by YourHRGuy
Am I smelling a generational smackdown between Recruiting Animal and Employee Evolution? Maybe Animal could get the Evolutionistas on the radio show and really go to town. I could probably put aside some time to listen to that.
And honestly, I feel a bit torn about who I should root for. On one hand, I agree with Animal's premise in that generational gaps are overstated and that, to a certain extent, they don't even matter in some companies (whether that affects Y'ers in a positive or negative way) . On the other hand though, Gen Y are my boys. I've got some bright eyed bushy tailism in my body and I am part of Gen Y too.
Here's my issue, I just don't think Gen Y is that unique. Man, I almost feel like a fraud saying that. What I want at this age and what my Dad wanted at this age are nearly the same when you break it down into principles. Could it be said that we have more of a chance than any other generation to hit the ground running? Maybe. But that has more to do with circumstance rather than generational differences. And ultimately, the level of success is going to vary (just like it has before) and any real statistical analysis of our generation's impact is going to be...well, a generation away. Nobody can wait that long.
Which is why I don't talk about it on this blog and it is why I don't train our managers in generational theory. Those who are hungry and who want to succeed will find the way to do so, not whine about systems bending and accommodating their generation. Those who succeeded in the time of hippies and love did so without accommodation. They did it by creating their own companies and, not surprisingly, they are often times very employee friendly companies (naming Southwest Airlines and Starbucks, both started in 1971). Or they did it by working up through existing systems and doing what it took to move up and gaining enough power to influence systems bending. That's it. And that's the way Gen Y, Z and whatever comes after that will do it too.
And see, that isn't unique to any generation. At least, not in a post WWII paradigm.
