GenerationY changing the housing landscape The millennial generation, otherwise known as GenerationY, comprised of those ages 18-34, represent about one third of the population in our city. And, with this being the largest generation to hit the housing market since the baby boomers, they are having a significant impact on the types of housing forms and features that we are seeing in the Regina new homes market.§ Many studies have been conducted over the last several years to discover the secrets to serving this generation in the new homes market and what these surveys revealed is this. Just as with the baby boomer generation, millennials cherish the dream of home ownership.§ And, they still prefer to live in the suburbs. But, this new generation of home buyers differs from the baby boomers in many ways.§ Millennials are a more conservative generation when it comes to spending. As such, they are looking for economy and value when it comes to purchasing a new home. Unlike their parent's generation, they are not looking for the largest home they can buy. Rather, they prefer smaller homes, with efficient use of space, looking for "essentials" over luxury or pizzazz. And, though a single-detached home is still a strong preference, the multi-unit home also tops the list of housing forms for this generation.§ This, in part, is due to affordability. This generation of home buyers tends to be educated, and many have had to contend with hefty student loans. Homes that are built closer together, or, are part of a multi-unit complex tend to be more affordable.§ These housing forms also tend to be more conducive to walkability, and having walkable neighbourhoods is another high priority for this generation. Being close to amenities such as shopping and restaurants plays an important factor as well and as such, today's generation of home buyers is all about location and having mixed use development.§ Another area that distinguishes them from the baby boomers is the desire to live in a neighbourhood that has a diversity of housing forms. Whereas their parent's generation were content living in a community where houses were all of a similar type, GenerationY is looking for variety.§ Lifestyle is another important factor in shaping the preference of GenerationY. This generation is more likely to work from home and as such, having spaces that can accommodate a home office is top priority.§ No more formal dining rooms and living rooms of their parent's generation. They would rather have an informal open arrangement that accommodates a multitude of purposes.§ Homes that are wired for the latest in technology also top the list of preferences. Up to two thirds of those from GenerationY who were surveyed in a recent Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate poll stated that they would not live in a home that wasn't tech-friendly. In fact, they saw technological capabilities as more important than curb appeal. Many said that they would prefer their living room as a home theatre space with a bigscreen TV and would place a second TV in the kitchen rather than have a second oven.§ Finally, energy efficiency is their number one desired feature. They prefer highly energy efficient homes and energy efficient appliances carry a top priority rating.§ Not only are millennials concerned about the environment, but this cost conscious generation is also concerned about lowering their utility bills over the course of their home's lifetime.§ The market in Regina, driven by the preferences of this generation, has been calling, and the builders and community developers in our city have responded. As such, a tour through many of Regina's newest neighbourhoods reveals that they are not building the same homes for millennials as they did for their moms and dads. Rather, these new neighbourhoods have been built to appeal to this new generation of buyers. And so it should be.§ Millennials are purchasing homes in droves. Ask any of Regina's neighbourhood developers, and they will tell you that the type of housing product demanded by GenerationY cannot be kept in stock. It is flying off the shelves. And it is not that there is no more demand for the more traditional single detached home, for this type of home still has a strong consumer preference, but there has been a shift. Neighbourhoods are including an abundance of the more compact and diverse housing forms of the millennial generation.§ Who knew that our response to the preferences of this new generation of home buyers would indeed be changing the housing landscape in our city. It only makes sense. This new generation is one of the largest demographic waves in our nation's history. Larger even then the baby boomers. They are in their 30s and have come of age for home ownership in Regina.§ Misunderstood Millenials: Are GenY really that bad? “Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”§ Socrates, (469–399 B.C.) Every generation thinks the one that follows it is lazy, disrespectful and rude. So how many of the complaints laid against GenY are true?§ A recent survey from American Express and Millennial Branding found that 47% of managers think millennials have a poor work ethic, 46% think they’re easily distracted and 51% said GenY have unrealistic compensation expectations. A different study from the Conference Board of Canada found the majority of Gen X and Baby Boomers think GenY are overconfident in their abilities. § Some of the statistics seem to support the idea that GenY are entitled and lazy. The number of people under 23 who wanted to reach management or executive positions reduced from 60% in 1992 to 40% in 2002. Another study found that 40% of Millennials expected to be promoted every two years regardless of performance and 69% think regular office attendance is unnecessary.§ However, they also have the same amount of organization commitment as boomers and Gen Xers, are more likely to work additional hours from home and are more likely to follow instructions than any other generation in the workplace.§ Some of the difference can be attributed to age and seniority differences, but GenY grew up in a very different world than their seniors in the office. The ubiquitous nature of the internet and social media means GenY are much more interested in on-the-spot, instant feedback and recognition, rather than formal reviews. § All three working-age generations – Boomers, Generation X and GenerationY – agree that the youngest ones are more difficult to manage than other generations, according to a Conference Board of of Canada survey.§ The conflict between the generations is getting worse, according to the board's analysis. As workplaces moved "away from hierarchical structures", which boomers were comfortable with, towards "a more team-based approach" in workplaces that suits Gen-X and Gen-Y more generational differences were exacerbated.§ "No longer are younger workers largely dependent on the older generations for information and knowledge," the board said. "Younger workers can now access information online and many are often the most expert person at a given skill or task."§ However, the Conference Board warned against "managing by stereotype."§ While Boomers were uncomfortable with the other two generations' reliance on emails to communicate, the study found the perception of younger generations as careless with spelling and grammar wasn't true. While 88% of boomers felt it was important to be careful with grammar and spelling, 83%of Gen-Xers and 85% of Gen-Yers agreed.§ Similarly, 87% of Boomers said they were careful with details, as did 81% of Gen-X and 79% of Gen-Y.§ TORONTO STAR | BUSINESS Carmakers struggle to get GenY behind the wheel Boomers continue their love affair with the car while the industry ponders how to get their tech-driven kids on the bandwagon.§ While boomers continue their love affair with the car, basing their lifestyle on having "wheels," millenials are dragging their feet getting driver's licences and are staying away from carmaker dealerships in droves.§ While boomers continue their love affair with the car, basing their lifestyle on having "wheels," millenials are dragging their feet getting driver's licences and are staying away from carmaker dealerships in droves.§ The president of Toyota Motor Corp. is perplexed by boys who don’t have a vehicle and think they can pick up girls these days.§ “In the past, if you wanted to date someone, you couldn’t ask her out if you didn’t have a car,” Akio Toyoda, 57, told a packed auditorium of about 900 Meiji University students in Tokyo earlier this fall.§ “It’s all changed now. Money goes on monthly phone bills. Also, parking’s expensive and it’s easy to get around . . . on public transport.” § His frustration is indicative of the looming crisis facing the big automakers down the road: how to get kids interested in cars.§ While boomers continue their love affair with the automobile, their tech-driven offspring would rather get from point A to point B on their smartphones, which has car makers in a tailspin.§ Did you sign a smartphone contract instead of a car lease? Let us know in our comments section below The big auto manufacturers are on pace for a record-setting sales year in Canada and the U.S. But a worrisome scenario looms to get so-called “millennials” (ages 16 to early 30s) behind the wheel, and keep sales momentum rolling in the future, experts say.§ The elusive GenY crowd (often considered to be people born in the 1980s and 1990s) would rather socialize on their computers and smartphones than drive over to a friend’s house the way mom and dad liked to do in their day, says Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants in Richmond Hill.§ “Kids don’t love cars the way their parents do, and smartphones are replacing some of the social elements that a vehicle used to fill,” he says.§ “They feel they can be social more efficiently (via text and Twitter) than having a big honking car in the driveway,” he adds.§ High gas prices and environmental concerns also don’t help matters, analysts say.§ Fewer under-35 drivers are buying new cars, and fewer teens today are even getting driver’s licences, saying they’re too busy to bother, according to the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute. § Michael Sivak, a research professor at the institute, found the percentage of new car buyers ages 25 to 34 fell from 15 to 10 per cent between 2007 and 2011, while the majority of new car buyers are over 50. § He also found that in 1983, 87 per cent of 19-year-olds had a driver’s licence. But in 2010 that had slipped to 69 per cent. “It’s not on their radar,” says Joe McCabe, president of industry forecaster Automotive Compass LLC. “In past generations it was a right of passage. It was a symbol of freedom,” he says, referring to the simple days of carhops and drive-in movie theatres. “Mobility now is more tech driven,” he notes. While young people easily manoeuvre their way through constantly evolving smartphone and computer gadgetry, “our research shows this generation is nervous to drive” because many are used to getting rides from their parents or others, McCabe says. § A future roadblock for carmakers is that a whopping 46 per cent of drivers ages 18 to 24 in the U.S. said they would choose Internet access over owning a car, according to research firm Gartner Inc.§ Having grown up in the interactive Apple store culture, young consumers also don’t dig the in-your-face dealership hard sell, preferring instead to do their own research online and through their peers, then hitting the lot for a test drive, says McCabe.§ Getting the youth market on the car bandwagon “is one of the trickier issues facing the industry today because they have to completely retool their focus from what they did in the past to attract new customers,” says McCabe.§ “This generation does want luxury, they just can’t afford it,” he says. “We’re finding tech is defining what luxury is (in vehicles), such as Bluetooth, hands-free, Satellite radio, heads-up display and lane avoidance.”§ The auto industry has always relied on advertising to target the younger crowd.§ When Chrysler chose Anchorman character Ron Burgundy (played by comedian Will Ferrell) to be its latest pitchman for the new Dodge Durango, it wasn’t because the auto giant hoped to appeal to wheels-obsessed boomers.§ Ferrell’s fun ad spots, in which he extols the virtues of the SUV’s glovebox (which “goes on for inches”) and disses a horse for having less horsepower, are clearly targeted at a younger audience who, unfortunately for manufacturers, don’t share their parents’ love of the open road.§ “The ads don’t tell you a lot about the vehicle, but the comedy reaches the youth market” who like to poke fun at their parents’ generation, notes McCabe.§ DesRosiers estimates young consumers represent roughly one-third of vehicle owners in Canada, but in the U.S. they make up as much as two-thirds of the market because cars just aren’t the status symbol for youth here that they are south of the border.§ Analysts say it will be hard to make big changes in the entrenched culture of the Big Three automakers to turn kids’ heads.§ But they have done a few things aimed at cash-strapped youth, all making more affordable and fuel-efficient vehicles. Chevrolet has also offered trendy car colours from denim to techno pink on its Spark brand, while more dealerships are making computers available for them to do more specific research.§ With files from Bloomberg We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our Community Code of Conduct. For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website Terms and Conditions.§ next Top tips for the job-hunting GenerationY Summary: The job hunt can be tiring -- but how can you make your life easier in the modern world? Charlie Osborne§ Top tips for the job-hunting GenerationY The hunt for a job fresh out of school or college can be difficult, especially in as economies worldwide are in the throes of -- or recovering from -- the economic downturn.§ When competing against so many of your peers, making simple mistakes, such as creating a resume which is too long, can mean your application ends up in the bin, rather than a possible way to secure an interview. Today's GenerationY has to use the tools available to them in the job search -- and technology plays a part. Dan Schawbel, Gen-Y researcher and author of Promote Yourself, has some tips to help you on your job search: 1. While you're job searching, do freelance projects so that you can be actively developing your skills and building case studies of your work that you can use to prove your worth to employers. 2. Instead of submitting your resume to a job board, conduct a people search on LinkedIn to see who works at that company and then touch base with them directly to learn more and explore opportunities. 3. Create your own website and do a targeted advertising campaign using Google AdWords or Facebook social ads so that your credentials and name appear to the people who can hire you. 4. Put the computer down and go to industry networking events so that you can meet the right people and stand out in the clutter. 5. Invest the time you spend job searching into your own company so you can create your own income, gain valuable experience and not have to worry about trying to break into a company.§ next When it comes to making charitable donations, boomers do things a lot differently than members of Gen X and GenY, according to a fascinating new study. Maybe itâs time we take a page or two from those younger generations. § In The Next Generation of American Giving, the nonprofit fundraising consultant Blackbaud and its partners at Edge Research and nonprofit consultant Sea Change Strategies analyzed the charitable habits of four generations of Americans: boomers, Gen X, GenY and âmaturesâ (born in 1945 and earlier).§ The Great Charity Divide Here are four key findings from a survey of 1,014 U.S. donors online in May: Only 10% of boomers said they plan to increase charitable giving over the next 12 months. By contrast, 21% of GenY respondents and 18% of Gen Xâers said they will give more. (This mirrors the results of a 2010 study by Convio, a nonprofit research firm thatâs now part of Blackbaud.)§ About 60% of GenY and 50% of Gen X said the ability to see the direct impact of their donation has a significant bearing on their decision to give. Just 37% of Boomers feel that way. Boomers are much less interested in buying products because some or all proceeds will go to charity. About 36% of boomers have made purchases for this reason, comparerd to roughly half of Gen X and GenY.§ Unlike GenY, boomers rarely give to charity through crowdfunding appeals such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Only 13% of boomers say theyâd be likely to make a donation through crowdfunding online, compared with nearly half of GenY (47%). And a mere 6% of boomers have ever done so; 17% of GenY have contributed by visiting one of those websites.§ Intrigued, I spoke with Dennis McCarthy, one of the studyâs co-authors, to dive deeper into the findings. (MORE: Boomer Women Give More to Charity Than Men) Explaining Differences in Giving Plans McCarthy says he thinks the reason boomers say theyâre much less likely than Gen X and GenY to increase their giving over the next 12 months is that âboomers were absolutely eviscerated by the recession.â Many feel they canât be quite as generous in the past.§ That said, McCarthy notes, boomers are exceptionally generous. They account for 43%of all giving, donating almost twice as much to charities as the younger generations. âBoomers will be the predominant paradigm for at least the next decade,â he predicts.§ Paul Schervish, director of the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College, who looked at the surveyâs numbers for me, agreed. âThe higher your expenses are for housing and education, the less secure you are about your ability to give more in the future,â he says. Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down Mr. Millennial's Career Tips For Boomers' Kids Richard Eisenberg Richard Eisenberg Contributor How A Young Boss Survives 'Abusive Senior Employees' Next Avenue Next Avenue Contributor Craig Ferguson Says We 'Deify' Youth. He's Right. Gary Drevitch Gary Drevitch Contributor So Boomerang Kids, You Want To Move Back Home? Really? Next Avenue Next Avenue Contributor§ What GenY Learned From The Great Recession Talk about a teaching moment. The financial crisis that just notched its five-year anniversary was the ultimate classroom for investors and savers. And, according to a new survey by Fidelity Investments, Gen Yers â those born between 1981 and 1988, â were taking better notes than just about anybody else. FOX Business Networkâs (FBN) Gerri Willis, host of The Willis Report (6PM/ET), weighs in below on some money lessons from the Great Recession:§ 1. Buy what you can pay for. If there was any resounding lesson from the financial crisis it was this: Donât buy things you canât afford. In the build-up to the bust, homebuyers bought bigger and more expensive houses than they could afford and Wall Street financial firms gorged on risky debt. As a result, consumers and banks got into deep financial trouble. Venerable Wall Street names like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns went out of business. And, more Americans lost their homes than at any time since the Depression. During the downturn, 12.2 million foreclosures were started or completed. You may have a wish-list of things you think you absolutely âneed,â but itâs important to consider actual needs versus wants. Itâs easy to charge away on a credit card and think youâll pay for it later, but consider the trouble this could eventually result in. Create your own personal guidelines for spending and saving and stick to them. § 2. Go against the herd. As the stock market and the housing market tanked during the financial crisis, many Americans pulled their money from stocks and other investments believing that it was unsafe to invest. How wrong they were. The market has rallied 33 percent since the start of the downturn. If you had stayed put, keeping your money in for the long term, you would have emerged a winner. These days, 55 percent of Gen Yers feel confident about financial matters, compared to just 47 percent of seniors. Trust your gut and donât just go along with what everyone else is doing. § 3. Save for emergencies. Seeing is believing. GenYers saw the consequences of parents living at the edge, living paycheck to paycheck Hereâs a lesson GenYers have taken to heart â 71 percent contribute to emergency funds compared to 52 percent among boomers. § 4. Set aside what you can for retirement. There was a time when financial advisors talked about the three legs of retirement: the pension, Social Security and the 401 (K). These days GenYers largely believe only their savings in a 401(K) or other investment vehicle will be available to them. Pensions have largely been abandoned by corporate America and Social Securityâs future is wobbly at best. § 5. Get financial advice. In the worst days of the downturn, many investors panicked. Concerned that the system would collapse, or that the economy would never recover from recession, some figured that getting some of their money back was better than getting none. Had they had an advisor to talk them off the ledge, perhaps the advisor could have stopped them from selling at lows. Interestingly, GenY millionaires are more likely to work with advisors, but be sure to do your homework on an advisorâs background before taking their advice. § 6. Donât be greedy. I canât tell you how many people I knew in the real estate business during the housing boom, who would say, you might as well buy now because prices are only going up. History proved that one to be wrong. Instead of loading up on a single asset, like housing, because you can, you are always much better off spreading your money around. Asset allocation isnât sexy, but it sure is smart. § HuffPost GenY Is Gen Wine Millennials are a notoriously flighty, flaky bunch, so it comes as some surprise that they are leading wine industry growth -- a market plagued by old guard attitude and pretension. But the habits of GenerationY are more in line with the experience of wine than any generation ever before. Here's why: Millennials are pleasure seekers...§ Whether in the realm of food, sex, music or alcohol, Millennials have learned to embrace, accept and expect the good life. Of course, generations of young people have been experimenting with hedonism for years, but no generation has exhibited such a pronounced desire for the finer things since this one. ....who are social by nature. § The Millenial generation has harnessed the connectivity of social media to cultivate shared experiences. A bottle of wine, more than a can of beer or a cocktail, is a beverage designed for sharing. As Millennials enter their twenties and early thirties, gone are the kegs and Cuervo shots of college days, but social gatherings remain frequent. For the Millennial seeking a more sophisticated and social drink, wine has become the beverage of choice. They're adventurous about food... Foodie culture is more en vogue than ever before, and GenY-ers are constantly seeking new ways to enhance their culinary endeavors. The Foodie Millennial is curious about wine, and enthusiastic about exploring new regions to complement their restaurant meal or dinner party.§ ...and don't take wine too seriously. Unlike baby boomers, Millennials don't need a special occasion to drink wine. In fact, many Millennials consider cooking, relaxing and watching TV to be prime "wine drinking times." It's no surprise then, that about 25 percent of all Millennials will find an opportunity to drink wine several times a week.§ And of course, GenY loves nothing more than technology. Anyone who hasn't recognized that Millennials are completely enamored with their smartphones probably doesn't own one. With the rise of tracking apps and recommendation sites, learning about wine has never been easier. For the Mobile Millennial, finding a wine to love or buy is as easy as listening to a song on Spotify.§ Related Stories Innovation City: Raw data driving... Planning consultant Simon O'Byrne, of Stantec, told the Innovation City conference Wednesday the cities that learn that little fact, and some other things, about the generation that now comprises the majority of the workforce will have a real advantage in economic development efforts.§ O'Byrne, the company's Edmonton-based vice president of urban planning, told the conference cities across North America are struggling to attract and keep bright young workers to fill existing jobs and create the new companies that drive growth.§ "You have a very short time, you only have a few years to capture them," he said. "You have to learn what the hooks are that will retain them so they don't wander off to the 416 area or western Canada."§ The hook, he said, is that GenY has some sharply different values than their parents and they're willing to move to meet those values. As an example, he said, they'd much rather have the latest BlackBerry than a car, they mostly rent their homes rather than own partly because of the weight of student debt they carry — they prefer public transit and walking to driving, they marry much later than their parents and start their families later, if at all.§ For many, their dogs are their children. "They are highly environmentally conscious, they are very connected and they crave spaces that support that connectivity," he said. Those spaces include offices and software labs close to where they life, mixed use neighbourhoods where they can function without a vehicle and streets where women feel safe 24-7.