Who rules the (corporate) world?

I have heard Boomers say on frequent occassions that Gen Xers are waiting for them to die so that they can take over the workforce. Sorry guys, it's too late. We already did (and we didn't tell anyone).

After years of having our hands slapped for questioning what was going on in the workforce (for instance, why are we being evaluated for time spent at the desk rather than output of work?), Gen Xers went stealth. We'll talk frankly to each other, but if you are not an Xer, that smile and nod you are receiving does not mean we agree with your well-crafted monologue on how to synergize the office. It means we're planning on doing things our way anyway.

Let's see: I learned from Jeff Gordinier that the real power players are Xers. The founders of Google. The Amazon.com guys. Even Saturday Night Live is representative of what WE think is funny. Oh, and Will Ferrell - he's also an Xer.

The challenge here for Boomers, is that we often will not engage. We won't play "let's brainstorm," because our experience has been that Boomers do what Boomers want anyway. The challenge for Gen Y is often they can't figure out what the heck we're doing and how we get it done, because we're not used to telling.

This is the first post I am doing in a series on the Gen X work experience, how we got where we are, and what Gen Y (and maybe even Boomers) can learn from us. I got the idea from Kristen, a Gen Y who said her generation has trouble learning from the early Gen X experience in the workforce because we don't write about it (which probably goes back to the whole stealth concept). So I'm going to try to make that happen.

Is Generation X changing the world?

Today, Sara Vollmer, who is participating in a four-day seminar in Cleveland that I am teaching, shared this video of author Jeff Gordinier (Generation X Saves The World) with me. I was enthralled. What do you think? Is he correct?

I didn’t know this is where the sidewalk ends…

Hey Xers! Did you know Shel Silverstein wrote regularly for Playboy? Who knew the children’s author had a bawdy side?

“Don’t dump on the old people” and other survival lessons I learned from a 9 x 9 cubicle

Recently, I almost got into a pissing match with a guy named Mike who ridiculed a comment I made on the Brazen Careerist website. But then I decided why waste my energy on Mike when I could waste my energy on my own blog.

Basically, here’s how it went down: Ryan Healy, who I would go as far as to call a blogging rock star, posted the 10 things that Gen Y is going to do to change the workforce. Here they are:

1. Hold Only Productive Meetings 2. Shorten the Work Day 3. Bring Back the Administrative Assistants 4. Redefine Retirement 5. Find Real Mentors 6. Restore Respect to the HR Department 7. Promote Based on Emotional Intelligence 8. Continue to Value What Our Parents Have to Offer 9. Enjoy Higher Starting Salaries 10. Re-invent the Performance Review

So I’m reading this and thinking, “Hmmm. That’s kind of insulting to anyone who is not part of Gen Y (mainly, me).” Seriously, how much bravado does it take to announce that your generation will be the one to hold only meaningful meetings?

I decided to make a little fun of Ryan. I like him. I hold him to a higher standard. I think he can write good things about Gen Y without slapping the rest of us in the face by omission.

Here’s what I wrote:
#11: At the end of each fiscal year, everyone will get a medal and a certificate of appreciation signed by their direct supervisor!

#12: On their birthdays, each employee will get a CD with a birthday song written just for them!

#13: Each September, the company will round up all the Gen Xers and ridicule them for their sarcasm and negativity.

#14: Each October, the company will round up all the Boomers and force them to participate in Amigo races.

#15: And each November, the company will round up all the Millennials and give everyone a star on their forhead for being such great team players!

That’s funny, right? Well, apparently “Mike” doesn’t think so. Here’s what he wrote:

“The Generation X/Generation Y divide that GenerationXpert illuminates with her/his sarcasm troubles me. Is it really so vast and really so accurate? Ryan identifies legitimate points in his post, and “Xpert” marginalizes them unfairly. Sure, propping up such a divide between generations benefits some of the folks (perhaps GenerationXpert?) who are trying to make a career out of being a Gen X or Gen Y expert, but it’s a lot of heat and no light for the rest of us. There are more things that unify us than divide us.”

First off, I’m sure you will agree that Mike needs to lighten up a bit. After that, I’d like to tell him that the biggest lesson I learned from having only boomer bosses and at least 75% boomer co-workers over the past 15 years is that you should never – I’m serious, NEVER – pump yourself up as the next hot, young, new thing by announcing how you and your generation are going to fix everything everyone before you has screwed up.

The reason is not that it hurts peoples’ feelings or that it’s an inaccurate account of what you can actually accomplish. It’s because with age comes patience. And that older person will wait for the opportunity to take you down a notch – or 10.

For real. That old dude who you insulted may not even seem to register what you said - or wrote. But when the time comes. The time you are not expecting it. BAM! Knife in the back.

So that’s why I needled Ryan for his post. He’s right, Gen Y will benefit from all the changes he mentioned. But will they drive them? Probably not. These ideas have been around since the members of Gen Y were singing “I love you, you love me” with Barney.

Maybe it's just a life stage thing

Last week I conducted a one-day workshop on generational communications with a group of administrators at a community college in Michigan. An interesting idea came out at the end.

When discussing the challenges of working with Gen Y students, I asked the Boomers in the room if these were the same complaints that they had about Gen Xers 10 or 15 years ago. They said yes. Do they still have these issues with Gen Xers? No.

So that got me thinking: How much of the resistance in the workforce to Generation Y is just because these folks are in their 20s and most people in their 20s are in transition to what will be their adult personality?

I'm on the fence here. I do think there are challenges working with 20-somethings regardless of the era. However, there are things that stick with you throughout the rest of your life that are not life-stage related. For instance, a Boomer asked me why Xers seem so negative. I told her, we really aren't, we just think it's cool to be edgy. And we want to be cool.

So, maybe Gen Y will dramatically impact the American workplace. What do you think?

GenerationXpert recommends...

I have a great new blog to recommend:

http://generationshift.blogspot.com/

What's really cool about it is that blogger Andrew Krzmarzick writes from a government perspective. And as someone who worked in a public institution for nine years (Delta College), I know that the whole world is not the "business world."

So check out his blog!

I'm offended...and a little bummed

Yesterday there was a post on Brazen Careerist that got my blood boiling. The basic jist of the article was that chicks rule and dudes drool. A Gen Y woman wrote the piece and when I posted my disdained she responded by saying that the GenerationXpert misunderstood.

I say I do not misunderstand. I say that we have swung from, "men are superior" to "women are superior." And I hate it. Men and women are definitely different, but neither is superior.

I sent the link to most of my friends, and only Kristina went to the site and expressed her disdain for this rhetoric. That's why I was kind of bummed. My husband said he was too busy drooling to post.

Here's the thing: we are dissing the men and boys in our lives and we shouldn't. I'm old enough to remember a bit of sexism (I tried to be an alter boy and was thrown out of the alter boy meeting when I was in 4th grade). But you can't have it both ways. You can be down on men and not want men to be down on women.

So here's what I think: equal means equal - it does not mean I am superior.