[fast_e_man]

I’m going to offer a somewhat different set of observations. I’m going to assert that, in many ways, the Millennials aren’t all that different from their parent’s generation.

First some observations; The members of this Board are not a cross section of society. Almost everyone on this site is at least 1 standard deviation above the mean IQ, and a healthy percentage are 2 sigma above the mean. Many contributors here are Boomers (55 or older), so they were mainly raised by parents who grew up during the Depression. So, those depression era parents taught their children the value of hard work, doing without, etc., as has been articulated by so many already in this thread. However, the Gen Xers on the Board are similarly above the mean, and not a cross section of society. So, one would expect the PPOT crowd to achieve career success well above the mean.

While we all banter about lazy underachievers blah, blah, blah, we are discounting that half of the population is below the mean intellectually. The great Society envisioned by LBJ helped launch an environment where America would support the less fortunate. Well, that’s fine, except that Great Society is like Entropy – ever increasing the percentage of energy in a system that is not available for work. So, our society, in general, has set up circumstances that are favorable for an increasing segment of our society to not produce useful work. The entropy in our society was much lower in the depression and moving forward, until the Great Society programs put a charge into the “Societal entropy”. So, slackers and F-ups found their toehold and were tolerated by society in a way they weren’t previously tolerated.

Now in reality the theory of Entropy is only valid for closed systems, and the US (or any other westernized country) is not a closed system. So bringing new energy into the system (immigrants, advancement in technology, etc.) added energy and efficiency, so this has masked the effects of the rate of growth of our “Societal Entropy”.

When I was growing up in the late 60’s/early 70’s I came across plenty of slackers and F-ups. I didn’t choose to hang out with them, but they were plentiful enough. I went to college, earned a degree, while working part time, and got a full time job after graduation. Much like many Members of the PPOT. Other folks who wanted to earn a solid living took other paths; trades, starting their own business, etc. Meanwhile the slackers & F-ups did what slackers & F-ups do. So my generation self-defined their future and self-separated. A portion of the generation stayed flat (slackers), and another portion grew their careers, and their contribution to society.

My assertion is every generation (at least starting with the Boomers) goes through a bifurcation. A nature sorting out of the producers and non-producers in a generation. The “get off my lawn” crowd here on PPOT is fond of looking down on the current generation that is going through its bifurcation and ragging on them for being lazy & unmotivated. I don’t believe that Millennials are more prone to this than prior generations, at least not in a statistically significant way. Older Millennials dealt with the job market brought on by the Great Recession. Seems understandable to look at the acquisition of material wealth with some skepticism. The corporation I work for hires talented people, and those talented Millennials, in-general, exhibit less “loyalty” than the Boomers, manifested in a desire to job-hop more than their parents. Now, one could assert the corporations led with benefit reductions that show employees the corps aren’t as loyal to the employee’s. More bottom line focus on corp profits (i.e. very low % of Fortune 500 Cos offering defined benefit plans – Pensions).

I do find that Millennials typically are looking for more feedback than us Boomers, they typically want to know “why” they are being assigned tasks, and they typically need more help “connecting the dots” for how their efforts will make a difference, because that matters more to them. They typically are looking for more “work/life” balance than Boomers. Those generational tendencies don’t mean Millennials are lazy and unmotivated. So as the saying goes “you get what you incentivize”.

I’m guessing if drug testing was as common place 40 years ago as today, we’d find lots of Boomers that grew up in the 60s/70s (tie dye clothes, granola, bongs) would have also failed drug tests.

Certain processes are not reversible, i.e. the cliché “you can’t unscramble an egg”. So we need to figure out how to help guide the Millennials toward the career growth fork in their generation’s bifurcation. There well may be more confused Millennials than Boomers perceive from their generation at the same age, so it’s up to us to help them mature in positive ways.

My youngest son graduated from college this spring. He work hard, managed his time well, picked a major than would likely provide employment opportunities in our current economy. He chose between offers and started his first job 10 days after commencement. Six weeks later he closed on a nice starter house in the Denver market. He asked his parents for advice, but no money. He did all this on his own. Now, he is similar to the PPOT crowd, in that his ability is well above the mean of society. Our other children have made their own decisions, and are doing just fine. So, my sample of younger employees, children, nieces, nephews, and their friends shows some scatter, but reasonably positive reflection of the Millennial generation. There is nephew who is firmly in the slacker mold, and a couple others who should be fine, but not lighting the world on fire. So, perhaps not much than their parent’s generation?

I could keep writing, but out of time. My 2 cents to offer a different perspective.