§ Creating places like that will require a major rethink of how city planning is done in North America, said architect Siamak Hariri. "Many North American cities are grappling with this issue and they're not succeeding too well," he said. "We have to learn to build something that will inspire first rather than waiting for all the financial aspects to be nailed down." § Craig Beattie, founding partner of Perimeter Development, added cities need to give up their search for magic bullets and concentrate on planning policies and other problems that keep them from moving forward. "Communities get off track when they start thinking there's a home run solution to this problem," he said. "It doesn't work that way, it's about setting a vision and having the leadership to carry it out."§ For urban planner Antonio Gomez-Palacio, GenY's scorning of the automobile opens the way to many new ideas. He noted, for example, the average Canadian family spends about 13 per cent of their income on transportation or more than $11,229. Taking that money and applying it to a mortgage closer to the workplace translates into 38 per cent more house than in a suburb. § That, he said, could be a major improvement in living standard. It also challenges municipalities to get serious about transit development, especially light rail. Hamilton has been locked in a seemingly endless debate over such a system. Movement has so far been blocked by councillors worried about the cost.§ Gomez-Palacio, however, warned obsessing about cost could mean lost opportunities — such as one American city found when it invested $125 million in an LRT system and gained $3.5 billion in economic development.§ The conference continues Thursday with a panel on advanced manufacturing among the scheduled presentations.§ NBC News.com Carmakers go after GenY with compact luxury models At first glance, it's easy to confuse the coupe-like sedan with the older Mercedes CLS model, something that was far from coincidental, company officials concede. But thereâs no confusing the numbers on the window sticker, with the compact CLA starting at just $29,990 â compared with the $73,025 base price of the bigger four-door.§ With the launch of the CLA, Mercedes is going after a new generation of luxury buyers it hopes will become long-term brand loyalists. And the German maker isn't alone. Virtually every manufacturer in the luxury car segment, from BMW to Volvo, is rushing to market downsized and lower-priced luxury models, whether sedan, coupe or crossover. And that could be particularly bad news for mainstream manufacturers like Ford, who have themselves been pushing upward into the luxury segment.§ Read more:as U.S. Becoming A Major Auto Export Base -- for Japanese and German Makers Compact luxury cars are âthe next big explosion in the U.S. market,as said Bernie Glaser, marketing chief for Mercedesâ U.S. sales subsidiary, during an interview coinciding with the first media drive of the CLA.§ Until now, the German maker had avoided bringing its smallest models, such as the A-Class and B-Class lines, to the U.S. And it had little success a decade ago with the pint-sized C-Coupe, a two-door spin-off of the C-Class line once known as the Baby Benz. § Indeed, there have been far more failures than success stories in the segment, such as the old Jaguar X-Type. And BMW generated, at best, ho-hum sales with its original 1-Series line. Audi didnât do much better with the original A3 hatchback.§ But the times, they are a-changin', as those stalwarts of the luxury market, the Baby Boomers, age and a new generation of Millennials begin to covet more exclusive brand offerings.§ a Gen-Y make up the next big wave,â Glaser stressed, adding that, If you want a future, you have to have a Gen-Y strategy.§ Research suggests that Millennials â used to the downsizing of smartphones and other electronic toys â are less likely to measure the value of a luxury car like their parents did: by the pound or inch. Theyâre also struggling to get good jobs and pay off college loans, so theyâre on tighter budgets, which is why Mercedes pushed to deliver the CLA at a base price below $30,000 despite offering the car with a surprising level of standard features and a reasonably swanky interior.§ To pull that off, the maker developed a new compact platform it eventually will share with at least five models, including the CLA, the pint-sized GLA crossover coming to the U.S. for 2014 and new versions of the A- and B-Class. A battery-electric version of the B-Class also will make it to the States.§ Mercedes has done a good job recognizing there is âa hole at the bottom of everyoneâs line-up,â says Dave Sullivan, senior auto analyst with consulting firm AutoPacific Inc.§ Cadillac's ATS sedan, named North American Car of the Year in January, is among the luxury compact cars aimed at Millennials. General Motors Cadillac's ATS sedan, named North American Car of the Year in January, is among the luxury compact cars aimed at Millennials.§ But Mercedes will have plenty of company soon. Audi will launch a new sedan version of the A3 next year developed specifically for the American market. BMW is readying a new 1-series. Jaguar recently revealed a compact crossover concept, the C-X17, but a sedan sharing the show carâs platform will be first to market in less than two years. Cadillac is gaining momentum with the new ATS sedan â which was named North American Car of the Year in January â and Detroit rival Lincoln soon will launch the MKC compact crossover.§ Sullivan expects such models to attract not only traditional luxury buyers, but also âpeople who might otherwise go into a mainstream vehicle.§ Indeed, thereâs been a blurring of the lines in recent years, with luxury makers moving down-market while mainstream manufacturers have moved upscale with offerings such as the Ford Fusion Titanium edition, which starts at $31,295 and can push into the high-$30,000 range when fully loaded with options.§ Not everyone buys the compact luxury strategy, however. Jim Hall, of Detroit-based 2953 Analytics, warns that Mercedes is stepping onto âpotentially dangerous ground.â The maker, he says, could actually dilute its exclusive image if products like the CLA become too common.§ But attracting Millennials isnât the only reason Mercedes and competitors are entering the new segment. With a fuel-economy rating of 38 mpg on the highway, the CLA is âpart of our CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) and greenhouse gas strategy,explained marketing chief Glaser.§ Meeting the escalating U.S. mileage numbers â which will jump to 54.5 mpg by 2025 â will be a particularly difficult challenge for luxury makers who offer heavy, high-power products to buyers who traditionally donât care as much about prices at the pump. § The higher mileage of cars like the CLA, Cadillac ATS and the BMW 1-Series will make it easier to keep selling traditional luxury models like the all-new Mercedes S-Class.§ HuffPost Search The Full Feed Latest News The Blog Featured Posts GenY, Doctor, GenY Doctors, Medical School, Millenials, Millennials Doctors, Healthy Living News GenerationY is often criticized for our perplexing fetish for animal onesies, a sloth-like work ethic, and a disproportionate sense of self-worth.§ I can't deny the onesies, but I take umbrage at the rest. The latest crop of hard-working professionals like bankers, lawyers and doctors, are all GenY now. Like it or not, we're putting our unique GenY stamp on our professions. (We're pretty confident we can do a better job than you, anyway.)§ But don't reach for your heart pills yet, dear Boomers! Relax, my skeptical Gen X readers! I've made a careful anthropological survey of my fellow GenY docs, and the results aren't as alarming as you might fear.§ How do you know you're a GenY doctor? Let me tell you, as I sip on my fair-trade chai latte, and touch-type on my Macbook Air: 1. You've actually used the word 'chillax' in a consultation. 2. You'd like to save the world -- but only if you can do it part-time. How else will you manage your eco-solar-chookshed and your sustainable-organic vegetable patch? 3. You play Words With Friends, not Sudoku, while you're anaesthetizing patients. 4. The administration staff are amazed you can plug in a LAN cable. Or fix the printer. Or touch-type. Or, heaven forbid, SEND A FAX YOURSELF! 5. You're planning a Locum Odyssey that entails surfing/working around the country for a few years. YOLO! (Also, you know what YOLO means.) 6. You're not going to hang your diploma on your clinic wall. You're going to hang photos you took on your D-SLR of your hot-air-ballooning adventure over Myanmar, or your trek through the remote Nicaraguan jungle, or your windsurfing tour of the Maldives... 7. You consult the Twittersphere, not the library, to find out about the most up-to-date medical research. 8. You're considering early retirement after three years of full-time employment. 9. You've never seen a case of Smallpox. Or Polio. Or Tuberculosis, Measles, Diphtheria, Tetanus... or pretty much any vaccine-preventable disease. (Unless you live in Northern NSW, that is.) 10. If the Internet goes down, you might not remember how to be a doctor. See, you haven't bought any textbooks, because they go out of date before they hit the shelves these days. (Scary thought, that one...) § There you have it -- the future of medicine, GenY style. Who knows what further changes we'll bring to the medical profession? My hope is at the very least a more realistic work-life balance. Chillax, patients -- the GenY doctor's in the house, and your future is in safe hands. Marlene Pearce writes a regular blog at thedoctorsdilemma.wordpress.com/, where a version of this piece first appeared. § HuffPost GenY Meets Unentitled Reality Happiness is the most sought-after emotion, but it's also the most elusive. However, there's actually a simple formula for the pursuit of happiness. It equals reality minus expectations, according to the blog "Wait But Why."§ This logic is presented in the article "Why GenerationY Yuppies are Unhappy," which went viral after being shared on The Huffington Post last week. If our reality exceeds our expectations, we are set for life. But this has not been the case for members of GenerationY, who think they are special and thus set their expectations too high.§ The notion makes sense on the surface, but the author's overgeneralizations and pervasive cynicism must be discounted. In any generation, there will be certain people with a sense of entitlement and others without.§ It's true that students who haven't pursued internships and research opportunities in college, or made any other efforts to prepare for a career, will be in for a rude awakening. Given the current state of the economy, even the best-trained graduates will have to work hard to reach their goals.§ Ask a handful of GenY-ers about the first job they expect to hold out of college (we did), and you'll hear the same response: "Do you mean the job I hope to have, or my realistic answer?"§ We are well aware of the fact that we need to have a pragmatic outlook when we enter the job market. This is not based purely on logical reasons -- everyone has always had to work their way up to the top -- but also for circumstantial ones.§ GenerationY's reality is a difficult one to grapple with. It consists of college loan debt, unpaid internships and worrisome unemployment rates. Does that mean we should lower our expectations below this discouraging line of reality, in order to find happiness?§ People don't achieve greatness by telling themselves that their fate is mediocrity. Part of the American Dream is being better off than our parents were before us. We have to set our expectations high to be the world's next wave-makers and game-changers.§ As long as GenY realizes that there's a learning curve in the workforce as well, we expect our reality to be OK.§ Business 2 Community Marketing Showdown: How to Reach GenY I recently attended a company event at Marketo, where I had the privilege of talking to a senior-level salesperson. What started as a lighthearted chat soon became a battle of the generations. If this were a movie, it would have been a Western, and the conversation was like a cowboy standoff—he pulled out his Smith and Wesson, and I pulled out my iPhone 5. § The topic of our showdown was employment at start-ups. Are these jobs enviable, or are they better to avoid? The senior-level salesperson, who we will now call Blake, said that he would never want to work for a start-up. He said that behind the cloud of benefits was a life of torture and inevitable pain. In his opinion, the number and distribution of working hours, the personality types these environments attract, and the low compensation were not offset by the perks. § I said that from my point of view, long hours and less competitive salaries don’t matter as much as other factors. I’m willing to live, eat, and breathe my work—start-up perks are there to take care of everything else. I said that as a member of GenerationY, it must be a generational difference.§ That clear difference led me to think about how marketers could better engage with GenerationY. Many marketing teams dismiss my generation, but it’s crucial that you learn how to engage with us. We’re a big, powerful group—an army of digital Hulks (except a lot smaller, and with lightning-fast texting skills instead of bulging muscles). We may not have the spending power of the Baby Boomers, but we definitely make the best memes.§ At Marketo, we care about marketing to GenerationY for another reason, also: GenerationY represents the future of customer engagement. Consider us an entire generation of early adopters, and assume that what appeals to us will eventually appeal to a much wider demographic. The buying behaviors first exhibited by young people later become the status quo. We’re alert to new trends, and we’re open to new things—whether it’s the reinvented workplace of a start-up job, or an unconventional way of engaging with brands. You already care about how customers interact with your brand on social media, and you should pay special attention to GenerationY. If you market to GenerationY, you’ll end up marketing to Baby Boomers, whether they’d like to admit it or not.§ Here are my tips for marketing to GenerationY—a wish list, if you will: * Start Internally: The first and probably most overlooked way to market to the newer generations is to use internships, rotational programs and mentorship programs. My initial reaction to Blake’s comment was to post negative comments on social media. When it comes to positive reactions, I post those as well. If you start programs that cater toward these age groups, you’ll take advantage of their social fluency. This is probably the cheapest and easiest way to get a large social reach. If you want them to blog, you might provide them with a guide.§ * Be Responsive: When a customer calls, do you answer the phone, or do you let it ring? Treat interactions on social media in the same way. When I tweet you or use your hashtag, respond in a timely fashion. If I have a concern, address it. If I tweet a complaint, and you respond with a solution, I will continue doing business with you. Let’s say you own a restaurant, and I write a negative review on Yelp. It’s your decision to join or ignore the online conversation, but you can’t stop the conversation from taking place.§ * Reach Me on Mobile: One of my biggest pet peeves is when people post a video that I really want to watch, but neglect to enable mobile view. When members of GenerationY consume your marketing material, you should assume that many of us are using our phones. Marketers love to talk about reducing friction for customers, and how responding to your call to action should be as easy as possible. For GenerationY, this means that mobile optimization is crucial. § Even though my ego loves to think so, I don’t represent my entire generation. My opinions are only my own, and this list is far from complete. Because of this, I’d like this blog post to become a discussion. So, if you are not a member of GenerationY, please post a comment below answering one (or all) of the following questions: 1. What difficulties do you have marketing to GenerationY? 2. What’s an example of a GenerationY ad campaign that you think is successful? 3. What’s the best piece of marketing that you have for my generation?§ If you are a member of GenerationY (aka “the best generation”) or Generation Z (do you even read things this long?), please answer one (or all) of these: 1. What are the top three apps or websites you use/visit? 2. What is your favorite marketing ad or campaign? 3. What is your biggest marketing pet peeve? § I hope this blog inspires a conversation across all generations—we all have a lot to learn from each other. In the mean time, I have a meme of Blake to post. § Technology Tech Overload? GenY Workers Are Feeling It, Study Says Technology’s to thank for our habit of endless multitasking. But as a recent survey finds, constant connection overwhelms half of the workforceâespecially GenY employees.§ The always-on, forever-connected millennials are no stranger to work overload. In fact, they experience it more than most, a recent survey finds.§ Some 58 percent of GenY respondents reported feeling overloaded in today's hyper-connected workplace, according to the "State of Workplace Productivity Report,". In contrast, 48 percent of older workers (Gen X, baby boomers, and “traditionalists” ages 68 and older) reported the same.§ Roughly four out of 10 millennials traced overload to too much information; 38 percent cited technology, the report states. Information overload affected 31 percent of older workers, and only two out of 10 cited technology overload.§ A study from the American Psychological Association (APA) found that's 60 percent of GenY employees will check their messages daily during nonwork hours. That’s significantly more than the 43 percent of employees ages 45 to 54 who do the same, the APA reported. GenY might be wired for constant connection, but could it also be that they have too much unstructured access to work technology?§ I spy… too much tech Peer over the cubicle walls and note the desktops, spot the laptops, and tally up the smartphones or tablets. According to the survey’s findings, of the employees who use technology for work purposes, * 76 percent use a desktop * 43 percent use a laptop * 36 percent use a smartphone * 15 percent use a tablet§ But not at all technology workers use is provided by the employer. Half of GenY employees use their own smartphones for work, the report notes; two out of 10 bring their own tablet. Mosey on over to the Gen X, baby boomer, and traditionalist desks, and youâll find only one in 10 using their own tablets and 23 percent using a personal smartphone for work. § While 56 percent of millennials bring in their own devices, most employers offer no policy for how to use personal technology for work purposes, the survey finds. And so the questions remain: What technology can your organization provide, and how can you best steer its use to promote smoother office processes?§ Balancing act Overload can make productivity suffer, in the same away that multitasking can, if properly implemented, promote efficiency. The balance lies in, well, balance. § Today's workers are desperate to simplify the chaos,â Cornerstone OnDemand writes in a summary of the study.[E]mployers can use these insights to⦠close the gap between the types of technology organizations provide and what employees truly need in order to stay productive and perform at their very best.§ That doesn’t mean getting rid of technology. More than half of employees say theyâd use wearable tech if it helped them get their job doneâand  66 percent of millennials are game to try.(Hear that Google Glass? Hereâs to the future of glogging.)§ But it also doesn’t mean replacing all traditional work processes with digital forms. Only about three in 10 millennials favor online collaboration, and 6 percent like phone or video conferencing. In contrast, 60 percent of millennials prefer in-person collaboration; 72 percent of workers across all age groups report the same. GenY is more tech-connected than most, but as it turns out they’re not all that different from the rest of the workforce.§ These findings suggest that millennials may have grown up with their thumbs glued to their smartphones, but theyâmore than mostâbear the weight of technology and information overload. These are the future leaders of your organization. Understanding them now is crucial to best preparing them for tomorrow.§ Insurance Business RSS Is your workforce coping with GenerationY workers? A recent study published by Ashridge Business School in the UK found that GenerationY workers and their managers often misunderstand each other, because they see the world through ‘different lenses.§ “Both managers and graduates need to be aware that they may be focused too much on their own view of the future and need to understand how they are perceived, define common goals and work together,” the report concluded.§ The study examined recent graduates and their managers in the UK, Middle East, India, Malaysia, and China. An online survey, which was entirely multiple choice, and interviews were conducted between October 2011 and August 2012. Almost 3,000 (including 1,106 managers and 1,789 graduates) responded to the survey and 96 people (half recent graduates and half managers) took part in the interviews.§ The key topics that the researchers investigated were: work expectations; work experience; national and corporate culture; and work attitudes and behaviour.§ Researchers found that while graduates believe that they need to develop their technical skills, managers believe that their people skills are lacking. Consequently, managers and employers need to consider how they can coach young people into acquiring the people skills that they perceive to be necessary for leadership.§ However, while organisations need to support GenY workers in gaining these skills, graduates need to review their intention of changing jobs frequently, according to the study. The research found that graduates tend to want to move to a new company after only two years.§ The study also suggests that recruiters need to consider a potential employee’s fit with the corporate culture when hiring, but that the organisation should also be flexible in reviewing this. “Loyalty to organisations has been replaced by loyalty to brands and to personal contacts or ‘friends’ gained through social media,” the authors said. § The study also revealed that work/life balance is becoming increasingly important for all workers. “GenY dos not want to end up as the burnt-out senior managers they see today,” according to the researchers. It is, as a result, essential to consider different work models.§ Some key points for managers included in the report: * Consider corporate culture and work ethic when hiring new recruits. * Act early to establish boundaries for behaviour and expectations, and to develop missing skills. * Provide quality coaching and mentoring that really works * Try to give GenY workers challenging work, while giving them adequate support. “Mix boring tasks with more interesting ones, but explain the need for the boring activities” * Provide public appreciation for excellent work by GenY * Reach out to universities/schools/clubs to help young people understand and be prepared for the world of work * Have a hard look at your own behaviour and prejudices and produce an action plan * Don’t focus exclusively on one generation. Conduct a strategic review for how best to adapt the organisation for a multigenerational, multi-cultural workforce in an age of rapid change and changing attitudes to work.§ Are GenY Women Too Deferential To Their Husbands? GenY women are taking a back seat to their husbands in financial decision makingâa trait that could cost them dearly in the long run, according to a new Fidelity Investments Fidelity Investments Couples Retirement Study.§ The thing thatâs the most surprising and concerning is that younger women havenât made progress in taking an equal role in financial decision making; theyâre more passive than older women,â says Kathy Murphy, president of Fidelity Investmentsâ personal investing team in Boston, adding, âThese women have to gain confidence and interest in the financial planning process because it's so important for them in terms of having a secure financial future.§ While one in four boomer women identify themselves as primary decision makers, only 12% of GenY women do. Gen X women are in the middle at 17%. And only 45% of GenY women say they are a joint decision maker when it comes to retirement planning, compared to 58% of Boomer and Gen X women.§ Women are making more than they have historically; they comprise over half of college grads and hold a higher percentage of post graduate degrees than men; so you'd think they could take control of their finances. They're working really hard to advance, and they shouldnât drop the ball on the fruits of their labor,says Murphy.§ She notes that women have to count on the fact that they live longer than men, and will need to manage on their own thenâor earlier in the case of divorce. While couples say that they discuss things jointly, men are much more confident than women in their ability to take over financial decision making if something happened to the other spouse, and women are much more likely to defer to men in financial decision making they start together, the report concludes.§ Even if you're a boomer woman and you think youâre on top of your finances, you should be concerned about your GenY daughterâs financial know-how and confidence for her sake and yoursâonce an aging woman isnât managing her own finances, the task often falls on the oldest daughter.