[Music]
so for the first time in America’s
modern history we have five generations
interacting at work the veterans born
between 1922 and 1943 are known as the
greatest generation the matures the
silence they’re known for their
self-sacrifice respect for authority and
work as its own reward
the Boomers came shortly after born
between 1944 and 1960 this is a
generation characterized by hard work in
fact we can take this generation for the
term workaholic
they appreciate competition they love
effective communication and they’re
thinking towards retirement if they
haven’t retired already Generation X is
known as The Lost Generation are the
latchkey generation born between 1961
and 1980
is the smallest generation sandwiched
between boomers and the big Millennials
and they are the first generation whose
parents may have been divorced in fact
at one point they’re more parents or
divorced in this generation than any
generation prior they also were the
first generation to tell us about
work-life balance and the first to
really ask for that in the workplace and
then Millennials you know that everybody
gets a ribbon generation born between
1981 and 2000 never knew a time where
technology wasn’t present in the home
they’re incredibly pragmatic they’re
hopeful and they’re determined they
think they’re gonna change the world in
fact I believe they’re gonna do it they
might be a little bit idealistic
sometimes but in just the last several
years we’ve seen Millennials overtake
Generation X to be the most represented
generation in the workforce in fact more
than one in three people in the United
States labor force is a millennial and
soon to join us their generation Z born
since 2000 our high school interns are
soon to be high school graduates now if
you open any internet browser look at
Amazon search any of your favorite
search engines you might assume there’s
a literal war in the workplace right we
seek blog topics like 17 reasons why
Millennials are the worst generation and
why baby boomers have ruined it for
everybody
our bridging the great generational
divide it’s like turning to this West
Side Story like boomers
come in one door Millennials come in
another door the lobby they just fight
with each other all day complain and go
home do the same come back to work right
well so what if I told you these
generations may not exist so I’ve been
spending some time thinking about this
and researching this and fellow
researchers and I aren’t exactly sure
that these generations are real and in
fact if we can agree that these groups
even exist we certainly don’t agree who
belongs in them and they span something
like 20 years so whatever point in
history a one-year-old and a 20 year old
or said to sit share the same value
system to want the same things at work
to have the same stereotype working for
and against them and in fact different
areas of the world define these
generations differently so we can’t even
compare generations across various areas
of the world and these stereotypes about
each generation have in a lot of ways
created the self-fulfilling prophecy
that people begin to act as if they’re
part of that generation because we’ve
said out loud that generation is real
I’m not so sure that it is and in fact
this idea of generations has become
deeply embedded in United States culture
when we talk generations people know
exactly what we’re talking about in fact
people have a lot of thoughts and
feelings about each of these generations
and I’ll tell you how I know this I did
the thing that every red-blooded
American and pre-tenure academic does
and they have a question I googled some
stuff and this is what I learned you
know so Google is based on algorithms
and they provide you with commonly
searched terms or suggested hits based
on what other people are searching
surrounding the same topic and it gave
me a really good sense of what people
think about each of these generations
take a look I learned that baby boomers
are conservative but Americans think
they’re stupid the worst generation
they’re angry apparently they’re racist
and they’re so important okay looking at
Generation X I learned Generation X as a
cynical group okay they’re angry they’re
known as The Lost Generation we know
this okay they’re the smallest
generation apparently they’re stupid too
okay and mostly they’re frustrated with
baby boomers part Millennials this is
what I learned about
so we’re obsessed with food okay we’re
all so stupid oh okay we’re lazy we’re
sensitive we’re fired
we’re all so hated and we think we’re
important and perhaps the most
terrifying search result on the internet
generation Z is screwed okay
so for five years I’ve been talking to
leaders and followers across a wide
variety of organizations and this is
what I’ve come to realize generations
haven’t become part of the conversation
generations have become the conversation
at work and what I’ve learned is that
we’re working another assumption that
those Google results are true and so
what I think is that organizations are
now desperate to figure out how to
manage the multi-generational workplace
manage it right we manage all sorts of
things we’re preparing for this wave of
Millennials to come to work so we
prepare for hurricanes right we prepare
to take the MCAT we prepare for natural
disasters why are we preparing for 23
year olds to come to work I’ve talked to
these organizations and I’ve heard
amazing things that they’re doing to
create a work space for everybody to get
along and to have autonomy and to feel
like they’re thriving but I’ve also
heard some really incredibly harebrained
ideas about how to navigate the
multi-generational workplace are you
ready this is what I saw
I visited an organization and they
adopted this idea that if you can see it
