traditionalists

It’s particularly important to understand people who belong to this generation because even though their presence in the workplace is decreasing, many of their assumptions are deeply embedded in the fabric of organizations. The very corporations where you are or might soon be working are the result of the teen experiences of the generation that may have included your grandparents.

Also known as the WWII (or Silent) generation, Traditionalists were children during World War II, but, importantly, many were teens in the hustle-bustle postwar years.

Key world events during the Traditionalists’ teenage years included the resolution of World War II and, later, the Cuban missile crisis—triumphs for government and those in authority. Russia achieved the first manned space flight, and Pan Am, an airline that went out of business before the oldest of you turned twelve, introduced the first round-the-world commercial air flight. The United Kingdom and France become nuclear powers.

In the booming postwar economies of Europe and the United States, opportunity appeared on every street corner. Suburbs popped up, and the dream of home ownership was suddenly within reach. Factories that had made war machines began cranking out washing machines at an astounding rate. Television purchases skyrocketed; by the end of the decade more than 80 percent of all U.S. households owned these new marvels of technology. Family dinner table conversations probably included comments about the amazing new conveniences just acquired by the family down the street, as “keeping up with the Joneses” became a national pastime.

Now, assume that you are a teenager looking at the world for the first time at this moment. What assumptions would you form about how the world works? Whom would you respect and trust? What would you expect to do with your life? How would you measure its success?

As I’ve said, any theory of this sort involves a bit of generalization, stretching as it does to capture the common characteristics of people in many different circumstances. But for most who grew up in this economy of grand promise and endless optimism, this was a world that probably appeared to be heading in the right direction. Authority figures seemed to have things well in hand. Corporate leaders and government officials warranted respect. Global issues were being resolved in reasonably satisfactory ways, and technology promised an alluring future. Financial success became a logical life goal. It would be natural for any teen living at this time to leap enthusiastically into the work world if possible, to become part of the existing establishment and attain the financial rewards that it promised—to get a piece of the pie.

There were important exceptions to this sense of unlimited optimism, based primarily on people’s perceived access to this promising world. For minority teens, particularly African Americans, the world held the same allure but not the same sense of attainability. The path to personal success was then much less clear. But this was a world where a logical desire would be to want to join it; the train was moving out of the station and headed in the right direction. The goal was to get on board and achieve for yourself the prosperity promised along the way.

By and large, the business organizations built by Traditionalists reflect these values. This generation constructed many of today’s most successful corporations based on practices that made sense at the time: hierarchical roles, chains of command, structured career paths, banded salary levels, and well-planned, multiyear strategies. Traditionalists tend to be respectful of authority and comfortable in hierarchical organizations; they see value in stability and assume that fairness is provided by consistently applied rules (the same for everyone).

It’s not hard to see why Traditionalists might be reluctant to make major changes in the way things have “always” been done. To you, they are likely to appear rule bound. And although things may be slowly changing, you’ll find that the current structures, management practices, and policies shaped by these values are still in place in most corporations.

Traditionalists tend to be strongly influenced by financial reward and the security it can bring. Of course, most people—in any generation—appreciate and, to one degree or another, are motivated by monetary rewards. For Traditionalists, however, money has an almost symbolic role. It serves as a metric for achievement of their important teenage goal. By achieving financial rewards, they affirm to themselves and others that they have indeed gotten their piece of the pie.

This assumption—that money is everyone’s dominant motivator and reward—is one of the most common sources of misunderstanding between corporations and Generation Y employees. You’ll run into many senior managers, some a bit younger than the Traditionalists, who have a hard time understanding the trade-offs you are making and the role that money plays in your decisions.

Over the next several decades, Traditionalists will continue to participate in the workplace. Although almost all of them are (or soon will be) of conventional retirement age, many are already choosing to continue working in a variety of ways. Going forward, as you work with them, keep in mind the importance they place on financial recognition, security, and hierarchy. Individuals in this generation are not likely to be effective and engaged participants in the workforce unless these assumptions about how things are supposed to work are acknowledged and, to the extent possible, accommodated.

