Hard Truths Non-Millennial CEOs Face in the time of Digitalization

Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, and confusion.?

Are you like me and have muddled through this babble of alphabets? And are now wondering why I have linked them to the C-Suite?

Fasten your seatbelt as I prepare for takeoff into this article.

I want to start by first explaining these terms. The Baby Boomers are those born between 1946 and 1964.?

Gen X, between 1965 and 1980; the Millennials between 1981 and 1996; while the Gen Z are born between 1997 and 2015.?

I would be focusing on the Millennials in this instance.

The term “Millennial” is accredited to Neil Howe and Will Strauss, who coined it in 1989, just before the turn of the millennium became a primary cultural concern.?

According to various research reports, these Millennials make up approximately 24% of the world population, closely followed by the baby boomers and then Gen Z.

How To Recognize a Millennial

To characterize Millennials, one must look at the world events that took place between 1995 and 2010.?

These events, to a large extent, served to shape them one way or the other.?

We can all agree that the period mentioned earlier witnessed a rapid change caused by globalization, the digital revolution, and the economic crisis of 2008.?

These events led to a gap in reasoning between the two previous generations and Gen Z.?

For example, Millennials are better educated, have more racial and ethnic diversity, and even live at home with their parents longer than any other generation has, or is doing.?

Millennials are also more mindful when it comes to making decisions. This could be due to the uncertainty that shadowed their upbringing.?

It could also be that, as students and employees, they are constantly rewarded for following precise instructions.?

As a result of these, they have been seen to dislike spontaneity.

Another significant distinction is that Millennials, above all others, are averse to ambiguity.?

Given the different digital technological devices that make information easily accessible, they prefer to have all the available information before deciding.?

Irrespective of the cultural gap between Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, they all have fluidity in technology.?

It’s almost impossible to pick a generation that has taken no strides in digital technology advancement.?

The Baby Boomers?

They are the least versatile with technology; I call them the Facebook generation because approximately 90% use the app, as well as WhatsApp, as their only social media.?

Although, the traditional print media would satisfy this generation if only they didn't need social media to connect with loved ones.

Moving on to Gen X

This generation is regarded as a pioneer in the technology field.?

Although they were born into it, they are the ones who set the ball rolling on specific innovations we are enjoying today.?

For example, turn your attention to CEOs like Elon Musk (24), who founded PayPal and Tesla, Jack Dorsey (23) of Twitter, Larry Page (25) of Google, Jerry Yang (23) of Yahoo, and a host of others.?

These individuals took the first step in creating digital innovations that have become pertinent to the world today.?

Millennials?

Subsequently, we move to consider Millennials, amongst whom are CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg (19), who founded Facebook, Whitney Wolfe Herd (19) of Bumble, Evan Spiegel (22) of Snapchat, Mike Krieger (27) of Instagram, to mention but a few.?

This generation is technology savvy. They have taken the innovations of the previous generation and engineered them to cater to their preferences and that of the younger generation.??

Then omes Gen Z’s

I give them a new subheading because they are on a level of their own.?

This generation of people can are “technology natives.”?

They live and breathe digital technology, given that all areas of their lives are electronic.?

Take, for example, Connor Blakely(18) of Youthologic, Brennan Agranoff(17) of HoopSwag, serial entrepreneur Allan Maman (18), popularly of Fidget360, Joshua Browder(19) of DoNotPay, Canelle Chokron (21) of Vybe, to mention but a few.?

These Gen Z’ers are making waves when it comes to digital innovation.?

From the above, you will notice that these last three generations all have their niche in digitalization.

So, what’s all the fuss then?

One factor that sets these generations apart, which is the basis of this article, is how they employ digitalization, especially in business.?

Take a look at the Gen X’ers, and the media they prefer, as indicated above.?

When it comes to the issue of digital marketing, they are often at a loss because they are not interested in learning new ways to use technology.

Another truth other generations will find difficult to face is that the Millennial generation is more productive than the previous because they use technology that changes their daily lives.?

Millennials and previous generations also have very different ideas about what an ideal workplace is.?

The Millennial generation views work as a necessity to maintain a living, while Generation X views work as what defines their identity.?

Another factor contributing to the individualistic and confident nature of this generation, not prominent in others, is that half of it was raised in single-parent families.?

This individuality is as such evident in their professional lives.?

See the figure below.

Also, given that Millennials entered a working-class where there are more jobs than people, they are often less motivated and develop short-term career concepts.?

This is definitely at odds with Gen X, who may even have worked in the same company since the inception of the Millennial generation, leading them to doubt the leadership abilities of the younger generation.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, they are more open-minded than Gen X and, as such, tend to be more accepting of differences; therefore, they are more tolerant towards religions, races, and other social distinctions.

All these and more make this generation one that dominates conversations about global issues, especially since the Baby Boomers are aged, Gen X is forgotten, and Gen Z is mostly budding.?

Summary

However, I wouldn’t categorize them as the most impactful generation for now. In my own opinion, the Millennials are building on the achievements of the Gen X’ers.?

On the other hand, the Gen Z generation is doing the most not to stress or even suffer to the degree they have witnessed the Millennials experience.?

This is evidenced by how much faster or younger they are founding their own companies and becoming CEOs.

As usual, this article is my musings backed by some research. As such, I am open to reading your comments and thoughts on this.

References

Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Z, and Gen A explained (kasasa.com)

Microsoft Word - 17.docx (ijbssnet.com)

https://admissionsly.com/education-statistics/

POST

Gen X is the best.?

These Millennials and Gen Z’ers need a lesson.

This line and, more like it, permeated social media a few months back.?

But what do they mean? Do you get confused by the “alphabet soup” of terms that every other person seems to understand?

Why does it seem like everyone is hating on Millennials?

Click on the link below to read the full article about the hard truths non-Millennial CEOs face.