you can be it a really important concept
but I think they blew it they put
pictures on the walls of the ideal
multi-generational workplace because if
or like this one like I don’t even want
to work here I don’t where you don’t get
a wear color here apparently an HR
seriously has problems with people
jumping in heels I promise you that okay
I talked to an organization who recently
decided against putting a ball pit in
the break room because that’s how you
retain Millennials we’re 30 not 3 and in
fact I know young at the time millennial
who was told that if she wanted people
to take her seriously just because she
was a millennial she would have to do
this wear shoulder pads yes people
younger than her and older than her
wouldn’t take her seriously unless she
wore shoulder pads
straight out of the 80s can’t even buy
him anymore shoulder pads this young
woman had two graduate degrees this
young woman was me and this is the best
we came up with how to navigate the
multi-generational workplace is shoulder
pads so this is also what I’ve learned
talking organizations that employ a wide
range of people of various ages we are
so much more similar than we are
different and we’re hearing this
consistently people want work that
matters they want flexibility they want
support they want appreciation they want
better coffee but none of these things
are tied to a generation not sure we see
small differences and what people want
we know 20 year olds and 60 year olds go
home and do different things they have
different values at least when it comes
to things happening outside of work but
I think what’s happened is that this
focus on generational cohorts these
groups of people has created a space
where we’ve just forgot that people are
people and don’t know who they really
are who we really work with we have to
figure out how to better navigate this
multi-generational workplace than ball
pits call me one of those idealist
millenials but I think we can get there
and I don’t think the idea is too
terribly difficult what if we radically
simply not easily meet people where they
our individualize our approach I’ve
never met a generation I’ve had a lot of
conversations with people who happen to
identify with a specific generational
cohort I’ve met I know that 80 year olds
text message in 23 year olds crochet
blankets none of these things are
stereotypical of that generation right
Nilla for merchants she’s a thought
leader in innovation she tells us we
have to meet people in their own
leanness that is that spot in the world
where only we stand as a function of our
unique history our experiences in our
hopes but this requires flexibility and
curiosity and what happens when we meet
people in their own leanness only the
spot in the world that they stand we
learned at that Boomer who’s just acting
angry at work all the time is scared
because he’s worked every day since he
was 16 years old and in a Monday sooner
than he can imagine he’ll never go to
work again he’s got plans it’s gonna
take like a week and a half to do all
the things on that that retirement list
but then what what I figure the give a
little bit of grace to the person that
might be a little scared or that
generation Xer who has four drop-offs
three kids two hands and is just trying
to keep the wheels on the bus sure maybe
she’s a little aloof at work maybe she’s
a little independent maybe she’s
exhausted or that millennial who asks
for a raise after two months because
they’re entitled well maybe it’s because
that generation has more debt than any
generation before them coming out of
college and they just need the money to
keep going to pay rent and suddenly when
you meet people in their own leanness
that spot in the world only they stand
we’re not talking about a generation
anymore
we’re talking about Jim or Jen or
Candace and we find that common space
and when we find common space the
psychology of Attraction kicks in you
see we are attracted to people that are
similar to us and when we can find those
places of similarity it leads to liking
now in addition to meeting people where
they are individualizing our approach we
have to practice the willingness to
teach but we also have to practice the
willingness to learn and here’s the
beauty of this it doesn’t require a
formal
position if you don’t think you’re
leading you’re leading every day think
of the people you admire most that you
look to how they react and I bet it’s
not the people in the c-suite in the
organization it’s the people that sit
across from us that sit next to us as
teachers it’s the students that sit in
our classrooms those are the people that
are teaching and for a minute if you
think you’re not teaching a promise you
are and if we wait for the formal
classroom moment the formal training or
missing opportunities because these
things happen in elevators and in
parking lots ask ask someone why did you
come to work today why did you come to
work yesterday why are you still here
and suddenly we learn about that
organization in that history in the
place that only we stand and suddenly we
realize why we’re still standing there
two Millennials as a function of our age
I know two things we don’t have wisdom
and we don’t have history and we can’t
fake it and sooner that we can imagine
history and wisdom are walking out the
door into a well-earned retirement it’s
our burden to ask to learn to find out
why we do things the way we do and why
we don’t do things the way we used to
similarly Millennials if we’re looking
for mentors we have to be willing to
mentor as well
remember Generation Z you know the ones
that are screwed so I have a
one-year-old and a three year old and I
just can’t imagine that’s gonna be the
case because I know Millennials are
gonna do this reach back hold the door