§ There are also life issues outside of the financial plan that impact it where couples arenât on the same page. In the report, 36% of couples said they didnât know where theyâll live in retirement, and 32% didnât agree on whether they would work in retirement. If you live in New York City and want to retire in North Carolina and work part-time, that informs what kind of financial plan youâll need.§ Here are three tips for women to build confidence and take charge of their financial future.§ Communicate. Couples should communicate with each other and have meaningful conversations. We encourage couples to carve out time for financial planning, the way they do when they plan a vacation,Murphy says.§ Collaborate. Make sure each partner has a working knowledge of the savings and investment decisions for the coupleâjoint accounts and individual accounts (not just sharing account numbers and passwords). If you use a financial advisor, go to the meeting together, and speak up. Murphy says that sheâs seen a pattern of the woman really deferring to her male partner in discussions with advisors, and Fidelity encourages both members of the couple to participate in discussions.§ Control. Make sure you're both involved in the execution strategy, and donât be afraid to challenge your spouse who wants to go all cash because of a market downturn. Women tend to be lower risk takers but steady investors. âOn the 401(k) side, women have done a better job than men because theyâve stayed the course, Murphy says.§ The Muse 3 Things You Can Do Tomorrow To Better Lead Your Gen-Y Employees The hullabaloo around generational workplace dynamics seems to have intensified of late. TIME magazine ran a provocative and controversial article at the end of May calling Millenials âlazy, entitled narcissists.â Last year, The New York Times published a gem called âThe Go-Nowhere Generation.â And scores of other outlets and bloggers have encouraged organizations with the latest let-them-text-each-other-in-meetings or letâs-give-everyone-a-trophy strategy. After all, the 85 million strong Gen-Y workforce revolution is in full swing (hello, me!), and employers are taking notice.§ Though millions of us born between 1982 and 2000 are seeping our way into the global workforce, thereâs something about many of these articles that hasnât connected quite right. Many Gen-Yers, myself included, read articles about us and find ourselves saying things like âWell, maybe,â or âThat doesnât really fit.â Itâs a weird feeling. Itâs as if these media voices are telling us the face we see in the mirror isnât the face weâre supposed to see (theyâre also insisting that as Gen-Yers, we should be obsessively staring at the mirror for much, much longer). § RELATED: Talking Bout My Generation: A Q&A With Millennial Expert Elisabeth Kelan Many Iâve spoken toâincluding Gen-Y friends, Boomers, Gen-Xers, and myself (itâs always awkward when I get caught doing that)âprefer a more nuanced approach to the generational workplace conundrumâsomething like a recent LinkedIn article by the author of Give and Take, Adam Grant, suggests. In it, Grant highlights the difficulty of making sound conclusions about any generational group, saying, âFrankly, itâs hard to make any valid, reliable statements about what millions of people who happened to be born in the same two decades have in common.â Throughout the article, Grant offers conflicting findings on generational characteristics and comes to the conclusion that âwhen it comes to generations, we might want to stop making mountains out of molehills.§ Interestingly, though Grant questions the validity of sweeping generational conclusions, he does acknowledge that experts agree on the importance of age-based workplace differences. Younger people tend to be more narcissistic than their older colleagues. And as their adjective would suggest, young workers also tend to be more uncertain and raw. This, Grant says, is true of any generation.§ Itâs with this age framing in mind that I dug into my employee engagement knowledge base, discussed with clients, and polled Gen-Y friends and colleagues on what really matters to them in the workplace. Specifically, I asked them: What are three simple and actionable things managers of Gen-Y (read: young) employees can do tomorrow that would make the most difference to our sense of motivation? As I had hoped, the results are surprisingly simple.§ RELATED: What Do Employees Want? Depends on Their Generation 1. Start Your Next Meeting with a Non-Work-Related Check-In For example, say, âBefore we begin today, I want to go around the room and quickly hear everyoneâs most memorable moment from this weekend.â Many young people want to be seen as more than just a cog in a wheel (this isnât unique to young employees, by the way). They love being acknowledged as human beings, as well as seeing you, their boss, as a human, too. Doing something like this breeds openness and loyalty.§ 2. Challenge Them to Stretch Themselves on a Project Theyâre Working On Tell them that you know they can add additional value. Young employees have energy and are often looking for an opportunity to push themselves and grow. Give them permission to do soâin fact, show them that you expect them to.§ RELATED: 5 Strategies That Will Turn Your Employees Into Leaders 3. Express Genuine Appreciation for Something Simple and Obvious Theyâve Accomplished This transcends age as well, but it certainly can carry extra weight with young employees searching to confirm that theyâre making a meaningful and noticed contribution to their team. As managers, we often pride ourselves on being critical analysts, and we slip into the trap of constantly pointing out our employeesâ problem areas while failing to acknowledge the progress theyâre making. There is copious research about the positive benefits of appreciative teamsâdonât miss this opportunity to seize them and to make your young employees feel like they matter.§ To all of you managers, allow me to supportively challenge you to try to apply these simple actions to your team tomorrow. Your Gen-Y employees will certainly appreciate it, and I have a hunch some of your older employees will, too.§ HuffPost A lot of executives have noticed that the workplace is being flooded by a new generation of workers, and they are questioning who will be the winners, and who will be the losers. In reality, Gen-Y is here, and they are already inheriting our businesses, so let's figure out how to make them winners, or we will all be losers.§ By definition, Gen-Y is the generation born between 1977 and 1995 (synonymous with Millennials). There are about 80 million of them, and nearly two-thirds of them are already in the work place as entrepreneurs or with jobs. They will inevitably be taking over after Gen-X from the Baby Boomers, who are now running most companies, but pushing 60.§ In fact, according to new data from a recent j2 Global survey, Gen-Y is undergoing a significant career shift today, trending away from applying for jobs and toward launching businesses of their own. As the most connected and technologically equipped generation in human history, Gen-Y entrepreneurs are using today's tools of communication, collaboration and mobility to build startups with little or no startup capital and few employees.§ According to a recent Gallup® poll, fewer Americans aged 18 to 29 worked full time for an employer in June 2013 (43.6%) than did so in June 2012 (47.0%). More than half of Gen-Y (54%) have started their own business or have the desire to start one as found in a recent report by the Kauffman Foundation.§ This ability to start a business with cost-effective (and sometimes even free) cloud-based and mobile tools, and the benefits of working wherever, whenever they want - combined with a youthful drive and energy -explains why the overwhelming majority (94 percent) of Gen-Y entrepreneurs are very optimistic for their businesses' growth for the rest of 2013.§ This same j2 Global Survey also offers the following tips how to improve your chances of success as an Gen-Y entrepreneur, or even as a young professional working for a larger organization: * Don't let student loans rain on your parade. The federal government's Student Startup Plan allows Gen-Y entrepreneurs to defer their loans or lower their interest rates to help them jumpstart their business, with an Income-Based Repayment Plan to make Federal student loan repayment more manageable.§ * Don't let the lack of experience bring you down. The successes of Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Tumblr's David Karp show that experience is not always a key factor for success. Resources abound on the web to help Gen-Y business owners learn from others and become long-lasting entrepreneurs.§ * Lighten your load with technology. Gen-Y is learning that launching a business today takes far less cash than previous generations required. Cloud-based tools, like virtual phone solution eVoice®, let small business owners convey the image of a larger, professional enterprise for a fraction of the cost of a traditional business phone system. § * Avoid all work and no fun. Being a small business owner requires hard-work and dedication. According to a press release on a 2012 eVoice® survey, more than 40 percent of small business owners juggle at least four roles for their organization. The good news is that 60% of Gen-Y founders said they plan to take a vacation this year.§ * Keep calm and carry on. The holidays will be around the corner, and for Gen-Y small business owners who are trying to capitalize the holiday hustle and bustle, it's important to keep yourself together to win your staff's respect. Explore ways to remain calm and prepare for problems that may come up.§ The Problem With Being GenY Everybody has an opinion of todayâs younger generation, or âGeneration Y,â as Strauss and Howe would label us. A 23-year-old myself, Iâll admit itâs pretty rough constantly hearing: âYou youngsters donât know youâre born,â or âThe young of today are going nowhere fast.§ According to many, weâre far too content, tweeting celebrities and checking our Facebook notifications, than to get off our lazy backsides, break free from parental reins and pursue high-flying careers.§ I stayed in my home city of London for university, not simply because I wanted to be near my tight-knit family, but because itâs a world-class establishment, with a brilliant reputation for the degree that I so desperately wanted to study.§ So does the fact that I am still living at home, whilst attempting to make myself a name in the advertising industry, mean I am sedentary and uninspired?§ The world seems intent on painting a picture of my generation that is completely contradictory to the one I know to be true of my friends, colleagues and myself. Yes, we are of the âtechnology obsessedâ generation; the Internet and social media form a massive part of our lives, but that doesnât mean we canât be just as engaged, dedicated and ready to work as hard as previous generations.§ I recently read the Forbes article, 20 Things 20-Year-Olds Donât Get,â written by entrepreneur Jason Nazar. Whilst there are some things that I would certainly agree on, I have to say that I find it to be somewhat blinkered at times. Where is the praise and support for all the things we do well and for the talent we possess? Nazar is exactly right in saying we are part of âthe most capable, creative, knowledgeable and multi-tasking GenerationYet.â So where is the celebration of that?§ The advertising business is well known for being a young industry, and there is good reason for that. My peers bring fresh thinking, innovation and a new sense of creativity into the mix. I am surrounded by hard-working and talented young people who create amazing things every single day. I have colleagues who travel up to four hours every day just to get to and from work because they are so passionate about what we do and what it means for the future.§ I also canât help but disagree with Nazarâs statement that âYour generation consumes information in headlines and 140 characters: all breadth and no depth.â Young people of today are more educated than ever before; we have more university entrants and graduates than ever before. These are people who actively choose to further their education and broaden their minds, and that involves extensive reading and researching. However, that is not to say we should disregard headlines and tweets. Some of the most poignant and influential things can both be said and learnt in very few words. Few words have the power to ignite thoughts and reactions unlike anything else, which is one of the reasons why social media platforms like Twitter are so influential.§ I am a firm believer in the idea that making mistakes is important, if not fundamental, for personal development. Whilst we may have our flaws, we need time to learn what they are before we can learn from them. So maybe itâs time we stop chastising the younger generation for the mistakes that havenât even been made yet and applaud what they bring to the table. As singer Kanye West said, Itâs time for the rest of the world to stop musing over âback in the day,â because ⦠âHomey, this is my day!§ Winnipeg Free Press > Local > GenY: If you're unhappy and you know it... GenY: If you're unhappy and you know it... Just look at the generations before you People often make suggestions about what I should write. So it was this week that a young Red River College journalism grad -- who is off to Toronto and an intern position at Vice, an avant-garde multimedia organization -- offered this suggestion prior to her departure today.§ "Why don't you write about happiness?" said 23-year-old Kristy Hoffman. What, I thought to myself, could I possibly impart to anyone about happiness? It was only a few days later I understood why Kristy might have asked the question.§ She, like nearly a million others as of Friday, had seen a posting on Huff Post College that sought to explain why members of GenerationY -- people in their late teens to mid-30s -- are fundamentally unhappy. That article was preceded days earlier by a Maclean's cover story titled The Broken Generation... Why our best and brightest are so troubled. It detailed a sense of hopelessness and depression among students on Canadian campuses.§ That trend seems tied to rising tuition fees, plummeting job opportunities and the weight of debt that brief contract positions and unpaid internships can't begin to service. But the Huff Post piece suggests there is something more fundamental involved in this wave of sadness that extends to even well-paid, young urban professionals.§ The story -- titled Why GenerationY Yuppies are Unhappy -- begins by offering a simple formula for what makes someone happy or unhappy. "It's pretty straightforward -- when the reality of someone's life is better than they expected, they're happy. When reality turns out to be worse than the expectations, they're unhappy."§ The point being that GenY members have unrealistic expectations for their lives and careers, hence their unhappiness. But, of course, they're not entirely to blame for being delusional, as the article brands them. They are, after all, the sons and daughters of what I call the Privileged Generation, boomers like me, who -- unlike their own Great Depression-era parents -- grew up with limitless expectations in a time of limitless possibilities. We boomers would pass on to our children those same prospects of a prosperous future, but often without the work ethic and need to pay their dues that go with success.§ Which explains why GenY's has become known as the Entitled Generation. They want what their parents have, and they want it now. But the Huff Post story argues the children of boomers were taught to believe that not only would they go on to have fulfilling careers, but also that, "I am unusually wonderful and as such, my career and life path will stand out amongst the crowd."§ By way of backing up that hypothesis, the blog quotes University of New Hampshire Prof. Paul Harvey, whose research has shown GenY has "unrealistic expectations" and "an inflated view of oneself." And that "a great source of frustration for people with a strong sense of entitlement is unmet expectations." Which, again, looking back at the simple formula for unhappiness versus happiness, explains why so many of GenY apparently are unhappy.§ But indulgent parents, I would argue, aren't the sole source of GenY's generalized narcissism. The unreality of reality TV and the onset of social media where everyone can be famous -- even if it's only in their own minds -- has contributed. § Of course, it's unfair to brand, stereotype, or diagnose an entire generation. There are lots who want to work hard and want to make a difference in the world. Or just make a difference with their family. Kristy Hoffman -- the young woman who asked me to write about happiness -- never felt entitled. Her hard work and talent is what got her the opportunity in Toronto.§ As a parent and a member of the Privileged Generation, I empathize with the reality of GenY's world, where there are fewer good jobs, even fewer careers for life. And where, often, just to get by, they have to work long hours for low pay. But they will survive and find happiness in their own way. After all, they are the grandsons and the granddaughters of the Greatest Generation. People who had far less, but had much more.§ Will GenerationY redefine work or fall into line? Add to ... Is Canadian corporate culture in for a major shake up? Count me among those who will be on the sidelines, popcorn in hand, waiting for the ground to shift when Guy Laurence, the incoming chief executive officer at Rogers Communications steps up to the plate.§ For those not familiar with Mr. Laurence, the current CEO at Vodafone UK, he could be described as the proverbial bull in the corporate-culture china shop, laying waste to traditional trappings such as offices, landline phones and paper on desks.§ Montreal Canadiens’ P.K. Subban celebrates after scoring against the Ottawa Senators during first period of game five first round NHL Stanley Cup playoff hockey action in Montreal on May 9, 2013. Montreal Canadiens’ P.K. Subban celebrates after scoring against the Ottawa Senators during first period of game five first round NHL Stanley Cup playoff hockey action in Montreal on May 9, 2013. The Canadian Press§ Such cultural changes may foster better communication and creativity for all employees but many observers believe his approach is aimed squarely at enticing workers from GenerationY.§ If his objective is to GenY-ify the workplace, the question is whether these tactics work. It appears as though this group of young workers mystifies and baffles many older employees, giving birth to an industry of experts and researchers who believe that while GenY members are tech-savvy, they are in general, lazy, filled with a sense of entitlement and in constant need of feedback.§ Not everyone buys that generalization, including me. This confusion dealing with GenY (those born roughly from 1980 to 2000), specifically how to motivate younger workers, is likely little more than the age-old clash of the young and inexperienced butting up against older and seasoned workers. It’s easy to forget how many of us were clueless when we began our careers.§ “Having unrealistic expectations of the working world is a product of inexperience, not a trait of a specific generation,” said Lauren Friese, founder of TalentEgg, a Toronto-based online job board for students and recent graduates. “An individual with less or even zero workplace experience will be very likely to have some mistaken ideas.”§ Kendra Reddy, a Toronto-based leadership coach and founder of the firm It’s a Big Life!, does not believe the stereotypes about younger workers. Rather than “a generation of lazy people who don’t have any loyalty,” she describes GenY employees as “questioning, challenging and redefining how work gets done.”§ As with any generation, there are nuances to this age group that differentiate them from others, but “there’s no rule that says every human must follow the same nose-to-the-grindstone path to the same generic definition of success,” Ms. Reddy said.§ And just which kettle is calling the pot black? Many people who spend time finger-wagging and generalizing about GenY members who want a different style of working life are perpetuating a stereotype of “angry, narrow-minded old people,” she added.§ Certainly, some GenY leaders believe that businesses aren’t making the best use of their age group. Kayla Cruz, a 23-year-old in Miami who runs the Lost GenY Girl blog said she began working for a large organization at 19 and was passionate to make a difference but found “a lot of corporate b.s. gets in the way of that.”§ “While I agree that young professionals need some experience before they can make it to the top of the proverbial ladder, most [young professional graduates] can do much more than answer phones and make photocopies. Job descriptions need serious revamping,” said Ms. Cruz, who is working on a master’s degree in public administration and has a full-time job as a regulatory research co-ordinator at a Miami hospital.§ Companies may be losing some of the best talent because of these misunderstandings. Ms. Cruz believes the inability of some businesses to effectively utilize this group’s skills pushes young workers into more entrepreneurial opportunities. § “Big organizations aren’t offering young professionals opportunities to grow and expand their job functions, so they’re creating these opportunities for themselves. I think that’s a wonderful thing,” she added.§ Kevin Shea, chairman of Ontario Media Development Corp., agrees. Mr. Shea, who acts as a mentor to many young entrepreneurs through Toronto start-up incubator INcubes, said he is wowed by youth people who bypass large organizations to launch their own business.§ “In my generation, it was almost drilled into your head to get a job with a big company or the government and work toward that pension. I don’t think I can name anyone I went to high school or university with who set out to be an entrepreneur,” he said. § Still, Mr. Shea has some advice for the GenY cohort, including learning how to be effective in an interview and to not be afraid to send an old-fashioned letter or pick up the phone to get noticed.§ His last piece of advice for young workers is to leave their parents at home when they’re looking for work. More than once, he said, his contemporaries have asked him to mentor or give advice to their children looking to enter the work force – and then insisted on tagging along.§ “Parents today spend an inordinate amount of time being the advance person for their kids. When kids enter the work force, it’s time to let them go.”§ Why GenerationY needs a smartphone intervention Summary: Should mobile device management be strictly for enterprises? Perhaps we should consider it as an enabling technology for parents so they can protect their children.§ I'm not going to sugar coat this. I think the over-use of these devices is degrading the quality of our interpersonal relationships and is threatening to retard our collective developmental skills.§ Yes, they can be powerful tools that enable us to do some very positive things when applied judiciously, particularly when used for information retrieval, business and personal communications, personal organization, and time management, but not everyone has the discipline to use them strictly as a tool. Few of us use them strictly as such. I certainly do not.§ The devices are most certainly addictive, and we may not fully understand their true impact on our way of life for a generation, when the very youngest of our general population begins to enter the workforce and we are able to get some real metrics on just how well they've been educated, as well as the perceived value of their acquired skill sets.§ Those of us who are adults can and probably should try to take steps to control our behavior in the use of these devices. I for one have already started to do so, and I struggle with it daily.§ But adults are fully capable of making conscious choices and taking responsibility for them. Their personalities and minds are "fully formed", so to speak, and their actions are judged accordingly by other adults. § Today's kids, despite the level of sophistication we might wish to ascribe to them, still have room to develop and they still do not fully understand the consequences of their actions. Their early exposure to smartphones, mobile technology, and all the trappings that go along with them put them most at risk.§ I am not a parent. But I truly feel it is the responsibility of the head(s) of the household to make conscious decisions about which technologies and how much of it their kids should be exposed to in order to protect them as well as to foster their development in a positive way and keep them engaged in healthy social situations.§ The internet and social networks are a scary place. I alluded to some of this in my earlier writings regarding smartphones and social media that I've linked to above. However, it was not until this last week that I truly learned just how scary and how dangerous it can be for younger people.§ It's my personal opinion that nobody under the age of 18 should be permitted to own a smartphone, at least in their current implementation until fully emancipated adulthood. § Indeed, every generation has its challenges and every generation also has its critics. When I was coming of age, my parents as well as their parents said my generation was lazy, that we played too many video games or watched too much TV, that our music was horrible and had no cultural value and was destroying the fabric of society or what have you. I had my own personal challenges, to be sure.