Are We Listening?

by Russ Eckel

They are our children; or perhaps our grandchildren. They are our nieces and nephews, our younger sisters and brothers. They are the neighbors’ kids, the kids in the school down the street, and the kids in jail. In the United States they number seventy million; planet wide, they number nearly two billion. As an age cohort they eschew labels. But if we have to label them, they would go by the moniker the Wired Generation. In popular discourse they are referred to as Generation Y. I call them the Millennnials. Demographers differ as to when this generational cohort begins and ends. Most agree, however, that the very early 1980’s mark the first wave of Millennial births. Using a generally accepted generational distance as twenty years, give or take, that takes us to 2001 or so. All of the members of this generation are alive today, thus we cannot say they are “new,” but they certainly are emergent.   But what is emerging? That seems to be the question of the day. Like most questions of this size and scope, the answer depends upon whom you ask. Here is a sample of popular opinion:

1. Millennials are the most narcissistic, entitled, materialistic, underachieving and amoral generation in modern history.
2. Millennials are well educated but disengaged, socially aware but politically passive, socially liberal but promiscuous and nihilistic, technologically savvy but to no good end.
3. Millennials are pragmatically idealistic, non-ideological and socially motivated, hyper-aware, socially networked, and to some degree already transforming the world right under our noses.

OK.  Pick one.  Here’s mine—number three. After many years of research and writing on the topic of generations, especially generations in the workplace, I am quite optimistic about the long-term. The Millennial generation, certainly the most aware of them, are fully cognizant of the mess, or the “rubble,” as Otto Scharmer describes our world today. While it is not hard to find young people who feel overwhelmed and totally disempowered, it is also not hard to find others who are working everyday to make a difference. They are not in the streets, as the 60’s radicals want and expect them to be, but they are digging in, many of them, for the long haul, determined to make a difference. The majority of Millennials, in this country anyway, are skeptical of celebrity and wary of charismatic leaders. They are problem solvers interested in new forms that result in new ideas, and new and creative solutions to old and new problems. They do not believe in the “big fix” but they want to see change.

Here’s the challenge. The first two points of view mentioned above are driving public perception and public attitudes towards the Millennials. While they themselves routinely identify their parents, or other adults close to them, as their heroes, we are being asked to believe that they want nothing to do with Boomers or Gen X’ers.  All right, I’m not Pollyannaish; intergenerational conflict is not a total myth. But to listen to some commentators, including those who consider themselves objective and impartial, we are on the verge of intergenerational warfare in our workplaces and in virtually every other space of public life. Personally, I believe this perspective to be hyperbolic and largely ungrounded.  But listen; what are you hearing, or saying?

If you share in the idea that in this difficult age we must lead from the future as it emerges, as Otto Scharmer writes, then I believe what wants to be born is an inspirational, intergenerational dialogue, bringing the best of all of us together in a transformational moment. 

So listen to your children, to your nieces and nephews; to the kids down the street and the kids around the world. They want to talk. They are open to listening. They will demand a voice, but they don’t want the stage. They are calling us, and calling out for us to join them. Make no mistake, they will change the world. They’d just rather have the rest of us with them.

To learn more and to participate in this conversation you can visit Russ's blog

http://www.generationsatwork.net/

*Please be mindful of copyright and permission requests where appropriate.