To them, you look, above all . . . young. Most Traditionalists that I’ve interviewed are confident that you’re going to “grow out” of some of your more distinctive Gen Y views—for example, that you’ll come to place the same value on money and security that they do when you get a bit older. Or that your sense of immediacy will diminish and you will assume a longer-term, deferral-based perspective on life.

Table 10-1 shows examples of some of the situations that you may encounter in which a Traditionalist is likely to see things differently than you do.

Success with most individuals in the Traditionalist generation requires, at a basic level, respect for them and the companies they’ve built. You need to acknowledge the legitimacy of their rules and adopt an attitude that comes across as, “I can see why that was a great way to do it, but now that [something has changed] let’s consider whether there might be a better way.” In the next chapters, I talk more about some of the specific approaches that I’ve found most effective in initiating changes successfully.

In addition, it is important that you recognize that a Traditionalist’s offer of additional monetary compensation is a big deal, and a great compliment.

boomers

For many of you, Boomers are your parents. Their teen years—the time when they in all likelihood took their first good look at the world and formed their most vivid and lasting impressions of how things work—were during the 1960s and 1970s. This was a time when the world was changing radically, yielding a generation with dramatically different perspectives from their Traditionalist parents’ about the type of relationships they would form with corporations, peers, and family; about the importance and definition of financial success; and about the ultimate objectives for their lives.

Boomers’ teen years were filled with causes and revolution. The 1960s and 1970s were decades of general unrest and discontent in many parts of the world. In the United States, teenage Boomers saw the assassinations of idealistic leaders—John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. They experienced the Vietnam War, widespread protests, the civil rights movement, and, toward the end of their teen years, the Watergate scandal and the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

The sense of unrest was pervasive in many parts of the world. Nearly three hundred thousand so-called boat people fled Vietnam ; the Cultural Revolution was under way in the People’s Republic of China; there was rioting in France, Germany, and Italy, and a revolution in the former Czechoslovakia.

Not surprisingly, growing up amid these events caused many Boomers to conclude that the world was not working very well and needed to change. Many, regardless of political persuasion, concluded that the world did not appear to be headed in the right direction.

Even worse to many Boomers, the adults in charge didn’t appear to be making the right decisions or setting the right course, or necessarily even telling the truth. Many Boomers developed skeptical, even cynical, attitudes toward authority. Their world was one in which authority figures were suspect. Many concluded that they needed to get personally involved. Their logical desire, based on their teen experiences, was not, like the Traditionalists’, to join a world that was by and large headed in the right direction, but instead was to change a world that clearly had gone off course.

This fundamental difference in life view has played out in several important ways. As I noted in chapter 1, perhaps most important for you is that many Boomers did not see eye-to-eye with their parents. Most Boomers couldn’t wait to escape from their parents’ control, moving to distant locations and creating independent lives as soon as possible. This, in turn, affects the judgments they form about you; they are puzzled about your closeness to your families and wonder whether it means you are in some way less competent or ambitious than they were at your age. As I discuss later in this chapter, I don’t think that’s an accurate view, but it is a reality of the world you’re entering.

As a result of their common teenage experiences, many Boomers tend to harbor a significant seed of antiauthoritarian sentiment. Although they may be in leadership positions, many remain skeptical of positional leaders. No matter how buttonedup a Boomer colleague may seem to be, there’s usually an instinct to question and, to some extent, resist hierarchy. To this extent, they may be natural allies for you.

Boomers also retain a strong sense of idealism. Although many have dedicated the past thirty years of their lives to building careers, paying mortgages, and rearing children, most Boomers still have a deep desire to make a difference in the world. Again, these values echo many of yours and position Boomers as logical partners to further some of your life goals.

But—and here’s the big difference between your generation and theirs—Boomers tend to be highly competitive and extremely driven. When they looked around during their teenage years, the other major thing they saw was ... lots of other Boomer teenagers. They grew up in a crowded world—with the largest group of peers yet—at a time when much of their immediate world was “too small” for the size of the generation. Many Boomers went to high school in Quonset huts or other temporary buildings, because the existing schools were too small to accommodate this new bulge of students. They have competed for virtually everything all their lives—a seat in nursery school, a place on the high school sports team, college admissions, and every step of their career progression. Boomers, as a generation, have learned to value individual achievement and individual recognition. Competition runs deep through all their assumptions about how the world works. Winning, for Boomers, is a very big deal.

