What’s Up With Generation Y? Baby Boomers and Gen X’s Frustration in Leading The New Generation
Are you frustrated by the new generation? Do they seem to lack the same commitment to work that you possess? Are your put off by the overconfidence and the sense of entitlement exhibited by Generation Y members? Do you perceive them to be lazy? How concerned are you for the future of your organization? Are your concerns justified? Statistics show Generation Y members, those born between the years of 1980 and 2000 and who are often referred to as millennials, are the most technically savvy generation as well as the most educated generation in history.
Yet despite these traits (and maybe because of them), they are also the most narcissistic generation the world has ever seen. “58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982.”[1] This development, in turn, has led to other findings that can also be perceived to be detrimental to leadership. Studies of recent business school students have shown that millennials place a lower value on empathy, display more cheating behavior, are more likely to conceal instructor’s mistakes, and are less cooperative with others.[2]
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Yet despite these traits, many millennials believe that they are ready to be placed in leadership positions. In a survey done by Red Brick Research, two-thirds of millennials see themselves in leadership positions within the next five years.[3] With more education than ever before and such advanced technology, how did millennials become so self-centered? Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why, believes that various factors converged to create the character traits of many millennials.
“Parents praised us (millennials) when no praise was due and dependence on technology lowered our levels of patience. The overriding trends here are taking their toll. When millennials grow up and enter the workforce, they do so with unrealistic expectations of praise, sorely limited attention spans, a low tolerance for stress, and a propensity for forming face-value relationships.”[4]
Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University, believes that a potential causation for the rise in narcissism found in most millennials is based in cultural changes where individual achievement was emphasized over civic duty and responsibility.[5] What does that mean for organizations that are relying or soon to be relying on their millennials to move into leadership positions? Despite the negative perception of millennials, they have certain core abilities that, if nurtured, can help them become very capable leaders.
“According to the Case Foundation, one of the top motivations for millennials to stay with their current jobs was their belief in the company’s mission and purpose – a belief that rests on outcomes achieved, not just promises made.”[6] Millennials seek to buy in to a company’s mission and if they do, they become authentic leaders, which is a highly desired trait among their peers.[7] Who doesn’t want to work for a leader who has passion and believes in the mission?
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Due to their multi-cultural upbringing and the increasingly connected world, more millennials are also embracing diversity. A leader who actively seeks to create diverse teams enhances organizational success. Teams that have a diverse membership consisting of different backgrounds, different life experiences and different cultures often engage in more creative problem-solving, which improves innovative efforts and accelerates the acceptance of change in organizations.
With leaders setting the tone for others to follow, accepting diverse experiences as well as diverse opinions increase team cohesion even as differences arise among team members. One final trait of millennials to discuss is their ambition to become leaders. Deloitte Consulting LLP found that one in four millennials are seeking opportunities to lead.[8]
As such, they are looking at the examples you are setting as they form their own leadership style. If you were to look critically at your leadership, are you giving millennials the autonomy they seek or are you micro-managing them? Are you praising their efforts or are you strictly looking at results? Lastly, are you truly listening to millennials’ concerns or are you lamenting the fact that they aren’t like you? If you were to take a moment and recall the early stages of your career, would your leader have been just as frustrated with you?
A new detective who was a millennial reported to his new squad at the police department. He was assigned a car and a few minutes after receiving the car, he walked into his supervisor’s office informing the supervisor of a problem. When the supervisor inquired about the nature of the problem, the millennial responded by saying, “The car has 70,000 miles on it.” Stop here for a moment. Think about how you would respond to this millennial knowing that most of your available cars had over 100,000 miles on them. What would you say to the millennial in that moment?
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When asked this question in our class, the responses are what you would imagine. Most leaders indicated they would immediately put the millennial in his place by taking away his car or giving him a car that was in much worse shape. Yet the supervisor who relayed this story did nothing of the sort. Instead, the supervisor told the millennial that 70,000 miles was indeed a problem and instructed the millennial to place the car keys on the supervisor’s desk. After doing so, the supervisor turned to his computer.
The millennial occasionally interjected but each time the supervisor cut the millennial off and indicated that the millennial would have to come back later to resolve the issue because the supervisor was responding to important emails. Occasionally during that same week, the millennial would pop into the supervisor’s office, but the supervisor told the millennial that he did not have time to address the situation at that moment. A week later, the millennial entered the supervisor’s office and before the supervisor could say anything, the millennial stated, “Sir…..there isn’t a problem with my car.”
The supervisor smiled as he replied. “Great. Your keys are right there on the desk.” The millennial grabbed the car keys, walked out of the supervisor’s office and became one of the best detectives on the squad. In that moment, the supervisor could have belittled the millennial for his sense of entitlement, but this supervisor understood millennial’s personality traits. Instead of yelling at the millennia, which could have stifled his growth, the supervisor used the incident as a teaching moment. In this case, the millennial learned what it was like to have no car, assessed and corrected his attitude of entitlement, and became a top performer.
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Millennials want to be leaders just like you did when you were young. While it has been determined that their perspectives are vastly different than what you grew up with, it doesn’t mean that you cannot teach them. Millennials want to be great leaders. Are you mentoring them and setting the example they need to follow and if not, what are the consequences for your organization in the future?
[1] Stein, J. (2013). The Me, Me, Me Generation, Time Magazine, May 20, 2013. Accessed December 14, 2017 at http://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/
[2] Gudmundsson, A & Southey, G. (2011). Leadership and the Rise of the corporate psychopath: What can business schools do about the ‘snakes inside’?, e-journal of Social and Behavioural Research in Business, Vol. 2, Iss. 2, 2011, pp. 18-27.
[3] Myers, C. (2015). Millennials Are The Worst….Unless They Are The Best, Forbes, April 20, 2015. Accessed December 14, 2017 at https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrismyers/2015/04/20/millennials-are-the-worst-unless-theyre-the-best/#6e8ffc2b617e
[4] Rounds, D. (2017). How Companies Can Build Confidence in Millennials, Forbes, March 10, 2017. Accessed December 14, 2017 at https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/03/10/how-companies-can-build-confidence-in-millennials/#a5fbad24dfd8
[5] Jarrett, C. (2017). Millennials Are Narcissistic? The Evidence Is Not So Simple, BBC, November 17, 2017. Accessed December 14, 2017 at http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171115-millenials-are-the-most-narcissistic-generation-not-so-fast
[6] Moffatt, J. (2015). The Seven Positive Qualities of Millennials That Can Help You Improve Your Business, Entrepreneur Magazine, January 26, 2015. Accessed December 14, 2017 at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242155
[7] Gasca, P. (2016). How To Motivate Millennials By Millennials, Entrepreneur Magazine, February 16, 2016. Accessed on December 14, 2017 at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/270764
[8] Moffatt, J. (2015). The Seven Positive Qualities of Millennials That Can Help you Improve Your Business.
