the fawcep mawks from when the doctah pulled you out.”

Still, there’s nothing worse than your Mom talking about sex when you’ve brought a then significant other over. It was on that day that she decided to turn to my Dad and say, “Dahling, it’s like I told yaw fawthah, it’s not qwahtity Steven, it’s qwahlity. Isn’t that right Chawlee?” My Dad sighed but the rest of us wanted to wretch…

Doesn’t matter how old you are, when your Mom says things like this, the reaction is always the same: Eye-rolling and slumping shoulders, followed by head shaking and the warmth of utter embarrassment.

Well clutch the pearls! GenWhine, GenXcuse, and the Baby Blamers actually have something they agree on…

I knew this already but Tru USA confirmed that we have so much more in common than we have differences yet for years we’ve read little more than what makes us different. People like Sarah White, Shauna Moerke, Rich DeMatteo, Ryan Leary, and Mike Notaro are as ageless as all the other generations in attendance in terms of their curiosity, sensitivity, and commitment to work as anyone else in AARP age territory. Some of my views on recruiting are younger than theirs and their views show the wisdom that older folks aspire to achieve.

The real issue is one of success or failure not generational differences.

Regardless of generation, when you don’t perform to expectations, failure ensues. How you respond to failure is telling: Do you learn from it or make excuses for it? Last I checked, whining, excuses, and blaming take place at every age.

Sorry all you writers of the helicopter parenting phenomenon, some of my friends’ parents argued with Little League umpires because their sons weren’t batting clean-up and made abject asses of themselves. No difference!

Consider Jennifer Deal of CCL and her research on generational differences. It’s been written that:

The Silent Generation (born before 1946) values hard work
Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) value loyalty
Gen Xers (born between 1965 and 1980) value work-life balance
Generation Y (the generation just entering the workforce, also known as Millennials) values innovation and change.

Or, in terms of negative stereotypes, the Silents are fossilized, the Boomers are narcissistic, the Gen Xers are slackers, and the Gen Yers/Millennials are even more narcissistic than the Boomers.

Or in Levy terms, how the heck can anyone make money when everyone’s so screwed up?

Deal’s research seems to demonstrate that the generations are far more similar in the values that matter most. Seriously, who doesn’t want respect? Who doesn’t want their leaders to be trustworthy? Who truly likes change? Loyalty? Please. Who doesn’t want to learn? Who doesn’t like feedback?

Enough already! GenWhiners, GenXcusers, and Baby Blamers – hear this: Your mothers were hamsters and your fathers smelt of elderberries.

In the end, performance is ageless.

Bumper Stickers

Posted by Steve on March 5, 2010
Posted in: Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 6 comments

Long ago I began a love affair with bumper stickers. Not that my car is adorned with some fan favorites such as these:

  • Wrinkled was not one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up.
  • So many stupid people and so few asteroids.
  • Never believe generalizations.
  • Avoid alliterations always.
  • Dyslexics are teople poo.
  • On your mark, get set, go away!
  • I didn’t climb to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian!
  • I am not infantile, you stinky poopyhead.
  • I have a degree in Liberal Arts – do you want fries with that?
  • Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
  • My mother is a travel agent for guilt trips.
  • Stress is when you wake up screaming and you realize you weren’t asleep.
  • Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?
  • The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it’s still on the list.
  • The trouble with the gene pool is that there’s no lifeguard.
  • Without ME, it’s just AWESO.
  • Honk if you want to see my finger.
  • As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in public schools.
  • Your kid may be an Honor Student, but YOU’RE still an idiot.
  • Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.
  • To err is human but to blame it on somebody else shows management potential.
  • Watch out for the idiot behind me.
  • All men are idiots … I married their king.
  • Earth is full. Go home.
  • All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.
  • My wife keeps complaining I never listen to her (or something like that).
  • What if the hokey pokey is really what it’s all about?

But the one that still causes me to tilt my head Golden Retriever style is this one:

Sentiments such as these spawned the social movements of the late 60s, early 70s when material belongings were jettisoned in favor of more simple lifestyles. Then came Gordon Gecko…

Jump ahead to the present day…all kids are multitasking perfectionists, social media trumps world peace and a lagging economy, exercise is derided because it keeps one offline, and it seems as if everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame to be influential, a thought leader, a guru, or an expert. 24 year-old guys wearing skinny jeans, Randy Jackson glasses , and untied Converse sneakers are lauded across all media channels for being insightful about the human condition while most of their gal counterparts view themselves as trend leaders (they are also said to “[consume] new media” which accounts for why they look so freakin’ unhealthy – I mean eat some real food and not this vegan crap).

Despite the need to align themselves with things authentic (whatever the heck this is), a disturbing Gekko-like trend is that a by-product of consuming all  this social media is my sense that despite all their self-professed social and environmental awareness, and need to be authentic, this is what drives them:

Yep, status…

If status weren’t important, why does media quote a Twitters number of followers – does what’s-his-face versus CNN ring a bell?

I noticed it back at #connectHR in DC a few weeks back: The status-cravers would strain to read a person’s Twitter handle on the name tag and when recognized would practically gush with “Oh, we’re following each other!” Know what the old farts did? Stuck out their hand and said, “Hi, my name is Steve, what’s yours?”

Next TweetUp I attend, I’m going to write my handle on the tag followed by 452,672 in bold red underneath.

Bumper stickers…