open whatever was hard for you make it
easy for them it’s our burden that’s our
job the generation coming to work is the
youngest most educated most diverse
generation we’ve seen yet provide space
for them to teach in the workplace
imagine if you could sit in a classroom
again what would you learn ask them to
train us as people that have been in the
workforce for a while and in third and
certainly not least I think we have to
practice a little bit of generational
humility so humans are 99.9%
biologically the same okay and sameness
matters but when we explore that point
1% what makes us different and unique if
we come to that place with a little bit
of generational humility I think we’ll
win
now CS Lewis tells us we’ll know the
humble man not because he hangs his head
thinking about how humble he is in fact
he won’t be thinking of himself at all
well no the humble man because he’s
asking about others with joyful
curiosity so what if we come to that 1%
with a little bit of joy in a little bit
of curiosity because that’s where
diversity of thought happens see I see
the lens through one or the world
through one set of lenses one set of
glasses that’s the only thing I get to
wear is a function of my place in the
world that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try
on the lenses of other people and
suddenly when I see the situation that
set of lenses it might look just a
little bit different and the beauty of
it is you don’t have to agree with what
you see but humility allows that space
for that story to be told even if we
can’t tell it create space for someone
else to tell the story through their
lenses because sometimes we simply can’t
with joyful curiosity and so here’s my
challenge to us pick a person just one
and explore their own leanness and then
learn and then in the moments hurts
appropriate to teach and figure out what
they bring to work that no one else can
bring to work because that’s what makes
work richer and then do it again and do
it again and then someday we’re not
working with generations anymore we’re
working with people and so to really
understand the beauty of the
multi-generational workplace I think we
just have to meet people where they are
and that doesn’t require that we unpack
and live there with them but we might
find at least on occasion it’s a
beautiful place to visit and so I think
there’s just no need to argue about
which generation is the most angry or
the most in title or the most so
obsessed with food we all come to the
classroom to work back to our homes a
little bit tired and a little bit
tattered sometimes maybe let’s just our
best to humbly meet people where they
are how they show up that day generation
and all and then those moments where it
can feel a little bit like
intergenerational warfare I think we can
at least all agree that shoulder pads
aren’t the solution
thank you [Applause]
so for the first time in America’s
modern history we have five generations
interacting at work the veterans born
between 1922 and 1943 are known as the
greatest generation the matures the
silence they’re known for their
self-sacrifice respect for authority and
work as its own reward
the Boomers came shortly after born
between 1944 and 1960 this is a
generation characterized by hard work in
fact we can take this generation for the
term workaholic
they appreciate competition they love
effective communication and they’re
thinking towards retirement if they
haven’t retired already Generation X is
known as The Lost Generation are the
latchkey generation born between 1961
and 1980
is the smallest generation sandwiched
between boomers and the big Millennials
and they are the first generation whose
parents may have been divorced in fact
at one point they’re more parents or
divorced in this generation than any
generation prior they also were the
first generation to tell us about
work-life balance and the first to
really ask for that in the workplace and
then Millennials you know that everybody
gets a ribbon generation born between
1981 and 2000 never knew a time where
technology wasn’t present in the home
they’re incredibly pragmatic they’re
hopeful and they’re determined they
think they’re gonna change the world in
fact I believe they’re gonna do it they
might be a little bit idealistic
sometimes but in just the last several
years we’ve seen Millennials overtake
Generation X to be the most represented
generation in the workforce in fact more
than one in three people in the United
States labor force is a millennial and
soon to join us their generation Z born
since 2000 our high school interns are
soon to be high school graduates now if
you open any internet browser look at
Amazon search any of your favorite
search engines you might assume there’s
a literal war in the workplace right we
seek blog topics like 17 reasons why
Millennials are the worst generation and
why baby boomers have ruined it for
everybody
our bridging the great generational
divide it’s like turning to this West
Side Story like boomers
come in one door Millennials come in
another door the lobby they just fight
with each other all day complain and go
home do the same come back to work right
well so what if I told you these
generations may not exist so I’ve been
spending some time thinking about this
and researching this and fellow
researchers and I aren’t exactly sure
that these generations are real and in
fact if we can agree that these groups
even exist we certainly don’t agree who
belongs in them and they span something
like 20 years so whatever point in
history a one-year-old and a 20 year old
or said to sit share the same value
system to want the same things at work
to have the same stereotype working for
and against them and in fact different
areas of the world define these
