Millennials most talked-about generation since Boomers
The millennial generation is the center of attention worldwide, a place many of its members reportedly relish! The focus stems from the youngest millennials’ emerging adulthood and the April 2016 news that millennials then surpassed baby boomers by 1 million in sheer size in America, to 77 million. That information comes from the Pew Research Center, based on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services statistics.
A person’s generation brings along shared experiences, both large and small, with people of the same general age. Since most parents of a particular generation often share with one another their own generation, that also is an important influence. The times themselves, including the benefits and challenges a generation faces in its formative years, leave not only a lasting impression, but also create the ingredients for the formation of a worldview that is, paradoxically, unique as a generation and shared as members of that generation. Other influences range from morals of the day to pop culture.
My parents both were born in 1924, which several sources identify as the last birth year of the G.I. or Greatest Generation. The latter is the title of journalist Tom Brokaw’s book about them. My parents’ specific birth year group started school at the very beginning of the Great Depression and finished high school just in time for many of the young men to be among the first draftees for military service in World War II. Of course, a number of both men and women volunteered for service as well. Those factors and more shaped that generation as a whole with values that included a sense of duty, responsibility, and self-sacrifice for the greater good.
In contrast to World War II that clearly pitted good vs. evil objectives, the Greatest Generation’s children, the baby boomers’ landmark war – Vietnam – was a quagmire. Eventually, if not all along, it was as murky in most ways as World War II was clear-cut. The boomers (1946-64ish) have had their own successes, excesses, and failures, of course, as have all generations. In reality, the Baby Boom consists of two waves, generally with 1955 as the line of demarcation. With 1960 as my birth year, I was too young to understand or be affected by Vietnam. Instead, Watergate was my point of reference.
Authors Neil Howe and William Strauss entitled their first book “Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069.” They theorize that America has had a succession of generations that recycle in order in a fixed pattern. The duo’s second book on the topic clearly states that theory in its title: “The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy – What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny.” They also wrote two books about millennials. There’s “13th Gen” and “Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation.”
When Joel Stein wrote a cover story for the May 20, 2013, issue of Time magazine, he listed millennials as having birth years from 1980-2000; others date various years of beginning and ending. Among his observations are that “Each country’s millennials are different, but because of globalization, social media, the exporting of Western culture and the speed of change, millennials worldwide are more similar to one another than to older generations within their nations.”
Stein says members of this generation “are interacting all day but almost entirely though a screen…” and that they “… grew up watching reality-TV shows, most of which are basically documentaries about narcissists…” This is the generation whose members each got a trophy just for showing up.
Putting this generation into perspective, Stein explains, “…millennials’ self-involvement is more a continuation of a trend than a revolutionary break from previous generations…” He observes, “… millennials’ perceived entitlement isn’t a result of overprotection but an adaptation to a world of abundance…” Modern science and health care make their lifespans longer and with infinitely more options.
“Because millennials don’t respect authority, they also don’t resent it. That’s why they’re the first teens who aren’t rebelling,” Stein writes. He also notes even with their narcissistic tendencies, studies agree “millennials are nice.”
Stein explains that Brokaw “… loves millennials. He calls them the Wary Generation, and he thinks their cautiousness in life decisions is a smart response to their world.”
Finally, if this or other generations rub you the wrong way, Stein says, millennials just might be “… the last large birth grouping that will be easy to generalize about.”
Question of the Week
How would understanding millennials better improve your effectiveness as a leader?