Friday, July 23, 2010

Boomers v. GenX v. Millennials - Comparing Work Styles

Rawn Shah writes in Forbes.com that we'd all do well to network more with our younger colleagues, particularly the ones in the "Milennial" cohort.  Hmm.

While I agree we should embrace technology, social media, data sharing and hierarchy-flattening a bit more than we do because it would make us more productive, I also think Millennials aren't the role models I'm going to follow . . . just yet!  Yes, they are our employees, customers, and future leaders.  We should definitely strive to understand them in order to work with them.  But as Mr. Shah points out, "They see everyone in their organization as equal partners to collaborate with." and with this trait, I do take issue -- we're not all equal.  And not in a bad way.  The people who create valuable content or get things done are the role models I want to emulate.  When 20-somethings become those people, then if they want to see the rest of the organization as equal, fine.

Contribute first.

I should say, though, that I like Mr. Shah's table comparing the 3 styles.  Very catchy!

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