This competitive streak caused most Boomers to jump into the workforce with passion and commitment. As a generation, they have been hardworking and fantastically productive. They still work longer hours than any other generation. They like merit-based pay systems and use both money and position to measure the degree to which they are winning. They have played life’s games with abandon, in some cases without questioning the rules, and have lived life—at least until now—under the axiom, “Whoever dies with the most toys wins.” Only recently have they begun to pause to inquire about the true value of the prize.

Notice the subtle but important difference in the role of money for the two generations discussed so far. Traditionalists see money as a symbol that they have successfully joined the business “club” and are reaping the benefits of membership. For Boomers, money tends to be a symbol of competitive success—of winning. Although the significance is slightly different, money works as the primary reward and motivation for both generations and causes both generations to misinterpret the attitude of Y’s toward the supremacy of financial rewards.

The Boomers’ competitive streak plays out in another way that is important for you to understand: if your parents are Boomers, they are likely to sweep you up into their natural competitive moves. This means that they often may seem more eager for you to succeed (by their standards) than you are yourself. Partnering effectively with your parents—recognizing and appreciating their sincere interest in your success and happiness without getting overtaken by some of their more competitive tendencies—requires attention. In chapter 12, I offer some suggestions on where to draw the line and how to enlist their help in positive ways.

Boomers who are not your parents are often ambivalent in their initial view toward Y’s. On one hand, many of them have children your age and are rooting for your success. And, willing to be challenged, antiauthoritarian, and idealistic themselves, they admire your rebel spirits.

On the other hand, Boomers played by the rules as they competed their way up the corporate ladders; they may not have liked them much, but they fell in line and played the game. And, to the extent that they were willing to conform to the existing system, some resent your unwillingness to do so. They find you remarkably impatient and comment repeatedly on your reluctance to pay your dues. They are the most likely to judge that whatever you’re doing is not being done the way they would have done it when they were your age.

Again, the differences between their outlook and yours can create misunderstandings. Table 10-2 shows examples of some of the situations that you may encounter in which a Boomer is likely to see things differently than you do.

At the core of working successfully with Boomers is finding your common ground. Some common ground will come in the form of your desire to learn and Boomers’ enjoyment of teaching and helping you succeed. Boomers, in general, will be wonderful mentors. Seek them out, and enjoy the advice that they’ll likely be happy to share.

Another form of common ground may come through your shared goals of creating change in the corporate world and beyond. Many of the types of changes you might like in workforce practices are closely aligned with the types of changes Boomers would now like as they look toward adopting flexible schedules at this point in their careers. Team with Boomers to find constructive paths to help organizations adapt to both your needs and theirs.

More broadly, most Boomers have not had, or have not taken, the discretionary time they’d like to make a change in the world. Their passion for life, for change, and for meaning has by no means faded. Many Boomers are finding themselves hit hard with a sense of midlife malaise—an “Is this all there is?” reflection as the end of the first game (the typical thirty-year career) draws near, and a desire to make a positive difference with their remaining time. Finding ways to partner with Boomers to combine your passions for change with theirs presents a powerful opportunity for you to make an even bigger impact on the world around you.

generation x

The generation that immediately precedes you—for some of you, your older siblings; for others, perhaps your parents—has yet again very different characteristics and assumptions. Born between 1965 and 1980, Generation X is much smaller in size than either your generation or the large population of Boomers they followed. They are, in a sense, a sandwich generation—locked between two very large and influential groups of age mates—and not altogether happy about it.

Gen X’ers were teens in the 1980s and 1990s—a very different period from the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. The world stage was much quieter. The cold war had ended, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and, as a result, attention was much less focused on global events. The Vietnam War had ended, and, although important conflicts continued throughout the world, their visibility to most teens in the United States, in particular, was slight.

Much of the focus during this generation’s teen years was on the domestic scene—both at a national level and, even more significantly, within the home. Many domestic economies, including those of European countries and the United States, were stagnant. Persistent financial crises flared throughout Latin America.