generations differently so we can’t even
compare generations across various areas
of the world and these stereotypes about
each generation have in a lot of ways
created the self-fulfilling prophecy
that people begin to act as if they’re
part of that generation because we’ve
said out loud that generation is real
I’m not so sure that it is and in fact
this idea of generations has become
deeply embedded in United States culture
when we talk generations people know
exactly what we’re talking about in fact
people have a lot of thoughts and
feelings about each of these generations
and I’ll tell you how I know this I did
the thing that every red-blooded
American and pre-tenure academic does
and they have a question I googled some
stuff and this is what I learned you
know so Google is based on algorithms
and they provide you with commonly
searched terms or suggested hits based
on what other people are searching
surrounding the same topic and it gave
me a really good sense of what people
think about each of these generations
take a look I learned that baby boomers
are conservative but Americans think
they’re stupid the worst generation
they’re angry apparently they’re racist
and they’re so important okay looking at
Generation X I learned Generation X as a
cynical group okay they’re angry they’re
known as The Lost Generation we know
this okay they’re the smallest
generation apparently they’re stupid too
okay and mostly they’re frustrated with
baby boomers part Millennials this is
what I learned about
so we’re obsessed with food okay we’re
all so stupid oh okay we’re lazy we’re
sensitive we’re fired
we’re all so hated and we think we’re
important and perhaps the most
terrifying search result on the internet
generation Z is screwed okay
so for five years I’ve been talking to
leaders and followers across a wide
variety of organizations and this is
what I’ve come to realize generations
haven’t become part of the conversation
generations have become the conversation
at work and what I’ve learned is that
we’re working another assumption that
those Google results are true and so
what I think is that organizations are
now desperate to figure out how to
manage the multi-generational workplace
manage it right we manage all sorts of
things we’re preparing for this wave of
Millennials to come to work so we
prepare for hurricanes right we prepare
to take the MCAT we prepare for natural
disasters why are we preparing for 23
year olds to come to work I’ve talked to
these organizations and I’ve heard
amazing things that they’re doing to
create a work space for everybody to get
along and to have autonomy and to feel
like they’re thriving but I’ve also
heard some really incredibly harebrained
ideas about how to navigate the
multi-generational workplace are you
ready this is what I saw
I visited an organization and they
adopted this idea that if you can see it
you can be it a really important concept
but I think they blew it they put
pictures on the walls of the ideal
multi-generational workplace because if
or like this one like I don’t even want
to work here I don’t where you don’t get
a wear color here apparently an HR
seriously has problems with people
jumping in heels I promise you that okay
I talked to an organization who recently
decided against putting a ball pit in
the break room because that’s how you
retain Millennials we’re 30 not 3 and in
fact I know young at the time millennial
who was told that if she wanted people
to take her seriously just because she
was a millennial she would have to do
this wear shoulder pads yes people
younger than her and older than her
wouldn’t take her seriously unless she
wore shoulder pads
straight out of the 80s can’t even buy
him anymore shoulder pads this young
woman had two graduate degrees this
young woman was me and this is the best
we came up with how to navigate the
multi-generational workplace is shoulder
pads so this is also what I’ve learned
talking organizations that employ a wide
range of people of various ages we are
so much more similar than we are
different and we’re hearing this
consistently people want work that
matters they want flexibility they want
support they want appreciation they want
better coffee but none of these things
are tied to a generation not sure we see
small differences and what people want
we know 20 year olds and 60 year olds go
home and do different things they have
different values at least when it comes
to things happening outside of work but
I think what’s happened is that this
focus on generational cohorts these
groups of people has created a space
where we’ve just forgot that people are
people and don’t know who they really
are who we really work with we have to
figure out how to better navigate this
multi-generational workplace than ball
pits call me one of those idealist
millenials but I think we can get there
and I don’t think the idea is too
terribly difficult what if we radically
simply not easily meet people where they
our individualize our approach I’ve
never met a generation I’ve had a lot of
conversations with people who happen to
identify with a specific generational
cohort I’ve met I know that 80 year olds
text message in 23 year olds crochet
blankets none of these things are
stereotypical of that generation right
Nilla for merchants she’s a thought
leader in innovation she tells us we
have to meet people in their own
leanness that is that spot in the world
where only we stand as a function of our
unique history our experiences in our
hopes but this requires flexibility and
curiosity and what happens when we meet
people in their own leanness only the
spot in the world that they stand we
learned at that Boomer who’s just acting
angry at work all the time is scared
because he’s worked every day since he