§ Despite all of this, I turned out fairly normal.I have a good job, I'm a home owner, and I've been happily married for 18 years. But back then, it was much, much easier for my parents to protect me and to set a good example. § Yes, we had bullies and there were cliques and I got into fights. Yes, there was always the danger of drugs, although not the kind of stuff being passed around today. Yes, as teenagers, we had access to pornography, although it was arguably milder and it had to be procured via illicit channels. Yes, there was teenage sex.§ Yes, we thought our parents were dumber than we were and oblivious to our goings-on. However, nothing, and I mean nothing, prepared me for what I read in Vanity Fair this week by Nancy Jo Sales regarding the current teenage sex culture driven by internet pornography and smartphone-induced peer pressure on social networks.§ And while indeed disturbing, Business Insider's revelation of teen emoji-speak replacing traditional forms of communication was utterly pale by comparison.§ What is a parent to do? Well, I think it's high time we intervened. We must finally draw a line in the sand. And I feel the technology companies that provide the devices, software, and services need to step up their game to empower the parent to keep their children from harm's way.§ Certainly, parents can choose not to give their children smartphones at all, or choose an age where they feel their kids can take actual responsibility for their use. It's my personal opinion that nobody under the age of 18 should be permitted to own a smartphone, at least in their current implementation until fully emancipated adulthood.§ Every mom and dad should have the power to be their own NSA and run their own PRISM program as far as their children are concerned. § That may sound awfully draconian, and it may submit the current generation of children to being social outcasts in their own peer groups, but that is what I believe is the safest way to go.§ The only way that my mind could be changed about this is if parents could be equipped with the very same mobile device management (MDM) technology that we seek to equip our enterprises with, and to provide them with the same kind of "big brother" tool sets, albeit in miniature, that everyone is now accusing the NSA and the US government of violating our rights with. § Sound extreme? Let me put it this way: I don't believe children and teens have rights per se, because they aren't yet adults. They are afforded privileges by their parents, who nurture them, provide them with a home, clothe and feed them, and pay the bills. They also have a right to be protected by law. Period.§ Just like enterprises can and should dictate with BYOD policies which apps and services can be installed on devices used on their networks, parents should be able to control which applications and services can be installed on their children's mobile devices, and when as well as how they can be used.§ Parents or legal guardians should be able to observe the full data feeds of what their children post and receive via Facebook, text, email, and any other application or service used on their devices. It is a parent's right to "violate" their child's notion of "privacy".§ Every mom and dad should have the power to be their own NSA and run their own PRISM program as far as their children are concerned.§ They should be able to do this at any time and on any network with strict granular levels of control. This includes content filtering, as well as alert notifications for content and events that exceed desired thresholds.§ If you don't want your kids to have access to certain types of sites or apps from their smartphones at certain times of day or using any other criterion, you should be able to log into a management portal provided by your carrier or your services provider to be able to easily do that with a wizard or a few button clicks.§ [Update: Simon Crosby, CTO of Bromium, suggests Cisco Meraki, which is a cloud-based service that is free for non-commercial use§ Parents should also be able to override, moderate, queue, or undo whatever their children do to the extent that the application or service supports it with their native APIs.§ And, yes, I'm talking about you, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, Pinterest, G+, and Twitter. § And just as we submit children in our schools to "sex ed" to inform them about what the consequences of their actions are should they engage in such activities without parental knowledge and without taking adequate precautions, I'm also of the opinion that our educational system should develop course-ware that provides social networking education informing them about what happens when they make bad choices online.§ Today, these tool sets do not exist. But parents should demand them this instant. Should parents be empowered to control how their children use mobile technology and social networking? Talk back and let me know.§ 3 News Retirement Commission: Make GenY wait till 68 for super Ms Maxwell says the age needs to rise due to a high number of baby boomers nearing retirement Retirement Commission: Make GenY wait till 68 for super§ Today's 25-year-olds would have to wait till they're 68 to get superannuation, but the gap between male and female savings would be reduced under changes proposed by the Retirement Commissioner. § In a discussion document released today, Retirement Commissioner Diane Maxwell recommends raising the retirement age by one year every decade from 2027, with those born in 1962 the first to wait longer than age 65 to receive superannuation. § Retirees born in 1968 would have to be 65 years and nine months old and people born in 1988 would have to be 68 to get superannuation.§ Ms Maxwell says the age needs to rise due to a high number of baby boomers nearing retirement, and a lack of personal savings leading to a gap between what New Zealand Superannuation provides and what is expected in terms of a retirement lifestyle.§ She also recommends the Government find a way to fund employee contributions to KiwiSaver while workers are on parental leave, such as topping up balances during an employee's working life, to help close the gap between women and men's savings. § Women's contributions are up to 20 percent lower than men's, due to the gender pay gap and average hours worked, Ms Maxwell says.§ The discussion document also recommends changes to how superannuation is deducted when an individual also receives an overseas state pension.§ Consultation on the document closes on November 4. However, the Government could choose to ignore any recommendations - as it has with the Retirement Commissioner's past suggestion of raising the retirement age to 67.§ The Government is currently consulting on a "flexi-super" proposal, put forward by United Future leader Peter Dunne, which would allow retirees to take a lower level of superannuation before they turn 65, or get more if they wait longer to retire.§ HuffPost GenY: Useful or Useless? Is Canadian corporate culture in for a major shakeup? Count me among those who will be on the sidelines, popcorn in hand, waiting for the ground to shake when Guy Laurence, the incoming CEO at Rogers Communication, steps up to the plate. For those not familiar with the current Vodafone UK CEO, one might describe him as the proverbial bull in the corporate culture china shop, radically laying waste to such standard items as offices, landlines and paper on desks. Such cultural changes may foster better communication and creativity for all employees but many observers believe his approach is aimed squarely at GenerationY.§ If Mr. Laurence's objective is in fact to GenY-ifying his workplace, the question remains whether these tactics work. It appears at though this cohort of employees consistently mystifies and baffles so many older employees, giving birth to an industry of experts and researchers who deem them lazy, self-entitled and in constant need of feedback.§ Not everyone buys that generalization, myself included. This confusion over GenY, and more specifically how to motivate them, is likely little more than the age-old clash of the young and inexperienced butting up against older and seasoned workers. Who among us will swear they had to walk 20 miles to get to the water cooler back when they were newbies? It's easy to forget how many of us were clueless when we began our careers.§ "Having unrealistic expectations of the working world is a product of inexperience not a trait of a specific generation," asserted Lauren Friese, founder of TalentEgg, a job board for students and recent graduates. "An individual with less or even zero workplace experience will be very likely to have some mistaken ideas," she added.§ Kendra Reddy, a Toronto-based leadership coach and founder of the firm It's a Big Life! agrees that age plays a bigger factor that era. Rather than "a generation of lazy people who don't have any loyalty," Ms. Reddy describes them as, "questioning, challenging and re-defining how work gets done." As with any generation, there are nuances to this generation that differentiate them from others, but "there's no rule that says every human must follow the same nose-to-the-grind-stone path to the same generic definition of success," she said.§ It would seem that the people who spend a lot of time resentfully finger-wagging and generalizing GenY for wanting a different life, are themselves perpetuating a stereotype of "angry, narrow-minded old people,'" she said.§ Certainly, some GenY leaders believe that corporations aren't making the best use of this demographic. Kayla Cruz, a 23-year old in Miami, Florida who runs the Lost GenY Girl blog said she began working for a large organization at 19 and was passionate to make a difference but found "a lot of corporate BS gets in the way of that... and while I agree that young professionals need some experience before they can make it to the top of the proverbial ladder, I think that most of them (young professional graduates) can do much more than answer phones and make copies. Job descriptions need serious revamping," added Ms. Cruz, who is currently working on a Master's Degree in Public Administration while working full-time as a regulatory research coordinator.§ And corporations may be losing some of the best talent because of these misunderstandings. Ms. Cruz believes the inability of some companies to effectively utilize this group's skills pushes them into more entrepreneurial opportunities.§ "Big organizations aren't offering young professionals opportunities to grow and expand their job functions, so they're creating these opportunities for themselves. I, for one, think that's a wonderful thing," she added.§ Kevin Shea, chairman of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, agrees. Mr. Shea, who acts as a mentor to many young entrepreneurs through Toronto incubator INcubes, remains in awe of these youthful professionals who bypass large organizations in favor of launching their own.§ "In my generation, it was almost drilled into your head to get a job with a big company or a government and work toward that pension. I don't think I can name anyone I went to high school or university with who set out to be an entrepreneur," added Mr. Shea.§ Which isn't to say he doesn't have some advice for this younger cohort, including learn how to interview and to not be afraid to send an old-fashioned letter or pick up the phone to get noticed.§ Mr. Shea's last piece of advice to GenYs is to leave your parents at home. More than once, contemporaries of his have asked him to mentor or give advice to their children looking to enter the workforce and then insisted on tagging along. "Parents today spend an inordinate amount of time being the advance person for their kids. When kids enter the workforce, it's time to let them go."§§§ HuffPost Why GenerationY Yuppies Are Unhappy Why GenerationY Yuppies Are Unhappy Say hi to Lucy. Lucy is part of GenerationY, the generation born between the late 1970s and the mid 1990s. She's also part of a yuppie culture that makes up a large portion of GenY.§ I have a term for yuppies in the GenY age group -- I call them GenY Protagonists & Special Yuppies, or GYPSYs. A GYPSY is a unique brand of yuppie, one who thinks they are the main character of a very special story.§ So Lucy's enjoying her GYPSY life, and she's very pleased to be Lucy. Only issue is this one thing: Lucy's kind of unhappy. To get to the bottom of why, we need to define what makes someone happy or unhappy in the first place. It comes down to a simple formula: It's pretty straightforward -- when the reality of someone's life is better than they had expected, they're happy. When reality turns out to be worse than the expectations, they're unhappy.§ To provide some context, let's start by bringing Lucy's parents into the discussion: Lucy's parents were born in the '50s -- they're Baby Boomers. They were raised by Lucy's grandparents, members of the G.I. Generation, or "the Greatest Generation," who grew up during the Great Depression and fought in World War II, and were most definitely not GYPSYs. § Lucy's Depression Era grandparents were obsessed with economic security and raised her parents to build practical, secure careers. They wanted her parents' careers to have greener grass than their own, and Lucy's parents were brought up to envision a prosperous and stable career for themselves. Something like this: They were taught that there was nothing stopping them from getting to that lush, green lawn of a career, but that they'd need to put in years of hard work to make it happen.§ After graduating from being insufferable hippies, Lucy's parents embarked on their careers. As the '70s, '80s, and '90s rolled along, the world entered a time of unprecedented economic prosperity. Lucy's parents did even better than they expected to. This left them feeling gratified and optimistic.§ With a smoother, more positive life experience than that of their own parents, Lucy's parents raised Lucy with a sense of optimism and unbounded possibility. And they weren't alone. Baby Boomers all around the country and world told their GenY kids that they could be whatever they wanted to be, instilling the special protagonist identity deep within their psyches. § This left GYPSYs feeling tremendously hopeful about their careers, to the point where their parents' goals of a green lawn of secure prosperity didn't really do it for them. A GYPSY-worthy lawn has flowers.§ The GYPSY needs a lot more from a career than a nice green lawn of prosperity and security. The fact is, a green lawn isn't quite exceptional or unique enough for a GYPSY. Where the Baby Boomers wanted to live The American Dream, GYPSYs want to live Their Own Personal Dream.§ Cal Newport points out that "follow your passion" is a catchphrase that has only gotten going in the last 20 years, according to Google's Ngram viewer, a tool that shows how prominently a given phrase appears in English print over any period of time. The same Ngram viewer shows that the phrase "a secure career" has gone out of style, just as the phrase "a fulfilling career" has gotten hot.§ To be clear, GYPSYs want economic prosperity just like their parents did -- they just also want to be fulfilled by their career in a way their parents didn't think about as much.§ But something else is happening too. While the career goals of GenY as a whole have become much more particular and ambitious, Lucy has been given a second message throughout her childhood as well: This would probably be a good time to bring in our second fact about GYPSYs: GYPSYs Are Delusional "Sure," Lucy has been taught, "everyone will go and get themselves some fulfilling career, but I am unusually wonderful and as such, my career and life path will stand out amongst the crowd." So on top of the generation as a whole having the bold goal of a flowery career lawn, each individual GYPSY thinks that he or she is destined for something even better§ A shiny unicorn on top of the flowery lawn. So why is this delusional? Because this is what all GYPSYs think, which defies the definition of special: According to this definition, most people are not special -- otherwise "special" wouldn't mean anything.§ Even right now, the GYPSYs reading this are thinking, "Good point... but I actually am one of the few special ones" -- and this is the problem.§ A second GYPSY delusion comes into play once the GYPSY enters the job market. While Lucy's parents' expectation was that many years of hard work would eventually lead to a great career, Lucy considers a great career an obvious given for someone as exceptional as she, and for her it's just a matter of time and choosing which way to go. Her pre-workforce expectations look something like this: Unfortunately, the funny thing about the world is that it turns out to not be that easy of a place, and the weird thing about careers is that they're actually quite hard. Great careers take years of blood, sweat and tears to build -- even the ones with no flowers or unicorns on them -- and even the most successful people are rarely doing anything that great in their early or mid-20s.§ But GYPSYs aren't about to just accept that. Paul Harvey, a University of New Hampshire professor and GYPSY expert, has researched this, finding that GenY has "unrealistic expectations and a strong resistance toward accepting negative feedback," and "an inflated view of oneself." He says that "a great source of frustration for people with a strong sense of entitlement is unmet expectations. They often feel entitled to a level of respect and rewards that aren't in line with their actual ability and effort levels, and so they might not get the level of respect and rewards they are expecting."§ For those hiring members of GenY, Harvey suggests asking the interview question, "Do you feel you are generally superior to your coworkers/classmates/etc., and if so, why?" He says that "if the candidate answers yes to the first part but struggles with the 'why,' there may be an entitlement issue. This is because entitlement perceptions are often based on an unfounded sense of superiority and deservingness. They've been led to believe, perhaps through overzealous self-esteem building exercises in their youth, that they are somehow special but often lack any real justification for this belief."§ And since the real world has the nerve to consider merit a factor, a few years out of college Lucy finds herself here: Lucy's extreme ambition, coupled with the arrogance that comes along with being a bit deluded about one's own self-worth, has left her with huge expectations for even the early years out of college. And her reality pales in comparison to those expectations, leaving her "reality - expectations" happy score coming out at a negative.§ And it gets even worse. On top of all this, GYPSYs have an extra problem that applies to their whole generation: GYPSYs Are Taunted Sure, some people from Lucy's parents' high school or college classes ended up more successful than her parents did. And while they may have heard about some of it from time to time through the grapevine, for the most part they didn't really know what was going on in too many other peoples' careers.§ Lucy, on the other hand, finds herself constantly taunted by a modern phenomenon: Facebook Image Crafting. Social media creates a world for Lucy where A) what everyone else is doing is very out in the open, B) most people present an inflated version of their own existence, and C) the people who chime in the most about their careers are usually those whose careers (or relationships) are going the best, while struggling people tend not to broadcast their situation. This leaves Lucy feeling, incorrectly, like everyone else is doing really well, only adding to her misery: So that's why Lucy is unhappy, or at the least, feeling a bit frustrated and inadequate. In fact, she's probably started off her career perfectly well, but to her, it feels very disappointing.§ Here's my advice for Lucy: 1) Stay wildly ambitious. The current world is bubbling with opportunity for an ambitious person to find flowery, fulfilling success. The specific direction may be unclear, but it'll work itself out -- just dive in somewhere.§ 2) Stop thinking that you're special. The fact is, right now, you're not special. You're another completely inexperienced young person who doesn't have all that much to offer yet. You can become special by working really hard for a long time.§@ 3) Ignore everyone else. Other people's grass seeming greener is no new concept, but in today's image crafting world, other people's grass looks like a glorious meadow. The truth is that everyone else is just as indecisive, self-doubting, and frustrated as you are, and if you just do your thing, you'll never have any reason to envy others. § HuffPost Posts Loving Millennials: A Message to GenerationY (and Those Who Know Them) Loving Millennials: A Message to GenerationY (and Those Who Know Them) I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden 1/3 of my staff are under the age of 35. Makes sense though. By next year Millennials will make up half the workforce. I'm loving it. Why? First of all, as a Baby Boomer, these guys are my kid's age. And who doesn't love your kid? I'm feeling optimistic as they enter the stage to rule the world.§ I think things get lost in translation as other generations act to reach out to this particular generation. My message to the Millennials? Other generations want to help. Simply ask for it -- and keep these things in mind as you go through your professional lives: 1. Seize Professional Development. Most of you won't work for large companies who have formal training programs, but that doesn't mean you should be left out. However, you don't get if you don't ask. At my organization, I encourage everyone to take at least one course to continue building their skills. In annual reviews, professional development is always one competency that we talk about. It's amazing how many staff don't take advantage of this opportunity. Engage your Baby Boomer leadership and get them on your side (think back to how you might've gotten your parents to pay for something big). Engage them. Make them an advocate for you. When you finish something, let them know how it helped and how much you appreciated your support.§ 2. Show Up as a Leader. I know much has been said of CEOs of digital companies who get to wear tattered t-shirts to the office. But quite honestly, that is the exception. Dress code is a hassle, but who wants to be staring at your cleavage while you're presenting the next great idea?§ 3. Old Fashioned Relationship Building is Not Dead. Digital communication is fantastic 90 percent of the time, but you don't go out for a beer with someone based on how you relate on the Internet. Spending time, cultivating relationships, is something us Baby Boomers have done a little bit of in our careers. Maybe not over the top Mad Men variety, but a lunch or two. Think about networking the old-fashioned way -- inviting someone you admire out to lunch. Or just simple gestures: I just hired a communications manager who wrote a hand-written thank you, complete with correct address format. Seems small, but completely relatable and irresistible to our generation that used to open the mail and read it.§ 4. Get Deliberate About Mentoring. A lot has been said about reverse mentoring: how Millennials can teach us a thing or two about Reddit and Tumblr and why "Wrecking Ball" is a feminist anthem. But the real relationship can be built as a two-way street. There's nothing better than sitting down and brainstorming high-tech (Millennial), low tech (Baby Boomer) solutions. Most new product development teams at Union Plus (i.e. developing a new health care exchange product for uninsured workers) involved several generations. Low tech, high competency skills like contract negotiations and project management can be learned side by side with digital platform recommendations.§ 5. Practice Patience -- or at Least Appear to. When talking across any sort of difference -- age, creed, education level -- it's so important to have patience with those you're exchanging with. Even if you have a firmly developed position or stance, or approach to a particular thing, it's always important to be patient enough to listen. Understanding why someone believes something that they believe is almost (if not more important) as actually agreeing with them.§ Children of the '60s and GenerationY have so much in common. They both are sharing a space across time that is transformative and historic in epic proportions. I'm excited to see where they take the world as it's being handed to them. They're connected. They're smart. They could stand to be a bit less cynical -- and in turn we should definitely be less cynical about them. This generation is on to something.§ Why Millennials Mattered in 2013. By Me. millennials (millennial generation) Part of the Internet acronyms and lingo glossary: Millennials, an abbreviation for millennial generation, is a term used by demographers to describe a segment of the population born between 1980 and 2000 (approximately). Sometimes referred to in the media as "GenerationY," millennials are the children of the post-WWII baby boomer generation.§ A few things about millennials: * According the U.S. census bureau, around forty percent of the millennial generation is African American, Latino, Asian or of a racially-mixed background. * There are about 76 million millennials in the United States (based on research using the years 1978-2000). * Millennials are the last generation born in the 20th century. * Twenty percent have at least one immigrant parent. * A number of studies, including one by the Center for American Progress, anticipate that millennials will be the first American generation to do less well economically than their parents. * Millennials are also sometimes called the Net generation because (at least according to some people) they don't remember a time when there was no Internet. * As a result of growing up with the Internet and associated devices, millennials are often said to be the most technologically savvy generation to date.