The millennial generation has come of age

Intro

I am sitting at my counter top on one of the swivel chairs, writing my first post of the year. It started even before breakfast with the enthusiasm only a new year can bring. This new decade of 2020 brings memories of the year 2000 and all the expectations and dreams for the future we all had. This time was also the period of 2 decades that was the coming of age for the millennial generation. For a comprehensive definition of this generation one can refer to this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennials , but shortly this is the generation with birth years between 1981 and 1996. Since I belong to the previous generation X, very close to the baby boomers, but refusing to be a boomer, I have adopted this definition of the generation X which is tightly squished between the enormous cohorts of boomers and millenials : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X (some researchers start from 1960 and end somewhere from 1977 to 1984). Over the last two decades I have seen some important qualities that make the millennial generation who they are and how they shape our society, workforce and values. This is a post about acknowledgment of their spirit and strengths, not a criticism as is typically the case.

On Criticism

It is easy to find criticism about any generation, none is excluded including mine or the ones before. There seems to have been so many people from older generations who have been somewhat more critical towards the millennial representatives. This kind of attitude is coming from the way we shape as we grow and what we have and have not while growing up. We probably want the same things, but believe that we need to accomplish them in a different way. This may not include the millennial way. It is probably fairly boring for this now mature generation to be on the receiving end of this endless criticism while they establish themselves in their profession, start families, buy their first houses, etc. My answer to this criticism is that they actually are fine, better than our expectations and I am going to try to point out why in my short post. Now that the baby boomers are starting to exit the active stage of the professional world, we have this next big generation to take a central role in the shaping of how work will be done and what will life be like in the coming decades. Since they have several prolific decades in front of them and they are so great in numbers we have to give them the place and the recognition they deserve in the years to come. Let's not forget that they will make the electric car a success, will make the autonomous automobile a reality and will shape the AI revolution in every aspect of life as we know it.

It is all dynamic

We live in a dynamic world and everything is dynamic. The time for static plans, chiseled in notepads and calendars is quickly eroding. New paradigms are more appropriate and the millennial person intuitively knows this and uses it. This is somewhat resembling the agile software methodology : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development that many businesses already use. So if you ask your millennial son or daughter if they are visiting 2 days from now and they do not know, this is fine, since life is that unpredictable anyway. Embrace the surprise they bring when they decide to show up and spend some of the time with you while they are multi tasking with some of their electronic devices. Being dynamic also means that you are more brave and do not get stuck on every detail of your perfect plan of the future which most likely will not pan out as you expected anyway. This way there is less room for disappointment when you hit a snug and you get out of the local minimum like you do in search algorithms and drive to victory with elegance. You define success on the journey, not building ivory towers that may not be achievable just to see them crumble.

The experience is what matters

When we had an exchange student from Germany for a year in 2006, we found that he would often say that he wanted to do something just for the experience. This was somewhat new to us at the time, but I firmly believe now that there is a lot of wisdom in this approach. In fact life is a chain of experiences and some of those can be actively chosen. This reminds me a little bit of the era in the late sixties when people did a lot of things (some questionable) just for the experience. The millennial generation takes this same approach, but in a much more controlled way and without any dire consequences typically. This is very similar to he concept of the sharing economy where one can do something that is normally out of one's reach by getting access to it on a short term basis. More on this can be found in this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharing_economy. This concept shapes the views of the excesses in our society and the meaning of ownership as well as the impact on the environment and the future of humanity. I really think that millennials have a great dose of reality about these issues and there is some hope that these emerging values will help humanity solve some of the problems of over population and environmental control we face as a civilization.

The work life balance

Contrary to some criticism that millennial workers feel entitled and want to have their share of downtime it is actually the first generation that have truly brought out this important question to the attention of employers. Yes work is important and is what we do in the developed world, but we need to find time for our hobbies, our families and very importantly, we need time to be able to keep our innovative spirit refreshed. Millenials are now facing their challenges with buying homes, raising children and juggling careers. They do understand the importance of work, but also do not under appreciate the need for time to be a human. This trend is something that employers have spotted and are adapting to. This trend will help the entire society to be more sane and healthy (no need for mental health days).

Leave the prejudices to previous generations

One of my biggest admirations for this generation is their lack of prejudices and their overall improved acceptance to diversity in general. We live in a very global and quickly changing world and work in places that are and will be more and more diverse. I find it very refreshing when I see millennials to not have the prejudices from the Cold War as well as prejudices for origin, ethnicity, orientation, etc. It is hard to believe that all of them have this disposition, but there is certainly a larger percentage compared to previous generations. This also takes care of the attitude of entitlement and self righteousness that some previous generations possess and are proud to show. I was flying to Europe a decade ago and sat next to a young person who was from California. He was completely unbiased and said to me after noticing my still perceptible foreign accent that he always wanted to have an accent. This was quite different from my encounters with the incessant monolingual, mid western attitudes I had seen so far. Which one would you like to be your boss, the free spirited millennial or the always right boss who still believes that the the cold war never ended. Thankfully the cold war did end in 1989 when Pink Floyd had their concert in Berlin, Germany. Read this article if you want some piece of history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall_%E2%80%93_Live_in_Berlin

Work hard, but work smart

With things moving so fast and technology just coming up with new paradigms every several years it is unthinkable to have enough time to become completely proficient in everything. The time has sped up enormously and one has to adapt. This means several things and they have been figured out by millenials:

• You can't solve it alone. You need to rely on your team and not be the only person who saves the day
• You may not have time to read several books on a subject and become an expert. Some tutorials and some conversations with experts may be what you just need to get up to speed and succeed in a fast moving project.
• If you get burned out you will have much less of a chance to succeed in the long run, so going to the gym and finding time for hobbies is not a waste, but a necessity. This includes travel and family time.

Conclusion

I am more and more hopeful that we will see more good things from the millennial generation as they move into later stages of their lives and careers. If you think they have higher expectations for success in life and expect more then think of it as a good thing. Why not. Having the motivation to have good things, material and spiritual is normal and moves the world forward. It is an advantage that this generation has had the opportunities they had as children and early adults in order to become as adaptable and versatile individuals they are today. Let them be and they will deliver. Just believe in them. You may not even have a choice, because they may be the ones paying for your retirement after all ...

PS

It is interesting to see how millennials distinguish themselves from Gen-Z, the generation after them. I am not sure I can see all the subtleties between the two generations, but maybe some day a millennial will write what they think of Gen-Z, hopefully in a positive way.