Quote:
Originally Posted by daepp
I do think we (those of us 50 and over) do bear some responsibility for the mindset of the Millennials. And so to some generations ahead of us. We can't escape all blame.
In business school we learn that companies often fail when the 3rd generation of family management takes over.
- Grandpa scrimped and saved and toiled to start and build the company
- Son saw his father's sacrifices, and probably put in a lot of time in his youth at the company
- Grandson never saw Grandpa's toil and stress, probably was told to focus on his studies, and never had to work at the company in his youth. He doesn't "get" it; his company often fails.
Replace "company" with "nation' and you get a pretty good metaphor for the "state" we're in today...
(Sidenote: the above theory has been suggested as to why Ferry Porsche walked into work one morning in the early 70's, stepped down from the company his father founded, and hired professional managers. If only this country's problems could be handled so smoothly!)
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Well you gots it Toyota... YAY!!!!!
Why yes we do bear responsibility as our generation taught em everything that they know...
My parents were part of the "greatest generation" who struggled to get by and to have something for themselves. They succeeded and wanted to make sure that I would never have to suffer the same privations as they did..they in a sense thought that having material things would make us Boomers happy, (because they felt when they were kids, "If I only had that I would be happy") ...So they made it much easier for us. The Boomers have
never known want and or the lack of OPPORTUNITY to achieve. And
that is the way we think it is and always will be.
The Millennials see that the dream is frayed around the edges and is getting beyond their grasp, As such they realize that material success is not only not cracked up to what it is supposed to be, they more or less don't try (why reach for something you can't get and isn't all that satisfying anyway...it hasn't made their parents any happier. So they try to find other things to satisfy. The only thing for them is that they live in a society of plenty, take that away and they will be forced to deal with the nitty gritty of being hungry. That will change their attitude real quick...go ask Fint.
I didn't need graduate business school to figure out that it is third and successive generations of management where the sloth sets in.
The Founder finds a successful path to be profitable and continues that methodology till he leaves. Setting a corporate culture so to speak. Pragmatism wins the day.
The Founder hires and trains liked minded people who adopt the culture. and succeed him as the Second gen. The corp grows but the methodology is becoming ossified and the culture is becoming more important.
The Third gen is bureaucratic where culture is more important than pragmatism. They have lost the spirit of doing it right in favor of the way it done in this company.
GM is the poster child of this trajectory...also the nation has a long and evolving tradition, but it is a bit different in that success has gone to the nations head or mindset...so to speak...
BO summed up the mindset perfectly on many occasions..." It is a shame that 48M Americans don't have HC in such a
RICH NATION as America." In other words there are
NO LIMITS to the spending on anything because the well of money is bottomless.
THAT IS PATENTLY NOT TRUE...