Ah, millennials. The mere mention evokes no limit of eye-rolling from leaders. We shriek, we complain, we reach for the nearest bottle. Like it or not, millennials are our newest workforce and we better figure out how to work with them.Like all change, it can be painful.As much as we want to complain about them, we also need to recognize that every generation has been complained about by the generation before. As a Gen Xer, I’m certain that I annoyed my baby boomer bosses.I really resonated with this recent video made by Simon Sinek about the millennial question.A couple of points that really struck home with me:
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Millennials functioning in the workplace are dissatisfied because of insecurity and lower self-esteem driven by failed parenting strategies and a social media world in which they are constantly comparing themselves against others.
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Addiction to social media and technology means lack of learned ability and opportunity to develop deep and meaningful relationships.
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Living in a world of instant gratification and therefore lack of patience to invest the time and energy for long-term payoff (i.e. job satisfaction, love, relationships, joy, deep fulfillment)
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We need to teach this generation about self-confidence, ability to connect with others and the joy of long-term goal attainment. Unfortunately, it is our responsibility to pick up the slack left by the leadership vacuum in their lives.
So, as much as it pains me to have to do so, my job isn’t just as a boss and leader. My job with respect to the millennials to is to teach them how to become a fully realized human. I don’t say that in a derogatory way–I think this generation is incredibly gifted, idealistic and talented. It simply takes an extraordinary effort to be the leaders, the parents, the mentors and the teachers that they didn’t have. We have an incredible untapped resource if only we can figure out how to help that greatness shine through. In other words, the operating system is sound. It’s the user interface that needs redesign.Go forth and lead.