§ Who Are the Millennials? Teenagers and twenty-somethings have been dubbed the Millennial Generation, or simply Millennials. But what does it mean? GenerationY definition The term Millennials generally refers to the generation of people born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. Perhaps the most commonly used birth range for this group is 1982-2000. The Millennial Generation is also known as GenerationY, because it comes after Generation X — those people between the early 1960s and the 1980s. It has also been called the Peter Pan or Boomerang Generation because of the propensity of some to move back in with their parents, perhaps due to economic constraints, and a growing tendency to delay some of the typical adulthood rites of passage like marriage or starting a career.§ The publication Ad Age was one of the first to coin the term "GenerationY," in an editorial in August 1993. But the term didn't age well, and "Millennials" has largely over taken it. But the terms basically mean the same thing.§ Millennials characteristics Millennials have been characterized in a number of different ways. On the negative side, they've been described as lazy, narcissistic and prone to jump from job to job. The 2008 book "Trophy Kids" by Ron Alsop discusses how many young people have been rewarded for minimal accomplishments (such as mere participation) in competitive sports, and have unrealistic expectations of working life. § A story in Time magazine said polls show that Millennials "want flexible work schedules, more 'me time' on the job, and nearly nonstop feedback and career advice from managers." Another Time story in May 2013 was harsher. Titled "The Me Me Me Generation," it begins: "They’re narcissistic. They’re lazy. They’re coddled. They’re even a bit delusional. Those aren’t just unfounded negative stereotypes about 80 million Americans born roughly between 1980 and 2000. They’re backed up by a decade of sociological research."§ One 2012 study found Millennials to be "more civically and politically disengaged, more focused on materialistic values, and less concerned about helping the larger community than were GenX (born 1962-1981) and Baby Boomers (born 1946 to about 1961) at the same ages," according to USA Today. "The trend is more of an emphasis on extrinsic values such as money, fame, and image, and less emphasis on intrinsic values such as self-acceptance, group affiliation and community." The study was based on an analysis of two large databases of 9 million high school seniors or entering college students.§ They have also been described in positive ways. They are generally regarded as being more open-minded, and more supportive of gay rights and equal rights for minorities. Other positives adjectives to describe them include confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living.§ Generation Me There is a spirited, if not tiresome, debate about whether Millennials are self-entitled narcissists or open-minded do-gooders; surely the truth lies somewhere in-between. Generally, however, there does seem to be more of an emphasis on the self than in previous generations, one reason why this group has been called Generation Me.§ Other scholars have pointed out that the attempt to make generalizations about an entire generation is a futile effort. Further, some have suggested that discussion of "Millennials" tends to focus on mostly white youth from suburban areas, ignoring the unique experience of immigrants and minorities.§ Latest On Who Are the Millennials? millennial generation Dictionary.com presents 366 FAQs, incorporating some of the frequently asked questions from the past with newer queries. Differences Etymology/Origins Grammar/Usage/Style Spelling Trivia What is the Word For...? Where Can I Find...? I have a question that isn't answered here Quote Of The Day "Nostalgia, the vice of the aged. We watch so many old movies our memories come in monochro..." -Angela Carter MORE Want ad-free? Click here! Related Searches Description the millennial generation Millennial generation age group Morals in the millennial generation Millennial generation statistics Millennial generation population Millennial generation in the workplace Families and the millennial generation Millennial generation college Nearby Words millecent milled milledgeville millefeuille millefiore millefiore glass millefiori millefiori glass millefleur millefleurs millenarian millenarianism millenarism millenarist millenary millennia millennia list millennia-list millennial millennial church millennial generation millennialism millennialist millennian millennist millennium millennium bridge millennium bug millennium meltdown millenniumism milleped millepede millepora millepore milleporite miller miller bird miller index miller indices miller thumb miller's disease Mashable Millennials GenerationY, also known as the Millennial Generation, are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when GenerationY starts and ends. Commentators use beginning birth dates ranging from the early 1980s to the early 2000s (decade)§. Millennials are sometimes called Echo Boomers, due to the significant increase in birth rates during the 1980s and into the 1990s. Millennials are mostly the children of baby boomers or Gen Xers. The 20th century trend toward smaller families in developed countries continued, however, so the relative impact of the "baby boom echo" was generally less pronounced than the original boom.§ Millennial characteristics vary by region, depending on social and economic conditions. It is generally marked by an increased use and familiarity with communication, media, and digital technologies. In most parts of the world its upbringing was marked by an increase in a neoliberal approach to politics and economics; the effects of this...§ 7 Gift Ideas for DigitalNatives In the United States alone, there are more than 41 million digital natives. Those growing up with digital devices, or who have been actively using these devices since they were teenagers, are first adopters of new technology, and they're changing the workings of the world as we know it. Today, 34% of millennials prefer online video to TV, and 50% report they watch at least one online video a day.§ Study: Millennials Prefer Traditional Classrooms Over Online Ones Students are warming up to virtual education, but according to a new study, they still believe it's easier to learn in a traditional classroom. Millennial Branding, a GenerationY consulting firm, and online marketplace Internships.com, conducted an online survey in May in which they asked 1,345 college students in the United States about their views on the future of education.§ Why Can't Millennials Find Jobs? Your inability to land a job might be blamed on the economy, your chosen college major or just the fact that you're not a code-happy engineer. For many, it's less about finding a job and more about finding a good job. Those are the underemployed in the Millennial generation who don't show up in unemployment reports.§ Top 10 Questions Millennials Ask the Internet Millennials are a stubborn bunch. Likes: looking smart, being right. Dislikes: looking dumb, being wrong. That's why we turn to search engines to ask some of life's most pressing questions. Because when we need to learn how to boil an egg, we can't just call our moms. We're 27 and extremely competent. SEE ALSO: 15 Celebrities Before They Were Famous Yahoo shared with Mashable the top 10 questions Millennials (aged 18-35) searched during the month of May.§ Identified.com Is Like LinkedIn, But Sexier Identified is a new network that connects younger professionals with the businesses that hope to hire them. On this episode of Revolution, Co-CEO Brendan Wallace shares insights into millennial behavior and how businesses can nurture a collaborative, rewarding and connected workforce. Millennials aren't only disrupting the consumer landscape -- they're changing the game for human resources.§ Millennials Worry How Connectivity Will Impact Our Future For all the technology we have, it doesn't seem to be bringing us much happiness, at least according to a recent survey by Euro RSCG Worldwide, an integrated marketing communications agency. "This Digital Life" surveyed the opinions of 7,213 people in 19 markets and discovered that 55% of respondents believe technology is robbing us of our privacy, while more than half of millennials worry that a family member or friend will post inappropriate personal information about them online.§ Millennial Consumers: Engaged, Optimistic, Charitable [STUDY] A study comparing Millennials with non-Millennials sheds light on some of the key behaviors and attitudes of the generation. Currently numbered at 79 million -- and growing in influence -- Millennials are expected to outnumber the Baby Boomer population 78 million to 56 million by 2030. The Boston Consulting Group recently surveyed 4,000 Millennials aged 16 to 34, as well as 1,000 non-Millennials aged 35 to 40.§ How Luxury Brands Can Prepare for Affluent Millennials Echo Boomers. GenerationY. Millennials. No matter what you call them, shoppers between 18 to 29 years old are the fastest-growing luxury consumer segment. In 2011, they spent 31% more on luxury purchases than they did the year before, and they did it at full price. Compare that to Baby Boomers, who only saw a paltry 28% growth in spending, and purchased the bulk of their luxury goods on discounted flash-sale sites.§ 6 Pro Tips for Marketing to DigitalNatives Are you trying to reach an audience of 17 to 34-year-olds? They're "Millennials" -- those who came of age in a post-Internet world -- and they're unlike the consumers that came before them. Millennials can sniff the hard sell, and they won't buy it. The way to win over these DigitalNatives is to add some value, provide utility, entertain, acknowledge their individuality and get friends involved. § 3 Things Brands Must Do to Reach Millennials Online Nick Parish is the North American Editor of Contagious, a London-based intelligence resource for the global marketing community focusing on non-traditional media and emerging technologies.  Whereas yesterday's concept of convenience was all about value and location (e.g. the 24-hour 7-Eleven store), today's convenience is about getting what you want, when you want it, whatever that may be. This applies to content, customer service, and experience in equal measure. § Experts Agree: GenY Will Not Grow Out of Social Networking In a survey conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, an overwhelming majority of technology experts and stakeholders believe that social networking and online sharing is more than just a fad for today's youth. More than two-thirds of those surveyed indicated that the Millennial generation -- otherwise known as GenerationY -- will continue to use social networking tools as they mature into adult life stages and have families of their own.§ Mashable Study: Millennials Prefer Traditional Classrooms Over Online Ones Students are warming up to virtual education, but according to a new study, they still believe it's easier to learn in a traditional classroom.§ Millennial Branding, a GenerationY consulting firm, and online marketplace Internships.com, conducted an online survey in May in which they asked 1,345 college students in the United States about their views on the future of education. The study found almost 53% of students polled agree that "online colleges are a reputable form of education," but only 43% think an online classroom can match or surpass the quality of a traditional one.§ The students polled were from a random sample among Internships.com's millions of registered users. About 36% of students said that online learning benefits the balance between work and class. But despite their openness, almost 78% still think it's easier to learn in traditional classrooms than through online courses and tutorials. This split perspective could perhaps be due to the presence of technology in the classroom; about 84% claim to use laptops or desktop computers, and 19% use tablets and iPhones. About half of the students sampled view technology as necessary to education, while the other half does not.§ Despite millennials' lukewarm opinions about online education, 39% still foresee education becoming more virtual. Of the students sampled, 19% predict social media will be used to engage in the classroom in the future.§ Millennials understand that the future of education is online and since they were brought up with the internet, they are prepared for that change," said Dan Schawbel, the founder of Millennial Branding, in a statement. "Education should not be a one-size-fits-all model, because everyone learns differently, regardless of age, occupation and location. More online courses should be offered to cater to those who learn better in a virtual classroom."§ But the mode of education may not be at the forefronts of students' minds these days. Instead, they're preoccupied with thinking about post-grad employment, since millennials are finding a tough time landing jobs.§ About 52% of students polled said that more access to internships would help them better prepare for the working world. Just over two-thirds of the students said they would even participate in a virtual internship. Some students believed that having mentors and career advisor support would also prepare them better for the working world.§ Mashable Your inability to land a job might be blamed on the economy, your chosen college major or just the fact that you're not a code-happy engineer. For many, it's less about finding a job and more about finding a good job. Those are the underemployed in the Millennial generation who don't show up in unemployment reports.§ Meanwhile, the older generations have one word for what Millennials are experiencing: Entitlement, or wanting to have things without working to earn them.§ However, a Pew Research Study shows Millennials are not entitled; rather, having a high-paying job is low on their list of priorities, underneath both helping others and being a good parent.§ What else is working against Millennial job seekers? A survey of recruiters by Braun Research Inc. for staffing firm Adecco, found that 66% of hiring managers do not believe college graduates are ready for the workforce. Rather than hiring new grads for entry-level positions, recruiters are looking to bring in people with experience. The one piece of advice given is to get your foot in the door by taking a position that may not be ideal, but at a company where there's potential for growth.§ It's worth mentioning that paid work experience â even if it's freelance â can make a difference. Say your resume does get you to the interview stage? Half of hiring managers say wearing attire ill-suited for an interview was one of the biggest mistakes they saw. Others include lack of eye contact (33%), checking phone or texting (30%), fidgeting (26%) and bad posture (22%). Other interview horror stories? Nearly half of hiring managers (44%) said showing up late or on the wrong date was a mistake they witnessed in job seekers.§ Activity on social sites can also work against you â hiring managers might have different opinions about how one should behave online. For example, it's a bad idea to post about your job interview on social media, unless the position in question involves networking and it makes sense to post "Great to meet with @so-and-so at @companyname" on your professionally appropriate Twitter account.§ One online privacy company wants to address the potential negative effects of social profiles. An Abine survey found that while most students updated their resume as part of a job search, less than 30% spent time removing potentially damaging content from social media accounts. Also, 84% have not created a professional website or other positive online content which would improve online search results for their name. If you're unaware how potential employers will perceive you online, try out Abine's Hireability Calculator. If you're in a position to hire employees, what advice would you give to Millennials on the hunt for a great job? If you're a job seeker, what has worked for you?§ Mashable Job Board Listings The Mashable Job Board connects job seekers across the U.S. with unique career opportunities in the digital space. While we publish a wide range of job listings, we have selected a few job opportunities from the past two weeks to help get you started. Happy hunting! * Social Media Specialist at Boston Beer Company in Boston, Mass. * Social Media Producer at CBS Interactive in San Francisco, Calif. * Digital Marketing Internship at Reingold Inc. in Alexandria, Va.§ Mashable Millennial Consumers: Engaged, Optimistic, Charitable [STUDY] A study comparing Millennials with non-Millennials sheds light on some of the key behaviors and attitudes of the generation.§ Currently numbered at 79 million â and growing in influence â Millennials are expected to outnumber the Baby Boomer population 78 million to 56 million by 2030.§ The Boston Consulting Group recently surveyed 4,000 Millennials aged 16 to 34, as well as 1,000 non-Millennials aged 35 to 40. The report's complete findings are available online.§ Here's a summary of the key takeaways of the survey, and what marketers and companies need to keep in mind as the generation continues to become more dominant.§ Millennials are actively engaged in consuming and influencing In contrast to the stereotypical view that they are lazy and entitled, Millennials are extremely optimistic about the ability of business and government to influence global change. They are more likely than non-Millennials to purchase products that support a cause, and when they make direct donations which 34% of them do â nearly half donate through mobile devices.§ Millennials are also more likely than their non-Millennial counterparts to broadcast their thoughts and experiences online, and to contribute their views to user-generated content. For example, 60% of Millennials spend time rating products and services and uploading videos, images and blog entires online.§ Millennials favor recommendations from peers or friends For the Millennial, an expert doesn't necessarily have to be someone with credentials â rather, it can mean anyone with firsthand experience. Crowd-sourcing is popular among the generation, and more than half of the Millennials surveyed (53%) reported exploring brands through social networks.§ They are also much more likely than non-Millennials to use their phones to read reviews or research products while shopping. Half of them reported doing this, whereas for non-Millennials, only 21% engaged in this behavior.§ Millennials are "DigitalNatives" Using new technology is old news to Millennials, and they tend to own multiple devices â 72% reported using MP3 players, 67% use gaming platforms and 59% own smartphones. In comparison, 80% of non-Millennials reported using desktop computers at home, and 60% owned basic cell phones.§ The upshot? Millennials are much more likely to multitask while online, and are comfortable doing so across a variety of platforms such as mobile, tablet and gaming.§ The Millennial generation is also heavily engaged with social media, with nearly half (47%) of those surveyed indicating their lives feel richer when they are connected to people online. 33% also favor brands that have Facebook pages and mobile websites, compared with 17% of non-Millennials.§ What are the implications of these findings? According to Jeff Fromm, executive vice president at Barkley advertising agency and the founder of the Share.Like.Buy Millennial marketing conference, the way the Millennial generation has engaged with brands, channels and other models online has been instrumental in creating the current "participation economy."§ And companies need to keep up with them, Fromm adds. "Since these consumers are always in a hurry, it's critical to determine how you can get them to spend time developing a relationship with your brand," Fromm says. § The survey also found non-Millennials tend to have negative views toward Millennials, which may have inadvertently affected how executives have been appealing to them as consumers. But considering the critical role the generation is currently playing in influencing communication channels, the need to develop marketing, brands and business models to appeal to Millennials is without question.§ "Some may argue that the peak spending years of the Millennials are far enough in the future that companies can take their time in developing well-targeted, appealing products and services," says Chris Egan, COO of the customer experience analytics agency SMG. But we believe that staying on top of Millennial trends is critical because they will ultimately influence today's big spenders, the 35-to-74-year-old non-Millennials."§ To help companies better tailor their messaging to Millennials, the Boston survey identified six subsets of the U.S. Millennial population. Here they are, along with representative quotes: Hip-ennials (29%) â "I can make the world a better place." Millennial Moms (22%) â "I love to work out, travel and pamper my baby." Anti-Millennials (16%) â "I'm too busy taking care of my business and my family to worry about much else." Gadget Gurus (13%) â "It's a great day to be me." Clean and Green Millennials (10%) â "I take care of myself and the world around me." Old School Millennials (10%) â "Connecting on Facebook is too impersonal, let's meet up for coffee instead!" What do you think of these findings? Do they agree with your own experiences with Millennials? Sound off in the comments.§ How GenerationY Works He's scored the GenerationY dream job -- one that lets him head to the pool with his laptop rather than being cooped up in a stuffy office all day. First there were the Baby Boomers. Then Generation X, popularized by Douglas Copeland's 1991 novel "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture." Now, as a logical (if not very creatively named) next step, we have GenerationY -- a term that's often credited to a 1993 Ad Age article.§ This demographic designation generally refers to people who were born between 1978 and 1989, although the group is sometimes expanded to include all those who entered the world between 1977 and 2000. The large discrepancy in dates is because when it comes to defining a generation, the boundaries are quite fluid. It's never the case that a switch is thrown and all new babies born afterward suddenly change their characteristics.§ Yet, as the 76 million kids who grew up in the '80s and '90s are beginning to become young adults, certain overall traits are emerging that do tend to distinguish them from the Gen X'ers that came before.§ The most significant difference between generations X and Y are that X kids are often thought of as the abandoned generation -- raised at a time when both parents had to enter the workforce leaving their "latchkey kids" to fend for themselves -- while GenY'ers are considered the most parented generation in history.§ They are also the largest generation of youth in history -- being three times larger than Gen X'ers -- which often earns them the term "Echo-Boomers." Other terms used to describe GenerationY include Millennials, the Net Generation and the Trophy Generation, due to the tendency for kids in this demographic to get trophies from activities regardless of their actual achievement levels.§ So how did all of this intensive parenting and bestowing of trophies affect the latest up-and-comers in society? Find out on the next page.§ Investing In GenerationY GenerationY, like Rodney Dangerfield, has a problem: They get no respect. Iâm joking, of course, but at this stage of their lives GenY really isnât taken as seriously as they would like to be. But that happens with just about every young generation.§ The front end of GenerationY was born in the early 1980s, but the biggest cohort was born in the âmini baby boomâ between 1989 and 1991. This puts most of them in their early 20s today, in their last years of college or their first years on the job.§ There are a few things you should know about GenerationY. Growing up in such a large generation, they are competitive. I grew up in Generation X, a much smaller generation. For me and my peers, everything from making the little league baseball team to getting accepted to college was comparatively easy; there were relatively few of us competing for each slot.§ Not so for GenerationY. This is the generation that had to start studying for the SAT at age 11 and spend their summers building homes in Africa in order to be considered for admission to a decent university. Having grown up in comparative abundance, they may be a little spoiled. But theyâre certainly not slackers.§ Your last experience with a member of GenerationY may have been having your order taken at Starbucks Starbucks. But as hard as it may be to believe today, that barista is going to be a mom or dad in a few short years. And in the process, they are going to create a massive boom in everything from baby formula to starter homes.§ Letâs take a look at the numbers here. Depending on where you draw the precise lines, GenerationY is either a little bigger or a little smaller than the Baby Boomers. But weâre still talking about approximately 80 million people.