6.3. A SCARED GENERATION

Business schools and companies find that millennials are indecisive and need direction partly because they're afraid to take risks and make mistakes. They have been sheltered from failure by their parents and are nervous about making a bold decision that could end up being a blunder and a disappointment to their families, teachers, and bosses. "Creativity scares me," a member of the millennial generation told me. "I think we are a scared generation, scared to take risks, scared to think independently for fear it may produce ridiculous ideas. We are a generation that seeks approval."

When a recruiter asked M.B.A. students to describe the biggest risks they have taken, most said that it was quitting their jobs to go to business school. She laughed because their responses showed how little risk they have been exposed to in their 20-plus years.

Lisa Feldman, recruiting director at Berkeley's Haas School of Business, also senses risk aversion when she counsels students. She has taken to putting career information and even e-mails in checklist form because students follow them to the letter and find them reassuring. "Millennials want to do it right and are very obedient when we give them checklists," she says. But they still need her guidance for unexpected developments that aren't on any of her checklists. They may figure out the best approach to a problem but still want her to give them the final approval and the push that they need to take action.

"I received an e-mail from a student who had to cancel an interview and was afraid of doing it wrong," Feldman says. "I think, 'Oh my goodness, can they not figure it out themselves?'" What really annoyed her was the student who called her at home one evening, panicked because he didn't know how to resolve his dilemma of two conflicting job interviews. To get her cell phone number, he had called Feldman's office and said it was an emergency—even though the interviews were five days away. "I told him, 'You have to make a decision, and don't call me at home again,'" she says.