Even Jack and Suzy Welch don't get it. That is, they admit that they don't know why everyone is so down on 'kids these days' – a.k.a. the Millennials (or GenY as they and others call them).
Watch this online video podcast episode from BusinessWeek, The Welch Way, as Jack and Suzy Welch share how they see the current crop of twentysomethings, who are now breaking into the business world, as being one of the most energized and exciting group of "kids" they've ever seen. And they've certainly seen them a lot of them over the past several years, visiting dozens of campuses, teaching in two different MBA programs, consulting for companies that employ thousands of so-called GenYers, (even though FYI kids dislike that term). Overwhelmingly, they say they have found the generation of kids entering the workforce today are "hardworking, entrepreneurial, startlingly authentic, refreshingly candid, and wonderfully upbeat."
They offer two reasons 'Why Gen Y gets such a bad rap?' The first they suggest is "the age-old human propensity to worry about the wayward values of "kids these days." Your grandparents worried about your parents, who worried about you, and someday your kids will worry about theirs." In the first book of our series What Makes Kids KICK, Chapter Two details this (as well as the generational naming issues with kids born between 1980 and 2000).
The second reason is something they call "trend inflation." They suggest that with "the explosion of media outlets in every form, all of them needing content, there has emerged a relentless parade of so-called cultural phenomena backed up by little more than the vague phrase, 'experts say.'" Everything from stories about the "growing" trends of weddings on Thursdays, pets coming to work, and people making "life lists" to keep track of the things they want to do before they die. While they admit, "surely, there is some truth in all of these reports, but some truth does not necessarily constitute reality."
Bravo! Well worth reading and listening and watching all thanks to BusinessWeek.