§ Mother-Wave The average age of first childbirth is about 25-26 years today for American women, though that number continues to rise a little each year. The higher educated a woman is, the longer she is likely to postpone motherhood, and GenY women are the highest-educated generation of women in U.S. history. A bad economy with high unemployment among the young has probably added another year or two to the average as well.§ But biological clocks donât stop ticking, and the largest cohort of Gen Y women is quickly approaching their peak family formation years. I expect the number of live births to increase every year from now through the early 2020s. And if GenY has the standard two kids per family, you're talking about 80 million babies being born in the years ahead.§ How do you invest in this macro trend? Take your pick. You could invest in the makers of infant formula, such as Abbott Laboratories or Mead Johnson Nutrition Mead Johnson Nutrition. You could buy a portfolio of rental houses in the neighborhoods where young families are moving ⦠or for that matter, you could selectively invest in homebuilder stocks. You could start a business that caters to new parents ⦠or grandparents! Any or all of these are perfectly viable ways to play this trend.§ But if you want to be a successful investor in the U.S. equity markets over the next two decades, a general rule applies: Figure out what Gen Y will be buying in the years ahead and invest in it before the crowd catches on.§ And give GenY a little respect. Their consumer preferences will shape the U.S. economy for the next generation.§ GenerationY Born in the mid-1980's and later, GenerationY legal professionals are in their 20s and are just entering the workforce. With numbers estimated as high as 70 million, GenerationY (also known as the Millennials) is the fastest growing segment of today's workforce. As law firms compete for available talent, employers cannot ignore the needs, desires and attitudes of this vast generation.§ Below are a few common traits that define GenerationY. Tech-Savvy: GenerationY grew up with technology and rely on it to perform their jobs better. Armed with BlackBerrys, laptops, cellphones and other gadgets, GenerationY is plugged-in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This generation prefers to communicate through e-mail and text messaging rather than face-to-face contact and prefers webinars and online technology to traditional lecture-based presentations.§ Family-Centric: The fast-track has lost much of its appeal for GenerationY who is willing to trade high pay for fewer billable hours, flexible schedules and a better work/life balance. While older generations may view this attitude as narcissistic or lacking commitment, discipline and drive, GenerationY legal professionals have a different vision of workplace expectations and prioritize family over work.§ Achievement-Oriented: Nurtured and pampered by parents who did not want to make the mistakes of the previous generation, GenerationY is confident, ambitious and achievement-oriented. They have high expectations of their employers, seek out new challenges and are not afraid to question authority. GenerationY wants meaningful work and a solid learning curve.§ Team-Oriented: As children, GenerationY participated in team sports, play groups and other group activities. They value teamwork and seek the input and affirmation of others. Part of a no-person-left-behind generation, GenerationY is loyal, committed and wants to be included and involved. § Attention-Craving: GenerationY craves attention in the forms of feedback and guidance. They appreciate being kept in the loop and seek frequent praise and reassurance. GenerationY may benefit greatly from mentors who can help guide and develop their young careers. § Generation 'Why?' Generation 'Why?' Gen X, GenY, Baby Boomers, Generations, Millennials, Millennials, The millennials, also known as GenerationY, have a bit of a PR problem. Ask many people in their 30s or beyond what it's like to work with a member of this generation (born between 1982 and 2002), and you may hear that they're self-entitled, unwilling to work hard, whiny and constantly questioning authority. We can chalk up some of the negativity to the usual growing pains of a generation coming of age, but PayScale.com's "Generations at Work" study reveals that there are some cultural and socioeconomic factors at work to explain the behavior patterns and perceptions of GenY in the workplace.§ Some of the salary and work stats aren't surprising -- young workers are less experienced, so they earn less, are less likely to be managers, and are more concerned with job perks like overtime pay and bus passes than they are with robust retirement plans. These facts were true for previous generations earlier in their careers as well.§ But GenY is entering the workforce at a unique time in history. They grew up in a time of economic prosperity, but are entering a job market still reeling from the economic collapse of 2008. Many middle-class millennials got the impression that their parents' success came easily -- after all, wages soared in the mid-'90s and early 2000s, and by the time millennials could form their earliest memories, many of their parents had already worked their way past entry-level positions and were well on their way to career success.§ These millennials were groomed, through rigorously planned play dates and a strategic slew of extracurricular activities, with the assumption that they would attend college. Sixty-three percent of millennials report holding a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 48 percent of Gen-Xers and 44 percent of baby boomers. That means that on top of the closet full of participation trophies they earned as children, the majority then went on to spend four more years hearing about their potential in academia. Now they're graduating, only to find that most of their peers did the same thing and are all equally special. That's easier to deal with if you pursued a high-paying degree, like engineering, but if you followed your heart into a less lucrative subject, reality can seem pretty brutal.§ Lauren F., a 27-year-old with a degree in art history, says, "There are so many of us with a college education that a bachelor's degree means nothing anymore. When you're going out into an environment where everybody is on an even playing field, it's a shock suddenly seeing that there is always somebody out there who is better than you."§ Millennials are entering a stalled job market; many chose degrees based on their personal interests rather than their earning potential; and a large percentage also carry a skyrocketing amount of student debt. All of this contributes to a general sense of malaise.§ Still want to write GenY off as a bunch of delusional whiners who need to buckle down and readjust their expectations? Another piece of data from PayScale sure seems to support that thesis. Millennials rate their jobs as the least meaningful and least satisfying compared to Gen-Xers and baby boomers, but also report the lowest job stress rates. You may look at this and say that it's another sign that GenY isn't willing to work hard to earn the wild success they expect. And that laziness is what causes them to give up and move back in with Mom and Dad so frequently (about 28 percent of millennials report having moved back home after entering the workforce due to financial hardship, compared to just roughly 11 percent of Gen-Xers and 5 percent of baby boomers).§ But maybe the story isn't that simple. Remember, the people complaining -- baby boomers and Gen-Xers -- are the ones who told them all along that they were special snowflakes?§ Mary B., a 26-year-old who just left a position in retail management to "to gain mental clarity around future career goals," says, "baby boomers and Gen-Xers told me to dip my fingers into lots of different things and take advantage of my 20s." If the idea of taking a gap year in your mid-20s seems crazy to you, ask yourself why she thinks this is so normal. While Mary was certainly influenced by peers, ultimately it's her parents and mentors who taught her to ask questions like "Why should we have to settle for something less when we know we are capable of something more?" and turn down stability for the pursuit of something fulfilling. § Instead of just complaining that GenY is a bunch of entitled divas, maybe we should look at how they got that way. Before we cast stones, perhaps we need to look inside our own lives to see if sacrificing work-life balance and emotional fulfillment in exchange for a steady paycheck caused many of us to overcompensate by steering millennials in the wrong direction.§ GenY, this doesn't mean that you get to continue the social faux pas everybody is complaining about. Growing up is never easy. Your college degrees do count for something, you've a way with technology that older generations can only dream of, and, thanks to [insert your favorite social network here], a pretty innate understanding of personal branding. But you have to get it together. Learn from your constant questioning, but balance it with hard work. Mary, our millennial on sabbatical, points out that "when you know the 'why' behind something, you put more effort into it." However, it's a matter of context. If you're solving a tough problem with your team, understanding why you're asked to do something can help you come up with even better solutions. If you're asking why you have to fold a shirt a certain way at the mall, you're just being annoying.§ Technology is a blessing and a curse to millennials. Lauren summarizes it nicely: "We're used to having things come to us instantly and be easily accessible, so we think that money should fall into that category as well. You should be able to work less and gain more." Millennials should continue to hone their technical skills, but show older coworkers that they are willing to work, even if they suspect there's a better way to do it. Prove that you're a team player and your older coworkers will be more likely to listen to your questions and suggestions in the future.§ It will be a challenge for GenY to reconcile the culture in which they were raised with the economic reality they face today. But since that same economy is forcing baby boomers to delay retirement and making the job market even more crowded, it's vital that millennials learn to take some constructive criticism and learn from their elders. Play nice and you might be able to teach the old folks something cool, too.§ HuffPost GenY: You're Not GenY: You're Not GenY: You're Not "Entitled," You're Unlucky I hate hearing the word "entitled" used to describe GenY. Twentysomethings have been "entitled" for dozens of years now, yet this particular batch of twentysomethings is the first in decades to encounter an economy unable to fulfill rosier expectations. The face of youth hasn't changed; the economy has. Calling GenY "entitled" is tantamount to blaming the victim.§ Employment's social contract -- the tie between employees' effort and proportionate results -- has fundamentally broken. We didn't mean to leave GenY with a broken social contract. It was a path paved by good intentions and reasonable business decisions. Take outsourcing, for example. Companies could get the same work for less cost and draw from a wider talent pool -- that's completely rational. Another popular cost-cutting initiative circa 2000 was reorganization, which removed high-paid middle-management positions (otherwise known as "a chance at promotion") and spread that work to remaining employees.§ These rational business decisions -- innovations largely attributable to Baby Boomers -- had consequences, however. Immediately it meant fewer jobs domestically and increased competition. It also meant fewer promotion opportunities, so people started to stay in jobs longer (churn between jobs has dropped 25 percent annually since pre-recession levels). Suddenly, what used to be an entry-level job became a destination job, meaning one less spot for a new grad to cut his or her teeth.§ More figuratively, it reduced employee confidence in the social contract with their employers. For Gen X (my own cohort), "putting in your time" used to mean 3-5 years as an analyst before becoming a manager; for GenY it now means 3-5 years in service & retail before the first analyst job. In that light, it makes sense that GenY would be skeptical of promises about the future, since even gainful employment out of college is now in question.§ I've seen Millennials' increased interest in targeting fulfilling careers used as proof of their entitlement. To wit, apparently Google searches for a "fulfilling career" are growing while those for a "secure career" are falling. This to me is less proof of entitlement and more a real-life example of the maximin strategy. A maximin strategy is one that makes decisions based on which option offers the best worst-case scenario. There's no guarantee any career these days will be secure or lucrative, so one might as well target something fulfilling, all other things being equal.§ I fear that Gen X-and-above use "entitlement" as code for something far darker when describing GenY, which is why I refuse to use the word. Due to both fundamental attribution error (if a situation goes well, it's because of my own virtues; if not, it's because of the faults of others) and the just-world fallacy (people get what they deserve), it's human nature to blame GenY's job search difficulty on their character flaws rather than our business decisions. That doesn't make it right, however. Older generations -- wittingly or unwittingly -- played a role in GenY's current struggles, either by creating policies that reduced entry-level job or promotion opportunities, or choosing to stay in a safe, stable entry-level job, denying that job from a new grad.§ Yes, it's odd to us older folks that GenY wants to bring their parents to interviews. However, I think it was the parents, not the kids, who first offered that as an option, seeking to use whatever sway they had to improve their children's outcomes in a competitive market where there are three job seekers per open job. GenY didn't create Helicopter Parents -- they evolved together.§ We can't change the past, and I'm not sure we'd want to. Those rational business decisions of the past 20 years likely helped this country weather the economic storms we've since faced. As a career coach, my job is to help job seekers succeed regardless of economic circumstances, but understanding my consumers and withholding judgment is a key first step.§ I'll call GenY unlucky. I'll call them victims of a bad economy. I refuse to call GenY entitled.§ HuffPost Define Millennials Stop Trying To Define Millennials Whether it's the Wall Street Journal for work or random links I find on Twitter for fun, I do an absolute ton of reading during the day. Every single day, I scour the Internet for information either intelligent or amusing, and every single day I instead stumble upon some new, nonsensical article explaining the "Millennial" generation. Forbes, in particular, is keen on continuously churning out column after column on how our generation thinks, feels, reacts, and wants, alongside how employers need to adapt to us and how we need to adapt to employers, a phenomenon I addressed here before.§ Perhaps worse than the presumptions themselves, these columns are little more than an exercise in older individuals patting each other on the back by generalizing a generation more overtly diverse than any age group before. The columns are either entirely composed of baby boomer sages that know JUST how to identify with the youngsters at their company because they are "cool" and "hip" or a masturbatory group of old people that proclaim "kids these days don't understand" while forgetting that the same was said about them. I can only assume that throngs of 40 year olds desperately trying to understand their children and new hires are inspiring the hits that this topic obviously generates because no actual "millennial" could come away from this drivel inspired.§ I'm going to try and give some advice. It won't apply to everyone, but that's part of the point: generations cannot be generalized, ours included.§ As a "Millennial," perhaps one of the most annoyingly overused classifications in modern lexicon, we are Occupy Wall Streeters and aspiring investment bankers. We consume fast food with frightening regularity yet also create Pinterest-worthy organic meals. We dress in $300 jeans or shop at thrift shops, or both. Some of us are addicted to social media while others are deleting their Facebook accounts. We are procrastinators and overachievers, politically active and apathetic, and watch both the best and worst television in generations. We are inspired professionally by some combination of money, achievement, advancement, office culture, perks, level of involvement, autonomy, helping others, bettering the world, or perhaps we aren't inspired at all.§ Some of us worked hard and have great jobs; others did not and are paying the price. A lot of more of us are caught somewhere in between, underemployed and unhappy because the golden ticket promise of a college degree told to us by the very parents, professors, and professionals now using our generation as a punchline never came true. We are in a transition between adolescence and adulthood, some of us being dragged kicking and screaming, some of us wanting to grow but unable to because of situations beyond our control, some of us handling it smoothly, and most of us identify with a different category based on the day or the hour.§ If you're reading this and are over 40, does any of it sound familiar? It should. Minus technological advances and debt, both of the student loan and national variety, that drags us further down the rabbit hole of financial ruin, your generations were in the exact same situation. Your generations were made up of slackers and stars, conformists and counter culturists, introverts and extroverts, majorities and minorities, and every other personal classification that makes your specific age group impossible to properly oversimplify.§ The reality is that every generation faces an inherent social and professional conflict with the two or three that precede it. Young adults, innocent to the tedious career experience, pour toward the workforce with bright-eyed ambition only to find those who came before shaking their head and pointing their finger. It is discouraging to say the least, but publicity thanks to expanded medias of delivery is the only new variable. It isn't happening more and it isn't any worse -- you are simply bombarded with it exponentially now until everyone is convinced it is a problem.§ Do I get annoyed when my boss has had a computer for 20 years and still can't properly use Excel? Do I get frustrated because I instantly transitioned from leading organizations in college to being at the bottom of the totem pole the moment I got hired? Do I get discouraged when I utilize the very confidence I was hired for and argue insight only for my boss to claim I don't have the experience to make such a claim? Of course I do, but this hardly makes me unique among generations of overachievers that hit the workforce and immediately take their place at the bottom of the ladder. It also doesn't mean that every person my age has any sort of difficulty or adaptation period when first hired, if hired at all, nor does it imply that the current age of middle management needs to adapt for my specific needs.§ People typically generalize in order to cast a wide net, but the more "Millennials" are stereotyped the more actual people of my generation are left scratching their heads as to how it applies to them. How one of us acts is not like the other. What one of us wants at work is not like the next. Trying to define a generation by a list of assumptions in order to better understand an individual you either employ or are related to is a horrible idea in general. Trust me, we can stereotype just as well.§ If you're reading this and want to understand how younger people think or feel, ask. Just do us a favor and ask more than one, and for the love of god, don't write a column about your experiences on Forbes or anywhere else and act as if the individual or individuals you surveyed or spoke with reflect the interests and motivations of an entire generation.§ The Three Paradoxes Of GenerationY Over the last few weeks, Iâve noticed a considerable amount of attention focused on GenerationY from both the media and business world. The May 20 issue of Time Magazine led with a cover story labelling them the âMe, Me, Meâ generation: narcissistic, fame-obsessed, and self interested; Meanwhile PwC reported findings from a comprehensive Next Gen study of its GenY employees â a cohort that will make up around 80% of its workforce within the next three years. § This recent focus on GenY reflects a building sense of nervousness around how this generation, the biggest since the Baby Boomers, will reshape work. Itâs a nervousness Iâve felt from the HR leaders in my executive programme at LBS who often despair that this generation just arenât accepting âthe way things are done around here,â and are instead challenging long-standing processes and practices.§ But is this anxiety justified? Are GenY really so different from their predecessors? And, if they are, do organisations need to change to accommodate them? Here are three paradoxes Iâve uncovered that can help us answer those questions.§ Short-term focus, but equally committed â GenY are fast movers. We know they will change jobs, and perhaps even entire careers, many times in their long working lives. This is a stark contrast with the âjob for lifeâ career pattern of their Baby Boomer parents, and the HR leaders at my executive programme. It also shows their desire for meaningful, stimulating work from day one, and their lack of interest in traditional career paths that promote slowly.§ This focus on short-term success is sometimes used to depict GenY as less committed to work than their Gen X and Baby Boomer peers. Yet this stereotype is certainly not true of those surveyed in the Next Next Gen study. According to Dennis Finn, Global Human Capital Leader at PwC, âthis generation is as engaged, committed and prepared to work as hard as previous generationsâ. They don't mind working. They just think there are better ways to work.§ Tech savvy, but value face-to-face - GenY is known for its intensive use of social media and virtual communication. In the USA, this generation send and receive around 88 texts a day according to research by Pew, and 70% check their phones every hour. With these statistics in hand itâs easy to view this generation as happy to conduct their lives, both professional and private, exclusively through their phones, iPads and laptops. But PwCâs research tells us that GenYâs aptitude for electronic communication augments rather than replaces face-to-face interaction. Particularly when it comes to performance and career discussions where personal interactions are still the preferred method.§ Require recognition, but not necessarily more trophies - Time Magazine rather negatively dubs GenY the âtrophy generationâ who, as a result of receiving too many participation trophies as children, have a sense of entitlement far beyond that of their older peers. Itâs easy to see where this assumption comes from. Just look at games such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, which provide satisfying rewards for every action the player takes. So, it should come as no surprise that, according to a study cited by Time Magazine, 40% of GenY believes they should be promoted every two years, regardless of performance.§ But again, this may be misinterpreting the issue. We know GenY place an real emphasis on continual learning, and the drive for regular promotion should not be confused with the desire for regular feedback, which many see as a vital part of their personal and career development. Though a visual indicator of progression, promotion does not always bring with it greater learning opportunities.§ So, what do organisations do about these paradoxes and how can they truly understand what drives their GenYs? PwCâs Next Gen report has a few recommendations, but one stands out to me as particularly important for this fast-moving, tech-savvy group: âInvest time, resources and energy to listen and stay connected with your peopleâ. If thereâs one thing we know for sure about this generation, itâs that they like to have their voices heard, and to feel empowered. Whether in the virtual or real world, perhaps the key to understanding this generation and knowing how to engage them is to simply listen to them.§ Many of the insights from PwCâs NextGen study came out of Hot Spots Movement FoWlab jam methodology. Have a look at our website to find out more. I am a Professor of Management Practice at London Business School and the founder of the Hot Spots Movement. I have written six books including âLiving Strategyâ, Hot Spotsâ and âGlowâ and many articles including articles for the FT, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review and the MIT Sloan Business Review. My latest book âThe Shiftââ about the future of work was published in May 2011. I am the founder of the Hot Spots Movement dedicated to bringing energy and innovation to companies.§ GenerationY Going Nowhere, And They're Fine With That With little real news these past few weeks and with even the dreaded euro crisis hitting the usual summertime pause button, our nationâs pollsters and pundits (when not occupied predicting November election results) have discovered and belabored a fascinating set of statistics: many (though certainly not all) members of the generation known as Y (as in âWhy work?â âWhy earn money?â âWhy wear decent clothes?â) is also asking the following questions: âWhy drive? Why own a car? Why âgoâ anywhere?