Why Millennials Might Not be as Entitled as You Think

As millennials are solidifying their place in adult society, they’re being negatively labeled as the “Entitled Generation” with a vending machine approach to life. Simply insert a college degree, make a career and salary selection, and receive the expected output. To bystanders, it seems that the “everyone gets a trophy” upbringing has stunted millennials’ ability to work hard. Instead of embracing challenges, they’ve turned into a bored and lazy workforce that expects immediate gratification. What many fail to realize is that the right kind of entitlement is actually an asset.
In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell explores how the inception of a certain kind of entitlement during childhood years is a strong predictor of success in the career world. It is a widely accepted notion that those with a privileged upbringing tend to be more successful than their less-privileged counterparts.

The uncomfortable reality is that social class is directly correlated with one’s future career status. But future status is not necessarily related to race, income, or material possessions. The difference-maker in future career success is the amount and quality of time that children spend with their parents in their formative years.
Gladwell observed that families with work flexibility, often allowing one parent to raise their children full time, provide previously undefined benefits. Greater parental involvement generally leads to more frequent and deeper conversations. Kids with highly involved parents tend to receive more encouragement and constructive feedback, becoming more empowered to speak confidently to their superiors.

These parents are likely to foster passions, encourage extra-curricular activities, and intentionally socialize their kids. This in turn leads to more interpersonal awareness and situational confidence. The resulting young adults from this type of upbringing are self-aware individuals who are familiar with their strengths and weaknesses and are unafraid to respectfully pitch themselves or make a case for things they believe they’ve earned.
This personality trait is common in Millennials and has been given the misnomer of “entitlement.” I propose a more fitting title for this desirable form of entitlement: self-advocacy. Self-advocates are less likely to waste time in jobs for which they’re overqualified. Furthermore, these individuals are more likely to work harder toward achievements, because they believe they’re capable, and they deserve a positive outcome. They take it upon themselves to find answers for things they don’t understand, and they’re filled with intrinsic motivation.
Contrary to the negative perception of millennial entitlement, a healthy sense of self-advocacy often indicates a stronger work ethic.
On the other hand, baseless entitlement does exist and is a decidedly undesirable characteristic in the workplace. Unprofessional entitlement often comes in the form of unrealistic expectations: a need for recognition after merely meeting requirements, little or no drive to exceed expectations, or a lack of patience after becoming accustomed to immediate gratification. There is some truth to the Entitled Millennial stereotype, but not all Entitled Millennials should be underestimated.

As a manager who has interviewed and worked with numerous millennials, I can attest to the fact that not all entitlement is the same. Plenty of millennials have unrealistic and unfounded high expectations for salary, title, and recognition. Yet other millennials’ sense of entitlement stems directly from their skills, experience, and drive to achieve. They are able to speak about and demonstrate what they do well, but they’re also hungry for feedback and eager to learn what they don’t know.
They are humble enough to understand their need for continual personal growth but confident enough to embrace failures along the way and drive toward improved results.
These true self-advocates are defying the entitled stereotype by leveraging their confidence and tempering it with humility. While not all entitled millennials have refined this quality, it’s likely that some of them are being overlooked solely because of the generational stereotype. These individuals, if given the chance, may have just the right amounts of hunger, confidence, and emotional intelligence to take your organization to the next level.