In contrast to the relative quiet of the world stage, the home front for many teens in this generation was undergoing major change. For the first time, women entered the workforce in significant numbers. This generation’s Boomer mothers represented the first real industrial age generation of working women, with 80 percent choosing to work outside the home for reasons other than the extraordinary circumstances of war. On average, the percentage of women in the workforce during the time Generation X’ers were teens rose from about 35 percent to nearly 60 percent in the United States. The entry of women into the workforce was hastened by the significant increase in divorce rates. Gen X’ers living in the United States saw divorce rates among their parents skyrocket from about 20 percent when they were young to more than 50 percent by the time they were teens.

The women who made this step into the external world of work found that their entry was, in many cases, hard fought and little supported. There was virtually no infrastructure in place—few day care centers, no nanny networks or companysponsored child care. As a result, the Generation X children became a generation of latchkey kids—home alone many afternoons, often depending on friends for both companionship and support.

Teenage X’ers also witnessed a significant increase in adult unemployment, as reengineering and other corporate restructuring dramatically revamped any concept of lifetime employment. It’s unlikely that any person growing up in this generation in the United States would not have known some adult who was laid off from a job that he or she had planned to hold until retirement. It may not have been a parent—perhaps it was a neighbor or a friend’s parent—but the sense that adults in their lives were being laid off from corporations that they had depended on for a lifetime commitment is probably the single most widely shared experience of this generation.

The impact of these experiences is not hard to predict. The need for self-reliance and the ability to take care of oneself is deeply embedded in the assumptions many in this generation hold about the world. For support, many rely more on friends than on institutions and even, in some cases, family. Gen X’ers are often reluctant to relocate away from their established “tribe.” Most continually question whether the job they have now is still the best opportunity possible and need to be “rerecruited” every day. They are uneasy about putting their fate in the hands of a potentially capricious corporation that could, at any moment, decide to downsize. As a result, many members of Generation X feel a bit out-of-sorts in large corporations. Boomers often judge the X’er to be less committed and less hardworking than Boomers are.

In your eyes, X’ers may lack the technical skills of your own generation. Generation X grew up alongside the Internet—they learned it as it grew—but many don’t have the same level of proficiency as most Y’s. It was in its infancy when they were in theirs. They are skilled at accessing a wide range of information, but in most cases, they don’t have the accompanying behavioral changes discussed in chapters 2 and 9 that many of you do.

Rules have often proven to be a source of conflict between X’ers and the corporations they work for. The mores of the computer games X’ers played as teens extend to many aspects of their lives; to them, rules are interesting, certainly worth considering, but if they don’t make sense in the specific situation at hand, X’ers believe in changing them. Holding on to outdated or inapplicable rules for fear of setting a precedent is a nonsensical concept to many Gen X’ers. In this, their views probably seem similar to yours; the difference is that they, in most cases, lacked the leverage to push for change. Most X’ers buckled down and followed the rules—and many resent it when it seems you don’t have to.

Like you, Generation X as a group has a terrific set of traits that is valuable in our economic society. For example, their independence leads to a strong streak of out-of-the-box thinking and entrepreneurial energy, their tribal behavior enhances any team-based activity, and their lack of a win-at-all-costs mentality raises important questions about the way we all balance work commitments. Many X’ers are avid users of collaborative technology in their personal lives. And, if you form strong relationships, Gen X’ers can be strong allies with Y’s in the workplace—in part, because you share a preference for new ways of working.

However, tensions exist. As Bruce Stewart and Brendan Peat of New Paradigm Learning Corporation explain, X’ers are “currently among the most resistant workers within corporations ... They are deeply conservative in their work styles, and are keen users of e-mail, but are less overtly collaborative in their approach to work. (The formative work experiences seem to have reinforced the importance of ‘looking out for yourself.’) These people, when in positions of some authority, often become roadblocks to collaboration, forming what we call a ‘frozen middle’ that is difficult to penetrate. They are often concerned with what their superiors will think, are unwilling to act as a champion, and are uncertain how to act if they ‘lose control’ of their subordinates.”¹

Understandably, X’ers skills may make this group appear less qualified than Y’s when compared with the deep knowledge of Boomer colleagues. In our research, we found Y’s who resented Gen X managers and worried that their Boomer allies were being passed over by new X bosses. A sampling from our focus groups: “In a recent reorganization, people with 35 years’ experience were ‘dropped’ behind 3 PhDs . . . It’s a joke. They’re much more qualified with 25 years of process technology/chemistry experience.” “New people don’t know what they are talking about. The older people get disgruntled.”

