Granted there are some smart young folk out there but there's this unsubstantiated perception that the current crop of youngsters coming out of college today are brilliant beyond imagination and that our companies, hell, our country will falter if we don't embrace them, showering them with privilege just because they're really good at Halo. Somehow it's now our responsibility to lay down the swords of discipline, responsibility, integrity, and commitment because we can't afford to burden these wunderkind with our archaic virtues.
So many industry rags are writing about how companies today need to
change their way of doing business in order to attract this pool of unproven talent, for failure to do so will surely lead to their demise. I'm not saying that doing it the old way is the best way,
but I don't think summarily flushing what's worked in the past is the
answer either. I believe in and embrace change more than most. I'm
excited to see what the youngsters bring to the table but to bow down
before these inexperienced kids just because they're really good with gadgets is just ridiculous.
There are even books on how to manage Millennials in the
workplace. Really? So just telling them what their job is, what the
expectations are isn't enough? We have to concern ourselves with their
fragile personalities for fear that they might scurry off like a frightened
squirrel at the first sign of a confrontation. Wow, if one of these
"genius" kids gets upset because their boss tells them not to wear
tattered jeans to work, I can't imagine how they would respond to an
actual stressful situation. Hey youngsters, it's not like you're saving
lives here and no one is shooting at you. But let's not forget you're the same kids that got stars for writing your name,
trophies just for participating and were given a "time out" rather than actually being
disciplined. There were a lot of smart folks that came up through the ranks long before my generation. They entered the workforce with unparallelled ambition and desire. They quickly learned the rules of the game, adapted and used them to their advantage in order to achieve success and over time were able to manipulate and modify them to go along with the times. I don't recall looking back through history at a time when society bent over backwards to accommodate a group of people because of their perceived gifts but we sure seem to be doing that now.
Here's hoping the next generation will bring forth strength, resilience, dedication, responsibility and vision.
Post Script - No animals were hurt in the writing of this blog nor was the phrase "when I was your age" ever used.
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