§ They no longer see the driverâs license as liberating them from the suffocating embrace of their parents. The car, to them, is a passe form of prestige, of assuming, through the BMW or Mercedes label, a dignity beyond what the owner knows she's worth.§ GenerationY eschews all this. To them, that electrifying moment we all experienced when Dad first gave us the car keys and told us to be back at 11 p.m. (no beer stains or other spots in the car, for Godâs sake) has been beneficially replaced by the glowing moment when their eager little fingers lovingly, incredulously caressed their first smart phone.§ âHow silly of these young twerps,â harrumph the older generations. âDonât they know the car enables freedom, travel, friends, dating, and (cough), evenâ¦.teen-age sex? I have news: Itâs we older folks who donât get it. Armed with the capabilities of their ever-more sophisticated iThings, replete with social networking enabling close, immediate exchange of thoughts and experiences with countless âfriends, who needs to actually get in a car and go to a drive-in?§ Financial transactions, purchases, games, moviesâ¦all rendering travel to banks, stores, sports events or theaters redundant. GenerationY stands at the forefront of the next chapter in mankindâs evolution: experiencing everything while going nowhere. Meeting members of the opposite sex for a bit of fun? The smart phone will do it! Why hang out at some expensive joint? And, with the shyness of face-to-face contact removed, virtual romances can proceed quickly from one stage to the next. Let me spare the reader from the revelation that many GenY sons and daughters routinely send pictures their parents would not like to seeâ¦the exchange of intimacy and trust is fast, anonymous, does not cost a bunch of expensive dinners. It also must be categorized as âsafeâ. No dangerous back-seat contortionism here. Break-ups simply involve an e-mail or two, followed by activation of the âdeleteâ button.§ It has long been my contention that, with the rise of electronic interactivity and the ever more convincing, more satisfying level of virtual reality, the human need for actual travel will diminish. In 100 years, it may be almost entirely redundant, as we sit in our rooms, chatting, every participant except oneâs self a highly realistic hologram. We will become sedentary, largely-immobile nuclei in a personal virtual world of which we are the masters. And brand badges on cars will, in the future, have as much meaning as the names of famous steam locomotives my father used to glowingly tell me about. Itâs going to take a while, and it will be gradualâ¦..but the more distant future, in my opinion, does not bode well for the âmineâs cooler, mineâs faster, mineâs more expensive car culture weâve experienced up to now.§ Sad? You bet! Now we'll all know how the horse lovers felt when the automobile started its unstoppable rise to transportation dominance. Why GenerationY Sees No Need To Get Behind The Wheel Micheline Maynard § Why Millennials Love The Federal Government, But Loathe President Obama In spite of his widely praised charisma and social media skills, President Obama has lost his cool factor with Millennials.§ Harvard Universityâs Institute of Politics recently released a study which shows a majorityâ52%âof voters under the age of 25 would recall Obama from his presidency. The gap between the general public and Millennialsâ approval ratings has slimmed since November 2009 into a small margin. Currently, 54% of Millennials disapprove of Obamaâs performance.§ While some might want to dismiss these figures because of the embarrassing Obamacare launch, the reality is that Millennials have been losing interest in Obama for years. Why? Because in spite of the administration's efforts to market to my generation, they donât feel any safer with Obama in office. They see him as a failureâa defector in a workable system who has worked against Millennialsâ interests in everything from war to privacy. But beyond policy, Millennial disappointment in Obama goes deeper into their generational story. The past is influencing Millennials today and will continue to affect their politics in the future.§ Millennials grew up in an era where security and safety were their parentsâ number-one concerns, and the best way to address that problem was to shift responsibility to adults. In the 80s, teens lived in a world personified by movies like Ferris Beulerâs Day Off where authority was absent and questionable. The 90âs and 00âs showed a sudden emergence of family and authority-oriented programming (think Mean Girls). Thatâs no coincidence. Millennials were taught from an early age that if they wanted to remain safeâfrom bullying to a secure future via educationâthey should trust people in positions of power to take care of and guide them.§ President Clinton was in office, and Millennialsâ Gen-X and Boomer parents lauded him (his approval rating was 73% at its highest). Kids, who were taught to trust their parents and school administrators naturally converted that trust to those serving the public, and Clintonâs popularity only reinforced that confidence.§ Is it any surprise that Millennials raised in this environment would put their faith into government officials? Furthermore, Millennials came of age when danger seemed to come more from nutty individuals than from institutions themselves. Key developmental events include higher public school attainment periodically interrupted by tragedies like Columbine, or a largely secure stock market broken by individuals like Bernie Madoff. Millennials see individuals as fallible and institutions as far more secure, needing strengthening from visionary leadership. Institutions were meant to serve and protect, and Millennials expect nothing less.§ But President Bush did everything but create policies to protect young people. Most potently, many attribute his administration with crashing the economy. Millennials, as emerging young adults, can easily divide their lives into their childhoodâs prosperity and the decline of wealth as they emerged as adults. As Millennials became adults, they started to seek out an authority who would help secure themselves for the future through the institution of government, as they had been conditioned to do their entire lives.§ That person was supposed to be Barack Obama. Obama was supposed to be like us. He was young, interracial, and an outsider to Washington who could âfixâ the systemâthe kind of individual that would work to strengthen the government. But in spite of Millennial expectations, his politicking proved to hurt more than help young adults. Promises to bring the troops home (who are far-majority Millennials) and shy from new wars were quickly broken. Transparency and honesty proved to be a farce. The issues that Millennials largely care aboutâending the drug war, gay marriage, and immigration rightsâwere escalated, put off, and ignored, respectively.§ But whatâs worse than all this is that he did little to fix the economyâand now Millennials, stuck at home in hourly jobs with a useless college degreeâare paying for it. Millennials, in being closer to their parents than ever, are watching how Obama is hurting their original guardians.§ That isnât going to fly with young people. What does this mean for the future? While Millennials still want the government to protect and serve, they are drifting away from both political parties. According to a 2012 study, almost half (45%) of Millennials are independents, whereas 33% are Democrats and 23% are Republicans. Millennials will increasingly distrust individual politicians and continue to opt for third-party candidates and âoutsiders. Perhaps, with time, they will find someone who will truly protect them.§ Study Reveals Surprising Facts About Millennials In The Workplace By 2025, millennials, also known as GenY or those born in the 80âs and 90âs, will make up the majority of the workforce. But, are they truly ready for the workforce? And is the workforce ready for them? This was the exact topic of a panel held at the inaugural Bloomberg Business Summit in Chicago. The panel was a launch pad event for Bentley Universityâs forthcoming groundbreaking preparedness study, the single-most comprehensive survey on millennials in the workplace to date. Bentley President Gloria Larson co-hosted the panel discussion along with Bloomberg Chief National Correspondent Carol Massar, PayScale President & CEO, Mike Metzger, and yours truly.§ Here were some of the key findings, and my corresponding thoughts. Panel on Millennial Preparedness for the Workplace at the Bloomberg Business Summit.§ Panel on Millennial Preparedness for the Workplace at the Bloomberg Business Summit.§ 6 in 10 students say they are NOT considering a career in business, and 48% said they have NOT been encouraged to do so.§ Business in general has a branding problem. Most students still think of commerce as synonymous with Wall Street greed and Exxon like fiascos. Ask these same students if they wish to work for Facebook or Google, and the numbers will look a lot different. We need to do a better job defining what business means in todayâs world. Millennials care about more than just taking home a paycheck. They care about working at an organization which makes an impact, and sees them as more than cogs in the greater machine.§ 59% of business decision makers and 62% of higher education influentials give recent college graduates a C grade or lower for preparedness in their first jobs.§ I would argue that we need to re-define what preparedness means. If we define work as a place where people go 9 to 5 to push out a widget, then the millennials arenât prepared. If we define work as accomplishing the end goal with flexibility in regard to when and where and how, the millennials have what it takes to succeed. In many ways the millennials my company hires are often more prepared in certain areas than their predecessors. They tend to be tech savvy, creative, and focused on getting the job done. They donât like red tape, arbitrary hierarchical structures, or being forced to follow a specific process if they can achieve the end result in a more effective way. In general, strong communication skills, critical thinking, and knowing how to take initiative are key strengths for any job seeker â young or seasoned. § 68% of corporate recruiters say that it is difficult for their organizations to manage millennials.§ If you try to manage millennials the way you manage everyone else, it is bound to be challenging. Good management should inherently cater to how individuals respond best. I know of one story where a very talented millennial finally left a position after being asked to spend half a day filling out forms to get approval for buying a stapler. While processes have a certain place in management, they should exist in order to enhance or ease oneâs job, not to make it more challenging. Millennials are also very open to providing feedback, and having a system for collecting and responding to feedback can make managing them much easier. You can see a clip on this topic from the panel here.§ 74% of non millennials agree that millennials offer different skills and work styles that add value to the workplace. No generation before has had as much access, technological power or the infrastructure to share their ideas as quickly as the millennials. They are used to speed, multi-tasking, and working on their own schedule. These can be great assets in a knowledge economy which values end results over the process. Thatâs not to say that they donât have much to learn from others in the workplace, only that organizations should focus on leveraging their strengths in addition to helping them better their weaknesses.§ 74% agree that businesses must partner with colleges and universities to provide business curriculums that properly prepare students for the workforce.§ In recent years, businesses have shunned training programs and have chosen not to invest as much in recent graduates citing the fact that millennials are job hoppers and the training is wasted as they tend to leave quickly. By working with colleges and universities, businesses can make sure that the necessary training is delivered before recent grads enter the workforce. Business leaders can work with a college on many levels â including the classroom. Most college professors are eager to make sure their curriculum matches the real world, and will welcome collaboration. They can also be a key source for ideal candidates for your positions.§ At the close of the panel, I remarked that it would have been better to drop the word millennials from the title altogether, because like it or not, the millennials are not just a small part of todayâs workforce, they are the workforce.§ Shama Kabani is a business strategist for the digital age, and serves as founder & CEO of The Marketing Zen Group, an award winning full service web marketing & digital PR firm. She is also the author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing (3rd edition).§ What's Wrong With Millennials? My Psychotherapy Clients Canât Fend for Themselves. Why Millennials Can't Grow Up depressed millennial Rates of depression are soaring among millennials in college.§ Amy (not her real name) sat in my office and wiped her streaming tears on her sleeve, refusing the scratchy tissues I’d offered. “I’m thinking about just applying for a Ph.D. program after I graduate because I have no idea what I want to do.” Amy had mild depression growing up, and it worsened during freshman year of college when she moved from her parents’ house to her dorm. It became increasingly difficult to balance school, socializing, laundry, and a part-time job. She finally had to dump the part-time job, was still unable to do laundry, and often stayed up until 2 a.m. trying to complete homework because she didn’t know how to manage her time without her parents keeping track of her schedule.§ I suggested finding a job after graduation, even if it’s only temporary. She cried harder at this idea. “So, becoming an adult is just really scary for you?” I asked. “Yes,” she sniffled. Amy is 30 years old.§ Her case is becoming the norm for twenty- to thirtysomethings I see in my office as a psychotherapist. I’ve had at least 100 college and grad students like Amy crying on my couch because breaching adulthood is too overwhelming.§ In 2000, psychologist Jeffrey Arnett coined the term “emerging adulthood” to describe extended adolescence that delays adulthood.* People in their 20s no longer view themselves as adults. There are various plausible reasons for this, including longer life spans, helicopter parenting, and fewer high paying jobs that allow new college grads to be financially independent at a young age.§ Millennials do have to face some issues that previous generations did not. A college degree is now the career equivalent of what a high school degree used to be. This increases the pressure on kids to go to college and makes the process more competitive. The sluggish economy no longer yields a wealth of jobs upon graduation.§ Rates of depression are soaring among millennials in college. A 2012 study by the American College Counseling Association reported a 16 percent increase in mental-health visits since 2000 and a significant increase in crisis response over the past five years. According to recent studies, 44 percent of college students experienced symptoms of depression, and suicide is one of the leading causes of death among college students.§ It seems as if every article about millennials claims that these kids must all have narcissistic personality disorder. It’s easy to generalize an entire population by its collective Facebook statuses. However, narcissism is not Amy’s problem, or the main problem with millennials.§ The big problem is not that they think too highly of themselves. Their bigger challenge is conflict negotiation, and they often are unable to think for themselves. The overinvolvement of helicopter parents prevents children from learning how to grapple with disappointments on their own. If parents are navigating every minor situation for their kids, kids never learn to deal with conflict on their own. Helicopter parenting has caused these kids to crash land.§ The Huffington Post and the Wall Street Journal have reported that millennials are now bringing their parents to job interviews, and companies such as LinkedIn and Google are hosting “take your parents to work day.” Parents went from strapping their kids into a Baby Björn carrier to tying their kids’ wing-tips.§ A 2013 study in the Journal of Child and Family Studies found that college students who experienced helicopter-parenting reported higher levels of depression and use of antidepressant medications. The researchers suggest that intrusive parenting interferes with the development of autonomy and competence. So helicopter parenting leads to increased dependence and decreased ability to complete tasks without parental supervision.§ Amy, like many millennials, was groomed to be an academic overachiever, but she became, in reality, an emotional under-achiever. Amy did not have enough coping skills to navigate normal life stressors—how do I get my laundry and my homework done in the same day; how do I tell my roommate not to watch TV without headphones at 3 a.m.?—without her parents’ constant advice or help.§ A generation ago, my college peers and I would buy a pint of ice cream and down a shot of peach schnapps (or two) to process a breakup. Now some college students feel suicidal after the breakup of a four-month relationship. Either ice cream no longer has the same magical healing properties, or the ability to address hardships is lacking in many members of this generation.§ The era of instant gratification has led to a decrease in what therapists call “frustration tolerance.” This is how we handle upsetting situations, allow for ambiguity, and learn to navigate the normal life circumstances of breakups, bad grades, and layoffs. When we lack frustration tolerance, moderate sadness may lead to suicidality in the self-soothingly challenged.§ Maybe millennials are narcissistic, like most 14-year-olds are. And maybe they will outgrow their narcissism later in life if 30 is the new 18. We don't have the data on what millennials will be like when they’re 40. But more importantly, they need to learn how to cope.§ Amy is still figuring out how to grow up. After a few months of therapy and medication to stabilize her depression, she started exercising to help relieve anxiety. She started online dating, something she found daunting before, and got a girlfriend. She started applying to grad schools but also made a list of places she wants to apply for jobs. Amy still has no idea what she wants to do when she grows up, but she’s a little less frightened of it now.§ GenerationY GenerationY GenerationY Characteristics§ The New Millennial Values Many Millennials donât conform to the older generationsâ expectations of a salesperson. I say different can be good, as long as you do not compromise your hiring standards. When hiring, choose applicants who will mirror what your customers wear, reflect your customersâ language habits, and ably engage the customers with an outgoing personality.§ You want skilled Millennials on your sales team. But first you have to find them, and that means you have to understand their attitudes toward work.§ Meaningful Work Millennials just want to earn a good living while doing work that matters, or so the pundits say. Well, duh! Who doesnât want to earn a good living? And who would prefer to do meaningless work for marginally more pay? If I paid you well to dig big holes and then fill them, how long would it take for you or any average human being to say,Hey! As long as I am going to be here anyway, would you like me to build something?§ Everybody wants to earn a good living doing work that matters, because if you show me my time doesnât matter, I start to think that maybe I donât matter. What is a boss to do?§ If you want to motivate someone, connect him directly to his work. Have him sign his work, and then sit back to marvel as quality steadily improves. § Opportunities to Collaborate Most Millennials love being a part of a team. I can think of three reasons why: 1. The school system rewards the team rather than the individual in sportsâeveryone gets a trophy. 2. Technology supports online team play (think of video games). 3. Millennials have never lived in a time when the U.S. was not at war. The military (the ultimate promoters of teamwork) has left us with a generation, maybe two, that knows how to collaborate to solve problems in fluid conditions.§ As employeesâand again, we want to avoid bucketingâMillennials are not wallflowers. They want to be part of the action. They donât want to observe, they want to participate, and they want their views to carry weight.§ Here is something to consider: is it because of this generationâs love of diversity that they invite everyone to play, or is it because everyone gets to play that they appreciate diversity? Very interesting!§ In 1965, fat girls did not become cheerleaders, pregnant girls did not marry wearing white, and nearsighted boys werenât going to be cool even if they could danceâ¦which they could not. In most cities, black kids did not hang with white kids, poor kids did not hang with rich kids, and Baptist kids did not hang with Catholics or Jews.§ It is not that way in the 21^st century. If you are a Millennial, none of the previous labels rise to the level of attention. And that is an ideal situation for leaders smart enough to harness the everybody-is-welcome-to-play power of Millennial teams.§ Fun All work and noâ¦the next word is play, p-l-a-y. Many Boomers even have difficulty pronouncing the word in a work environment. It is, after all, a work environment! (Most Millennials say the older generations have a better work ethicâ¦and they do!) But watch any high-performance team for a full day, and you will discover the value of humor. This is particularly true when the work environment is a little stressful. Millennials expect work to be punctuated at least occasionally with humor and fun.§ Freedom of Choice While a Traditional would accept almost any order as long as it came through the proverbial chain of command, Boomers and Gen X might hesitate but comply. But Millennials will balk at doing things âthe way weâve always done itâ because they want freedom of choice in everything. They may not balk at the assignment itself but instead may challenge the methodology.§ This quirkiness over process goes hand in hand with their desire to control their work life in order to balance it against their home life. In an odd way, this is similar to the Boomers, who let life click away, one time-clock punch after the other. The only difference is the unit of measurement: Boomersâ time put in versus Millennialsâ results achieved. Think about that for thirty seconds, and tell me which works in favor of the boss. § What Hasnât Changed I don't mean to suggest that your new workforce will consist entirely of alien creatures you canât possibly understand. In fact, right here is exactly where generational characteristics start to blend. Millennials need lots of feedback. Who doesnât? Millennials want a clearly defined career path. They want to be trained so they wonât look stupid on the job. They want flexibility when personal events conflict with their work schedule. Who doesn't?§ The one positive result in establishing Millennial generational characteristics is this: when we pay attention to their characteristics, we reexamine our management and leadership style, which ultimately brings us full circle: all human beings want to feel good, want to do good work and be recognized for it, and actually are pretty good people. This is not rocket science!§ As important as the differences between generations may be, it is best to use your knowledge of those differences only as a template. When dealing with individuals, forget for the moment about generations, and concentrate instead on individuals.§ So, if you are the boss, what should you do? Stop being a boss. Instead, be a leader. In a nutshell, this means you will do the following: hire great people, train them to fulfill your vision, get out of the way, and finally, say thank you for a job well done.§ One last piece of advice: be yourself, and act your generation. Of the living generations none is more put off by phoniness than Millennials. Millennials respect authenticity, so chill, dude!§ (LOL) Error 406 - Not Acceptable An error has occurred. Generally a 406 error is caused because a request has been blocked by Mod Security. If you believe that your request has been blocked by mistake please contact the web site owner.§ U.S. » Millennials: The Next Greatest Generation? Comments Feed alternate alternate U.S. WordPress.com Millennials: The Next Greatest Generation? You might think they're entitled, lazy and over-confident. You'd be rightâbut you'd also be wrong Here are some broad descriptions about the generation known as Millennials: Theyâre narcissistic. Theyâre lazy. Theyâre coddled. Theyâre even a bit delusional.§ (COVER STORY: The Me Me Me Generation) Those arenât just unfounded negative stereotypes about 80 million Americans born roughly between 1980 and 2000. Theyâre backed up by a decade of sociological research. The National Institutes of Health found that for people in their 20s, Narcissistic Personality Disorder is three times as high than the generation thatâs 65 or older. In 1992, 80 percent of people under 23 wanted to one day have a job with greater responsibility; ten years later, 60 percent did. Millennials received so many participation trophies growing up that 40 percent of them think they should be promoted every two years â regardless of performance. Theyâre so hopeful about the future you might think they hadnât heard of something called the Great Recession.