And some X’ers find Y’s threatening. In our conversations, they worried about your greater technical sophistication and high, fresh energy. Many X’ers feel that they have been stuck in crummy jobs behind the huge bulge of Boomers for a decade or more, counting the days until the Boomers clear out of the workplace. Just as that is beginning, they now face a new wave of competition; you are attractive candidates for the good jobs, just as they’re beginning to open up.

Table 10-3 highlights examples of some of the situations that you may encounter in which an X’er is likely to see things differently than you do.

Keep in mind when working with X’ers that one of their strongest values is self-reliance. Motivated by the need to keep as many options open as possible, they share your desire for continuous learning. Consider whether the moves you hope to make can support their goals, and be sensitive to where they are in their lives.

when you’re the boss

Over the coming years, you are increasingly likely to have people who are (much) older than you reporting to you. As the overall mix of ages in the workforce shifts so that an increasingly higher percentage are older by definition, bosses will find themselves supervising people who are older than they are. I also expect that many of the Gen Y’s who are entering the workforce now will assume leadership roles at earlier ages than we’ve seen in other generations, in part because of the departure of large numbers of Boomers and the resulting increase in leadership openings.

Keep in mind that, although it may initially feel awkward for you, it is also likely to be awkward for the older worker who is now answering to a younger boss. Although it depends on the individuals involved, there are several typical complications. There is likely to be some tension if the older worker is stepping down from a leadership position or feels in competition with the younger boss. As I’ve said, Boomers, in particular, tend to be competitive and may often have a harder time ceding leadership than those from other generations do. And, of course, differing generational perceptions will make it easy to misinterpret each other’s actions.

How can you as the younger boss help make this relationship a successful partnership?

The key, as with any relationship, is to recognize that both people bring something to the party. The older worker may well have more experience in the specific industry than the younger boss, but the younger boss may have some new perspectives that will improve the way things have “always” been done. Each individual needs to be open to learning from the other.

It’s important for each party to figure out how the other likes to communicate. Keep in mind that you are very likely to communicate more frequently than your older report is accustomed to doing. Help older workers see that they should not interpret frequent messages from you as a sign that you don’t trust them, but rather just as a difference in communication style and habit. Similarly, you may be used to communicating through different approaches; your older workers may find that you use much less face-to-face communication than they are accustomed to. Try to find good ways to meet in the middle.

Avoid coming in with preconceived notions; listen for a while, and ask lots of questions. One of the most common mistakes a young manager can make is thinking that the way it has been done so far has no value. The way things are done may need to change, but it’s worth understanding why intelligent people have made the choices they have in the past. The young boss needs to think in terms of “What can I learn here?” as well as “How can I make it better?”

If possible, position your ideas as building on the strengths of the group, rather than repudiating the group’s previous approaches. For example, many Y’s have experience in collaborative environments; bringing these approaches to the team may offer a new way of working. Integrating technology that makes the work processes faster and easier may be another contribution a young boss can make.

Respect for your leadership is something you’ll earn over time, so don’t be discouraged. Demonstrate your capabilities, and the respect and trust of your older subordinates will follow. The age difference between a younger boss and older workers need not be a troublesome factor if you each approach the relationship with a spirit of mutual appreciation and shared learning.

Perhaps the most important suggestion of all is simply to remember that the way something looks to you is probably not the way it looks to others. This doesn’t mean that members of other generations are wrong. Looking at the situation through their lens will give you a clue about why they do what they do. “Underlying Assumptions: Four Generations” recaps the strikingly different basic worldviews of all four groups.

Remember, it’s easy to come to the wrong conclusion about colleagues’ motives if you view their actions through your lens and not through theirs. Table 10-4 summarizes a few things to keep in mind.

Bottom line: as you work with people from other generations and other backgrounds, think about their formative years for clues about why they may see things differently than you do. Given their teen experiences, the differences among the four generations at work are striking. Understand them—and work constructively to accomplish common goals.