Why are intergenerational efforts not working out?
by Robert Rivera and Jim Sugarman, 4GenNow Members
“Ok Boomer” in our opinion is a well deserved label that was way overdue, as baby-boomers we can only blame ourselves for this.
Let’s deep dive... Can you recall listening to lectures or ranting from the older generation when we were in our 20’s or 30s on how we should live life? Of course not! So why do we want to follow this trend for younger versions of ourselves?
No matter how much life experience you have, the fact is, no one has all the answers, and if we want to open serious conversations across multiple age groups we must re-Think our intergenerational approach.
Boomers Must Lose the Ego
The most important ingredient of an effective team is trust. No trust, no team. For multi-generational working environments to be productive, baby-boomers must earn that trust too! How can that conversation start? With open collaboration and a very important attitude - humility.
Ground Zero becomes the best approach in building relationships across generations. This is something we can learn from the silent generation. We can only lead by example, and younger generations are watching us. What are we doing for our own elders?
“Growing old is mandatory. Growing up is optional.”
So, instead of painting a perfect world between generations online, why don’t we start by having the difficult conversations instead?
Logically, not all baby-boomers are or think alike, the same reflects across all generations. So a period of exploration is only natural in order to integrate past experience to new processes and methods today.
Yes, we have years of experience and we may have all the wisdom in the world with good intentions. But it is all wasted if we don’t change our attitude, approach and thought process.
Ask the Hard Questions
When we first encountered the ‘ok boomer’ social media blast, our first reaction was deep sadness. Our perception was that as humans we had lost communication with other people that were practically standing right in front of us.
Boomers must understand, just because we are older, we are not the only adults in the room any longer. Other generations are standing right beside us, and they will be part of any conversation. The question is, are you ready for that - baby-boomer?!
So, we start by asking all generations - what are the hard questions you want to ask baby-boomers?
Product Leadership, Product Management, Product Owner
4 年Instead of blaming Boomers for the reason why intergenerational entrepreneurship is not working out and pointing the fingers all at the Boomer generation, i believe that there needs to be interreflection for all of the generations and for the potential entrepreneur to ask themselves why they cannot successfully work with the other generation. The interreflection should be the basis of a collaboration conversation, not a blaming session for a single generation. I can bet there is room for all generations to work together.