5 Things I've learned working FOR a Millennial

5 Things I’ve learned working for a Millennial

What’s it like being a “seasoned professional” and suddenly find you’re working for a CEO that’s a “Millennial”?

Fun, exciting, frustrating, aggravating, fast paced… and the greatest job of my life.

I’ve always risen to the top of any sales team I worked with. Presidents Club…Elite Club…Best of the Best…all awards that I’ve earned as salesperson at Fortune 100 & Fortune 500 companies, and then later in my career, the salespeople I trained and managed.

I learned in the corporate world you must adapt to thrive. I was never one to be content to “survive” with any organization, I had to thrive to move up to the next challenge. I constantly was learning, refining, using “tried and true” until “new and better” came along for me to incorporate into my processes.

So, moving over to a tech based startup company was going to be easy, right?

With my skills and experience I would quickly rise to the top once again, right?

I’d show those “kids” how to make sales and they would flock to me to mentor them, right?

Wrong.

And if I kept those thoughts past the first five minutes, I would have been out the door by lunch.

But by keeping an open mind, I learned new ways to conduct business with the largest demographic in the US and got a glimpse of the future in business.

Here’s five things I learned:

#1 Occam’s Razor

Millennials communicate in 140 characters.

The days of spending time crafting perfect prose on a business letter are gone. Get to the point fast or you’ve lost your audience.

I sent a prospecting email draft to the CEO my first day, and that got me a call into his office. I thought he would be excited and happy. He was not. The draft of the email that made me a six-figure salary salesman for years didn’t see fifteen minutes. It was the first of many lessons- It’s not the delivery, it’s the message that’s important. They have laser focus on getting to the point and moving on. Short and meaningful, no frills.

#2 It’s all about the Visual

Millennial’s communicate visually: pictures, memes, drawings, etc…

They work “in the moment” and don’t have time or desire for it to be spelled out. They take in huge amounts of data daily, and are experts at extrapolating entire concepts from a single picture. Look at when something “goes viral”. The most successful ones are single images that have relevancy to current social trends. Entire concepts and conversations boiled down to a single image.

#3 They are fully vested.

Millennials love to work but need to feel engaged at some level.

Recent HR survey show that many managers have the perception that millennials are not motivated, have bad attitudes, or “want to be hired at the VP level fresh out of college”.

Working with Millennials I found the exact opposite to be true. They don’t care about titles, but they want to feel that they are part of the “team” and that they are contributing. It’s not that they want to be VP, they want to be able to make a difference. I’ve seen examples where a Millennial will turn down more money (and titles) to work in a fully interactive and open communication environment. Getting the work done, achieving team goals, and actually taking pride in the company they work for are the main motivators, not a title or “safe paycheck”.

#4 Work/Life balance

Millennials are connected 24/7, and that means they will answer your question anytime. The idea of stopping work at 5:00pm, like my generation did, is a foreign concept. The line between work and private life is blurred because they see work as an extension of themselves. I’ve gotten used to receiving well thought out answers at 2:30am as much as 2:30pm. In return they are comfortable with walking in at 9:30am, sitting down and drinking coffee while their coworkers are playing ping pong.

#5 They are born Entrepreneurs

Millennials are bombarded with success stories daily and it inspires them to try new things. They also have the largest repository of knowledge in history at their fingertips and experts at using it. They understand that the way we conduct business, and even our daily lives, is rapidly changing and they are ready. No generation has experienced such explosive technological growth, nor is better positioned to take advantage of it.

Once I learned to adapt to this new environment I’ve found my work is more fun, I’m enjoying working with my team, and I look forward to working on new projects more than I have in years.

Looks like the kids taught the seasoned professional some new tricks, and showed him that the future workplace looks great!