Gen Y Princess In New York Times

Congratulations to a leaderette.

Randi, the magician, performed an experiment at a high school. He gave every student in a class her detailed personal horoscope. Then, he asked the students to read these horoscopes and report on how accurate they were. Everyone believed them to be incredibly accurate. Then he told the students to pass the horoscopes to the people behind them because they really belonged to them.

Here's Marci Alboher in The New York Times

I like a lot of what I’m reading at Modite, Rebecca Thorman’s blog offering “advice to navigate beyond the line of work and play for the next generation.”

Money Line:
Though she’s writing about Gen Y, I think all leaders would be wise to think like this:

What does that say to you? That The Princess (age 24) has something very special to teach everyone by virtue of the her generational horoscope? Marci is obviously inclined to say just that but backs off for fear of being criticized.

But what is the special message of Gen Y?

- leadership is about communication
- Gen Yers have been given a special education in communication since elementary school
- young people make better leaders because they can understand the young people who work for them (will that disqualify them when they get older?)

A Gen Y Leader:
- inspires others by helping them become leaders
- assigns work based on the strengths of her personnel
- pays a lot of attention to the professional development of her team members
- is very concerned about maintaining healthy relationships
- believes in continuous learning and networking
- has a generous spirit

Also, if the New York Times writes about a Gen Yer, she uses the power of the amateur journalist to control her image online by putting something up on her blog.

Find the NYT article here and Randi's experiment here.

Click here to see all of the Gen Y postings

Comments

[Working Girl]

Yeah, I saw this article, too, and was interested to note Marci Alboher was also entranced with our 24-year-old (like Penelope). I do admire her (Rebecca)---for her confidence and energy and ambition.

And, of course, all generations think they are unique and special. I figure she'll get over this soon enough.

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