§ But thatâs merely one way of looking at the largest and most important generation since the Baby Boomers. In this weekâs cover story, TIME’s Joel Stein who has a few Millennial traits himself â examines the overwhelming negative data about Millennials and argues that rather than being inherently self-centered or overconfident, millennials are just adapting quickly to a world undergoing rapid technological change. They’re optimistic, they’re confident and they’re pragmatic at a time when it can be difficult just to get by. Those aren’t bad qualities to have, even if it means they spend too much time on their phones.§ Speaking as a millennial, I can say personally that I believe we are the first generation to be born with easy access to the internet which opens "us" up to new ideas and different perspectives, and also gives us a greater ability to look at the mistakes of the older generations in better hindsight. Yes there may be some of us who are lazy or expect the world to hand us everything, but there are also among us those who have the knowledge to think more critically than those in the past, more self-confidence to succeed and the desire to prove our many stereotypes wrong! What will become of this generation cannot be said for many years, but you can't help but feel optimistic when trivial issues such as race or gay marriage is rarely an issue and that even the most conservative among us have libertarian leanings.§ Before we judge the "millenials" shouldn't we point out who raised This whole idea of generations is ridiculous. People are people. The environment changes but it doesn't neccessarily change the personal characteristics of someone. Remeber its not the people you're dealing with personally it is where society is shifting to together as a whole. § I think every generation goes through a period of entitlement and only thinking in terms of themselves....the problem with people researching this is when they interview previous generations, they are older and have changed their world view. Millennials are no more narcissistic than GenY or previous... The Millennial generation are creative, collaborative and want to build their own brand. The grew up in the digital age we created so for those of you who commented about how bad this generation is, should take into account your part in creating it... If you are a Millennial and want to stand out among your peers, find advice that is helpful (not bashing your generation.. This generation of kids don't know how to work together as a group, all they think about is themselves, give me this give me that, they have aborations like there are going through a McDonald's, drive thought, they smoke pot likes its candy, they will have to be taken care of because they have smoked there brains out.§ I find this to be a predominantly american mindset, to be honest. Whenever I would misbehave as a child my parents wouldn't hesitate to give me a good spank, and needless to say, it certainly helped me grow with a different mindset: my mom's slipper sure showed me that I wasn't as slick as I thought I was. Now whenever I tell this to any other white american my age they'll be horrified (mind you, it's just an occasional spank... in no way is my childhood traumatized by it). They find it just awful to hit their child and many are self-entitled brats themselves.§ My generation has a lot to learn, we are young and still haven't grown up. However, those that weren't taught a lesson as children continue to throw their tantrums as young adults. It's only logical, and yes I will blame you parents for having spoiled your children.§ Stop complaining about the errors you have made, the annoying behavior of your children must have rubbed off on you.§ Hi, I'm a millennial.. I guess.. (we really don't like being pigeon-holed into easily digestible classification groups for starters). I'd like to give older readers (all the way from disgruntled, anti-hipster-30-somethings to the elderly) my opinion on this apparent judgement call on an entire generation of humans. First of all I'm insulted. The fact that Time made this a cover story for it's publication and the fact that the image is of a pretty young woman, just goes to show you the disrespect and the viewpoint of my age group by our elders. We are looked at as sex objects (male and female) and as the caption read: lazy, coddled, delusional and narcissistic. That seems like a desperate expulsion of random hatred that is not manifesting based on facts. Sure the article points out that science proves these things, but did science take these exact same studies of 20-somethings 10, 20, 30 years ago? Probably not. So this evidence is based on one group without a control. Therefore it is not science. Stein's angry and disrespectful words could not be further from the truth and they are obviously projections stemming from self-doubt and the perfect demonstration of why we are frustrated with older generations: Ignorance and blind arrogance.§ We know we have to wait in order to change the system (fuel usage, wages, climate issues, Water. Food. Survival.). We will not come of age in our 40's and 50's without resistance to our very own survival. We are aware of this and that's why we tend not to take these issues with a grain of salt like so many older generations do. Accept that our ideas are good. Help us make the changes that need to be made. Stop complaining about our confidence, optimism, independence and our ability to navigate technology. It's getting old. Thanks!§ The only problem I found with this article is the Authors "generational time lines and labels" he got it wrong. The Official "Lost Generation" according to all studies are the children born between 1933 and 1950. We are the ones who brought the Greatest Generations "work ethic" and values forward and parented the X generation. We also brought forward the Greatest Generations bigotry and racism but we didn't pass it on to our children. We are the generation that objected to the "Self Esteem" crowd and raised our children to be independent and hard working, we allowed them to experience failure, because we were allowed to fail and one can learn as much from failure as they can from success. Being allowed to fail and then picking yourself up and moving forward having learned valuable lessons of life made them stronger and more self confident.They didn't need a "trophy for participation, their success was their trophy.  It was our generation that moved the "Helping Others" agenda forward and we get little or no credit for it. We didn't screw up the post WWII economy either, we kept it moving and enjoyed nearly full employment up through the early 1960s. We were highly Unionized and politically active. Our High School Educations were equivalent to what you get after graduating from Community Colleges now. We were successful in Business and sports reaching the highest positions in both.§ Then came the Baby Boomers, the progeny of the Greatest Generations War Vets, the so called "me" generation who brought with them selfishness and greed and a serious lack of ethics and concern for others. They taught their Children to not respect adult authority. They taught their children that they were "special" and there would be no consequences for their behavior, good or bad. They raised a generation of people who believed the world owed them a living.§ In my Career as a Labor Relations Professional I found the Children of the Boomers to be basically lazy and self absorbed. They could not understand why their employers and /or supervisors did not promote them just because they were there. After all they were "special" and should be promoted regardless of merit. They also couldn't understand why they were considered late for work when they were there early but spent the first half hour drinking coffee and BSing before starting to work. I don't know what the melenials will do, I find many of them engaging and too trusting but they do not carry the Bigotry and prejudices of their parents.  In that there is hope for a better future.  I'm as old as dirt now, but I have faith that the young people of today can learn from their Parents mistakes and will "Get IT" and save this Country and this planet.§ Some people in the millennial era are not defined by it. Check out this article on CNN about young adults that are working hard and making a difference in the world around fights between generations, or reflection among generations ? Hello folks, for all of you who wrote quality rebuttals to Joel Stein's article online on your own sites or blogs, I want to encourage that you try and send it as a letter to the editor of TIME magazine. Hopefully, a decent one will be selected and printed in the next edition. It may be, for many people, the only way folks of the baby boomer generation who still pay for and read TIME will see the opposing arguments interpretation of data/ other more refutable data and studies. Use statistics, cite the sources, and keep it succinct and to the point, because they probably won't print anything very long. I had to drive to the library in the next city over so I could read the full article because I think TIME is still a significant publication in our culture and I wanted to understand if there is anything positive about our generation's circumstances. I came away disturbed, that in addition to the insurmountable struggles we face, we are considered by many as being lazy and entitled for having them. I'm gravely disappointed at the fact that the difficulties of the current recession wasn't mentioned as a contributing factor to why much of our generation is unemployed/underemployed.§ (On my soapbox) I'm 27, have two college degrees, worked several jobs in my lifetime since the age of 16 but have been unemployed for a while now ever since leaving college, and I don't have any parents providing for me because one is severely disabled and the other is dead. Kind of stings a bit to be considered the Me, Me, Me generation.§ There are times when I do have to catch myself in generalizing and dismissing the current teenage generation when I notice significant differences from my own experience and values, same thing with the baby boomers. It is important for us all to attempt to understand each other's backgrounds and maintain objectivity if we are going to create useful observations about our generation. § I am part of so called gen ex (it is like sun signs- dividing entire humanity in 12 or so categories). When I started reading the article I thought of bringing out insights from it to post on my Facebook page as venom against technology and young people (we over the hills have an irrational hatred for the youth). However, by the time I ended the article all steam was taken out of me due to the balance that the article achieved. This sissy author did not stick with Lazy, narcissistic and entitled tirade but ended up doing a cowardly job of explaining the situation in a very balanced way depriving me of the binge I was planning on my Facebook page.§ It will be a good idea if the readers (of all age groups) suspend their knee jerk reactions to words and phrases and read the article as an attempt to dissect social trend- an exercise that is always fraught with danger. Life is bigger than 140 characters and bigger attention span helps as I understood at the cost of my lost steam and a FB binge.§ I like how some older people (like our parents age) are blaming us for the way they raised us in this feed. I'm a millennial and think most older generations are fairly unapproachable especially in the workplace.§ equally, when you compare someone over 50 to someone under 30 who do you think is going to be more self centered?!!!! that statement by Stein was completely an example of apples to oranges! an irrelevant study (i could've told you that a 25 year old will be more conceded as compared to a 55 year old!) and a great example of how Generation X is renown for twisting information to fit their agenda.§ Where are the jobs for these individuals so they don't have to live with their parent? I will tell you. A lot of the jobs were sent overseas or across the border.§ Im looking forward to driving my country into the ground with questionable judgment then blaming those too young to make the decisions.§ "In 1992, 80 percent of people under 23 wanted to one day have a job with greater responsibility; ten years later, 60 percent did." Forgive me, my BS detectors went off and I couldn't read any further than this. I'm sure not wanting a job with more responsibility has everything to do with laziness and nothing at all to do with outdated paradigms that expect goal-oriented work in a time-oriented environment.§ I think people are criticizing the article without even reading it, which is kind of funny. He may not provide statistics on the positive, but I think it's good to look at the statistics he did provide. I wrote down some of my thoughts on the topic after reading the article on my blog: http://www.philumptuous.com/blog/. But I do think the author is right when he says we're adapting to a new culture of technology.§ People are criticizing this, but I've read the actual article and here's a quote from it: "So, yes, we have all that data about narcissism and laziness and entitlement. But a generation's greatness isn't determined by data; it's determined by how they react to the challenges that befall them." And then a few lines down, "Me, I choose to believe in the children."§ When this article's author delared âIâve got statistics!â, I thought heâd point out that Millennials have dramatically brought down Boomer and his own Xer generationsâ staggeringly high rates of murder, gun violence, property crime, rape and sexual violence, domestic violence, drug abuse, suicide and self-destructive deaths, violent death, drunken driving, unplanned pregnancy, school dropout, and other major ills, most to record lows. All this despite the fact that older generations (the most government-subsidized in history) subjected Millennials to high rates of poverty, massive increases in higher education costs, and a parent generation riddled with drug abuse, arrest, imprisonment, and family breakup.§ You know, the important stuff, the life-and-death statistics. But, no. Instead, the article recycles yet another round of silly ânarcissismâ malarkey, a measure so meaningless that it does not correlate with or predict any important social index or trend. Examples: the young white women featured on Timeâs cover and dominating discussion throughout the story actually have lower narcissism scores than the rest of the population; African Americans and other minorities have much higher narcissism scores than whites; and population groups with low narcissism scores display much higher levels of racism and other bigotries than those with high scores.§ The sources for this article donât even get their own pop-surveys right. The same ones cited to show Millennials are materialistic, lazy, and selfish also contain responses showing Millennials reject fashionable consumerism, work harder to pay for education than their elders did, and more interested in contributing to society, among positive findings the narcissism-bangers leave out. All the ânarcissismâ notion is good for is name-calling and cheap shots, which is why it's so much fun for elders to hurl at the young generation after generation.§ When a commentator and sources (nearly all older) repeatedly use the phrase them and they think, either in positive or negative vein, to describe Millennials, a stunningly diverse population of 85 million people, the discussion is destined to resurrect the same old âyoung people todayâ clichés that are older than Socrates.§ You are welcome. Humanity is naturally curious, so laziness is learned. Every generation is built on the prior ones. If one generation calls a later generation lazy, thn they are essentially calling themselves enablers.§ To be honest its hard to live up to some ideal of what I should be or what I should have and not have, as a man in his 30s now is rather just work hard at what I do and take things one step at a time. Still there is a place for this argument but it does not change the things I need do for myself in my own life.§ Everything is run by money hungry idiots now so yeah, some of the people my generation might live with their parents to get their lives on the right road.§ What GenY Really Wants Young workers happily blend work and play, as long as every minute has meaning§ With 85 million baby boomers and 50 million Gen Xers, there is already a yawning generation gap among American workers--particularly in their ideas of work-life balance. For baby boomers, it's the juggling act between job and family. For Gen X, it means moving in and out of the workforce to accommodate kids and outside interests. Now along come the 76 million members of GenerationY. For these new 20-something workers, the line between work and home doesn't really exist. They just want to spend their time in meaningful and useful ways, no matter where they are.§ Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber If you are already a subscriber sign up -- registration is free! Skip to Content Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation Why millennials will save us all I am about to do what old people have done throughout history: call those younger than me lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow. But I have studies! I have statistics! I have quotes from respected academics! Unlike my parents, my grandparents and my great-grandparents, I have proof.§ Here's the cold, hard data: The incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their 20s as for the generation that's now 65 or older, according to the National Institutes of Health; 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in...§ Want the full story? Business & Money » Millennials vs. Baby Boomers: Who Would You Rather Hire? Comments Feed alternate alternate Business & Money WordPress.com§ Millennials vs. Baby Boomers: Who Would You Rather Hire? A new poll reveals just how different GenY workers are from their Baby Boomer forefathers. Among other things, millennials (those in their 20s and early 30s) want flexible work schedules, more “me time” on the job, and nearly nonstop feedback and career advice from managers. They’re also more likely than average to think the boss could learn a thing or two from their young employees. Oh, and they really want to be able to wear jeans at work.§ All in all, it’s a pretty bad time to be a young worker (or aspiring young worker) in America. Unemployment and underemployment remain especially high among teens and 20-somethings, and increasing numbers of the so-called “Boomerang” generation have little choice but to live with their parents while weathering the economic storm. Even though young workers are less likely than previous generations to actually be in the workforce, the youth of today have very strong opinions about the workplace how it should be run, and what their place should be in it.§ A new study by MTV called “No Collar Workers” focuses on GenY’s perspectives about the workplace and careers, and what often comes to light is how different their views are from that of their parents’ generation, the boomers.§ (MORE: A Real Recovery? 6 Unconventional Economic Indicators Say Yes) Right now, there are about 80 million millennials and 76 million boomers in America. Half of all millennials are already in the workforce, and millions are added every year. Approximately 10,000 millennials turn 21 every day in America, and by the year 2025, three out of every four workers globally will be GenY. “This generation is reshaping today’s consumer and media markets, and even MTV itself,” says Nick Shore, a senior vice president at MTV involved in the “No Collar Workers” study.§ GenY will also reshape the workplaceâsooner than later, if they have their way. Among other characteristics that stand out, millennials, who have come of age with the text message and social media, are an impatient bunch: They’re hyper-connected, tech savvy, entrepreneurial, and collaborative. They also favor fast-paced work environments, want quick promotions, and aren’t fans of traditional office rules and hierarchies.§ Among the study’s specific findings that demonstrate how millennials and boomers differ in their approaches to careers: Millennials require your immediate attention. Millennials grew up texting and using Facebook and Twitter. They’re grown accustomed to instantaneous connection and nearly immediate responses each time they Tweet or post. In the workplace, they expect the same environment. They want to be able to ask questions and get career advice all the time; in the survey, 80% of millennials said they want regular feedback from their managers, and 75% yearn for mentors. “Parents were more like mentors to them and now they expect managers to be too,” says MTV’s Shore. For the most part, millennials aren’t fans of having to wait six months or a year to get a formal review of their work. Boomers, on the other hand, are more likely to prefer a structured system where feedback is given at certain times of the year. Instead of seeking constant feedback, boomers prefer to take the “Give me my objectives and get out of my way” approach.§ (MORE: Why America’s Recovery is Slow, Spotty and Anemic) Millennials want casual Fridays almost every day. The study found that 79% of millennials think they should be allowed to wear jeans to work at least sometimes, compared to only 60% of boomers. An overwhelming 93% of millennials say they want a job where they can be themselves at work, and that includes dressing in a way that makes them comfortable. Boomers, on the other hand, are more prone to believing in the importance of maintaining a standard professional look in the workplace. It seems as if millennials also prefer casual attire because they don’t separate their personal and professional lives in the same way that baby boomers do. § Millennials work when they want to work. The 9-to-5 workday is fading as the standard, and the change is at least partially being driven by millennials. Research shows that 81% of millennials think they should be allowed to make their own hours at work, compared to only 69% of boomers. Whereas more boomers feel the office environment and the traditional workday is the best way to get the job done, millennials prefer a flexible approach, including the right to be remote workers who go into the office only sometimes, or perhaps never. They maintain that as long as the work gets done, the amount of time spent in the office shouldn’t matter. In the MTV poll, 70% of millennials also said that they need “me time” on the job, versus 39% of Baby Boomers.§ Millennials aren’t all about the money. Half of the members of GenY surveyed said they would “rather have no job than a job they hate.” Among the top options for job desirability, “loving what I do” outranked salaries and big bonuses. If not money, what do millennials want most? The vast majority (83%) are “looking for a job where my creativity is valued,” while more than 9 in 10 millennials are “motivated to work harder when I know where my work is going” and want supervisors, managers, and executives to listen to their ideas. “Millennials walk into the CEO’s office to tell them how to fix things,” says Shore. The MTV study found that 76% of millennials think their boss could learn a lot from them, compared to only 50% of boomers. Generally speaking, millennials want to feel as though they’ve been heard, and that their opinions and insights matter.§ (MORE: The Rise of the Remote Worker, or How to Work from Home Without Getting Fired) Millennials really like transparency. A report by LifeWay Research shows that transparency was one of the four characteristics millennials wanted in a leader. Think about it: Parents of millennials talked about everything in front of their children, from finances to sex, so millennials are comfortable with the same approach from businesses and managers. Millennials want to feel like they are part of a community at workânearly 9 in 10 want a workplace to be social and funâand have a genuine desire to listen into organizational strategy sessions. Instead of being a small cog unaware of any larger mission, millennials like being in the loop regarding their company’s vision, and how it is going to innovate to stay ahead of the curve.§ Millennials see the work environment as flat. Vineet Nayer, the CEO of HCL Technologies says that millennials “have little interest in hierarchy and are not particularly impressed by the titles and positions within the traditional pyramid structure.” Growing up, millennials all received trophies in sports leagues regardless if they won or lost, and they probably had parents who would patiently listen to them and take what they had to say into consideration before making family decisions. In the workplace, millennials see no reason for a strict hierarchy. “They find hierarchies difficult to understand because they didn’t grow up with it,” said Shore. An “ideocracy” should reign in the workplace, most millennials believe, in which everyone should be heard from and the best ideas win out, regardless of who has been on the job longer, or who has a corner office.§ (MORE: Being 30 and Living with Your Parents Isn’t Lame — It’s Awesome) Schawbel is the managing partner of Millennial Branding, a GenY research and management consulting firm. He speaks on the topic of personal branding, social media and GenY workforce management for companies such as Google, Time Warner, Symantec, CitiGroup and IBM. Subscribe to his updates at Facebook.com/DanSchawbel.§