MILLENNIALS – DESTROYING OUR WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

Before you begin to blast me from Facebook to Snapchat read on as this is a piece about a generation changing the world as we know it. Yes, destroying the way we do just about everything, but it’s moving us to a more productive and seamless society. So take your hand off the "Oh No You Didn't" button and step away from your mobile device and read on. Then forward this to everyone you know with pride as it is your generation changing the world as we know it..

Each generation has an opportunity to help shift the way we think and accomplish our daily activities in a more efficient manner. Each brings its own piece of culture to the table, and the millennials have brought us a completely different way of looking at how we run our daily lives on a massive scale.

I am a father of three awesome kids of which two are millennials. I am a Gen X’er the lost generation and for many still lost. We thought we were changing the world as does every generation and while brought the internet, PC’s, and cellular phones to the table we also brought, Spice Girls, Dennis Rodman and many other interesting works of art to boot. We changed little and are overshadowed already by what the millennial generation is creating to change the very fabric of how we live our everyday lives.

Millennials take a lot of heat for being lazy, not loyal and generally uninterested in work. Is this true? It is assuming you are a crotchety old man who can’t see past his misery because he can’t figure out how to post a picture on Facebook.

The reality is much different. As I stated, I have two kids that are in this generation of change. They both work extremely hard and relish the opportunities to get ahead. They also have mastered the technological movement we are in today. I would say neither is lazy, and both want just to make life as easy as possible. So today we are in an on-demand path, and there is nothing that makes that lazy. It is efficient. Why should we have to buy a car, own a house or go to a mall if we don’t want to? This generation is coming up with many ways to simplify what we do on a daily basis to give us more time to enjoy life as we know it. Lazy I don’t think so, innovative, absolutely. Businesses that are having a tough time embracing these changes will fall of the face of the earth. Companies and industries have two choices, either embrace this movement and pull your head out and jump on the bandwagon or be left behind to die a slow painful death because the millennials are here and they are changing the world. The numbers are staggering.

By 2025, 75% of the workforce will be millennials. They, whether we like it or not are already changing the landscape of business and the way we do just about everything. Millennials are also driven towards tech more so than any other career. Nearly 20% of millennials say Google is their ideal employer. Apple was named by 13% of and 9% listed Facebook as their ideal place to work.

 They want to be in Silicon Valley above and beyond anywhere else. So while the older generations are calling them lazy, I call them smart. They want to work more efficiently not be tied down to a desk and have all the perks. It's no surprise that millennials would want to work for Google. The company consistently takes the top spot on rankings of the best companies to work for. Google has some of the most insane perks such as college-tuition reimbursement, fully paid sabbaticals, and time off for volunteering. The company also has some of the most innovative campuses offering everything you could want and ever needing to leave to do anything.

Today millennials are more demanding than any generation I have seen when it comes to their values. Companies today are forced to make changes in how they operate just to keep pace with the millennial generation and if they don’t millennials inevitably push back and hard. The top talent will be able to change a company from the inside as the days of long meetings, and memos from one VP to another are over.

The Biggest Impact

So how is this generation making the biggest impact? Mobile technology is where there battle lines are drawn. Millennials are all about a sharing economy and don't have that overwhelming feeling of needing to own anything. They are flat out rejecting home ownership across the land. This is a generation that has been inundated with student loan debt and watched as our financial companies melted down and didn't want to live in that world. Their very values have taken us to a new way of doing business. Today we can get just about anything we want with the tap of an app and information flows freely through native mobile apps. The millennial generation does everything via a mobile device. The premise is a sharing economy and an on-demand delivery from getting your laundry done to prescription for weed. If you want it, there is an app to get it to you.

Company's like Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb to name a few were spawned by this generations need for change. Apparel retailers are even being threatened by this sharing economy. Startups like Rent the Runway and Bag Borrow are making it so people can rent and return versus buying. Spotify and Apple have made it so owning an album is even ridiculous today. Music streaming has completely turned the music industry upside-down and will continue to do so.

The financial services industry is being thrown into a tailspin by forward thinking millennials who want to make it easier and reduce the amount of fees they are paying. Financial Institutions have yet to respond to the goals that millennials have. Considering major home purchases are not a high priority for the millennial generation most of what the traditional bank have to offer are completely irrelevant.

Millennials are very fee conscious and are beginning to turn towards technology when it comes to money management. Banks are beginning to feel the heat from Robo-advisors like Betterment and Wealthfront and mobile friendly brokerages such asRobinhood. As far as traditional banking goes Simple Bank, the startup acquired last year by BBVA, tried to reach a point where everything could be done through mobile. They missed the mark, but the potential is still there. With Nimbl acting as a “Uber for ATMs” and several other new startup banking services, this dream seems much less far-fetched than it did just a year or two ago.

In the end, millennials are here to stay and are changing the way we live our everyday lives. They are motivated, inspired, innovative and definitely not lazy. They are creating a world of technology were if used properly can help give us more quality time to do the things that matter. So what if they want to work less and play more don’t we all. I embrace the millennial generation and thank them for the opportunities they have created for me and my family. Continue firing away and don’t let us old guys ever get in your way.