I hope you are not overreacting when you read the title! It’s a topic which has appeared in our meetings several times, somehow, some of us live(ed) with our parents or grandparents still have those questions marks in our head, why can’t we understand each other or at least try to understand the work we are doing.
I was watching the film The Intern, played by Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro. I like this film; it took an exciting perspective of the workforce; baby female CEO met senior male intern, which already challenged the stereotype working environment. Moreover, the development of the storyline help audience to get involved in the real-life of entrepreneurship in the business world!
What can we learn from the film and gently bridge the generation gap?
Once we graduate from university, we start our new learning path in the school of life as to what Alain De Botton’s book is all about. We mix up with people who have different traits and characters, more than similarities compared to the time back in school. We felt overwhelmed, nervous and sometimes emotional. The choice is whether we move forward to make things better for the culture in the workplace or back off?
Maybe it’s time for Generation Y (Millennials) to step out of the closet!
Millennials are more than just Starbucks and avocado
Call me Ms Soya Grande Latte, but I think Starbucks created a good culture for most consumers. It’s an innovative company that sells culture as its core product, similar to Netflix. The good news is they successfully gained loyalty from our generation or even younger.
So who are we? What’s in our head about work? Are we challenging to work with?
I found this keywords board from BCG is very interesting; it almost made Millennials natural and human! But, of course, we as Millennials need to show confidence with good performance, and we will occupy 75% of the workforce by 2025. It’s a big deal! Gen Y genuinely believes that business activities will bring positive impact and prosperity to society.
I’m using this chart as a quick example; the database is from the U.S. workers; very welcome to provide more data and share more stories! We all expect to have a fun place to work based on the result, and I would vote on this one too! We also expect an informal work environment. I believe the pandemic crisis provided more opportunities to work in a much flexible and casual atmosphere. The most significant gap among millennials, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers are opportunities to learn and grow; additionally, Interest in the type of work shows a considerable gap. I would love to contact those volunteers to understand the reasons for their votes.
As one of 1.8 billion (23% of the world population) Millennials, I’m happy to reveal my career thought.
I entered the workforce similar to my parent’s generation to contribute to society with a good mission and goal. However, the difference between Boomers and Millennials in China, the economic boom in China after the strategy of Reform and Opening, reshaped the economic movement and people’s lifestyle. My parents’ generations started with scarce choices in goods and lifestyles. Suddenly, they had more power to consume and live a more comfortable life along with the Chinese economic growth miracle.
My generations are the majority only child in China, and born with much attention and caring, somehow became spoiled. Equally have massive stress on our shoulders, entering the workforce after the financial crisis with long term recession, following by other Black Swan events. I would comment that we are born to live in a constantly changing world, and we ought to learn to adapt quickly and pass on the skills and experiences!
I’m currently working on initiatives and projects with passion and knowledge and love challenges, and these elements bring surprisingly good financial and mental rewards to keep me going! In addition, I love working with people who care about equality and diversity with an entrepreneurial spirit.
I’m also working hard to make sure that the future generation will surround by good communities, with clean air and water, good education and health care, not too stressed about their student loans which cause a big concern for the Millennials, especially in the USA. But, most importantly, they can live a better life than I do with more choices, and I believe they are on the right path! For that reason, I can happily enjoy my Soya Grande Latte.
I hope and believe that other generations hold similar values. For us, it’s easy to blame the generations who experienced the economic boom. However, they also dealt with other events which we can’t fully understand.
How about the boomers?
Have we been too harsh to the boomers? Have we used the wealth and culture gap between Millennials and Boomers to discriminate both sides?
I don’t have the exact answers, but I’m willing to learn more.
I hope the following video provides more insights from the data perspective about boomers. They equally need guidance and support to go through hurdles through transition, and we should show support!