was 16 years old and in a Monday sooner
than he can imagine he’ll never go to
work again he’s got plans it’s gonna
take like a week and a half to do all
the things on that that retirement list
but then what what I figure the give a
little bit of grace to the person that
might be a little scared or that
generation Xer who has four drop-offs
three kids two hands and is just trying
to keep the wheels on the bus sure maybe
she’s a little aloof at work maybe she’s
a little independent maybe she’s
exhausted or that millennial who asks
for a raise after two months because
they’re entitled well maybe it’s because
that generation has more debt than any
generation before them coming out of
college and they just need the money to
keep going to pay rent and suddenly when
you meet people in their own leanness
that spot in the world only they stand
we’re not talking about a generation
anymore
we’re talking about Jim or Jen or
Candace and we find that common space
and when we find common space the
psychology of Attraction kicks in you
see we are attracted to people that are
similar to us and when we can find those
places of similarity it leads to liking
now in addition to meeting people where
they are individualizing our approach we
have to practice the willingness to
teach but we also have to practice the
willingness to learn and here’s the
beauty of this it doesn’t require a
formal
position if you don’t think you’re
leading you’re leading every day think
of the people you admire most that you
look to how they react and I bet it’s
not the people in the c-suite in the
organization it’s the people that sit
across from us that sit next to us as
teachers it’s the students that sit in
our classrooms those are the people that
are teaching and for a minute if you
think you’re not teaching a promise you
are and if we wait for the formal
classroom moment the formal training or
missing opportunities because these
things happen in elevators and in
parking lots ask ask someone why did you
come to work today why did you come to
work yesterday why are you still here
and suddenly we learn about that
organization in that history in the
place that only we stand and suddenly we
realize why we’re still standing there
two Millennials as a function of our age
I know two things we don’t have wisdom
and we don’t have history and we can’t
fake it and sooner that we can imagine
history and wisdom are walking out the
door into a well-earned retirement it’s
our burden to ask to learn to find out
why we do things the way we do and why
we don’t do things the way we used to
similarly Millennials if we’re looking
for mentors we have to be willing to
mentor as well
remember Generation Z you know the ones
that are screwed so I have a
one-year-old and a three year old and I
just can’t imagine that’s gonna be the
case because I know Millennials are
gonna do this reach back hold the door
open whatever was hard for you make it
easy for them it’s our burden that’s our
job the generation coming to work is the
youngest most educated most diverse
generation we’ve seen yet provide space
for them to teach in the workplace
imagine if you could sit in a classroom
again what would you learn ask them to
train us as people that have been in the
workforce for a while and in third and
certainly not least I think we have to
practice a little bit of generational
humility so humans are 99.9%
biologically the same okay and sameness
matters but when we explore that point
1% what makes us different and unique if
we come to that place with a little bit
of generational humility I think we’ll
win
now CS Lewis tells us we’ll know the
humble man not because he hangs his head
thinking about how humble he is in fact
he won’t be thinking of himself at all
well no the humble man because he’s
asking about others with joyful
curiosity so what if we come to that 1%
with a little bit of joy in a little bit
of curiosity because that’s where
diversity of thought happens see I see
the lens through one or the world
through one set of lenses one set of
glasses that’s the only thing I get to
wear is a function of my place in the
world that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try
on the lenses of other people and
suddenly when I see the situation that
set of lenses it might look just a
little bit different and the beauty of
it is you don’t have to agree with what
you see but humility allows that space
for that story to be told even if we
can’t tell it create space for someone
else to tell the story through their
lenses because sometimes we simply can’t
with joyful curiosity and so here’s my
challenge to us pick a person just one
and explore their own leanness and then
learn and then in the moments hurts
appropriate to teach and figure out what
they bring to work that no one else can
bring to work because that’s what makes
work richer and then do it again and do
it again and then someday we’re not
working with generations anymore we’re
working with people and so to really
understand the beauty of the
multi-generational workplace I think we
just have to meet people where they are
and that doesn’t require that we unpack
and live there with them but we might
find at least on occasion it’s a
beautiful place to visit and so I think
there’s just no need to argue about
which generation is the most angry or
the most in title or the most so
obsessed with food we all come to the
classroom to work back to our homes a
little bit tired and a little bit
tattered sometimes maybe let’s just our
best to humbly meet people where they
are how they show up that day generation
and all and then those moments where it
can feel a little bit like
intergenerational warfare I think we can
at least all agree that shoulder pads
aren’t the solution
thank you [Applause]
Please follow and like us: