For about 30 years, experts have been trying to figure me out. I am part of the wildcard generation called Millennials that started to crash planet earth around 1980, give or take a couple years. Generally speaking, the experts use a pretty simple formula when painting a picture of me — say some bad things, position some of the bad things as good things, and then say something about how I’m going to change the world. For example, last year, TIME said I’m lazy, I’m entitled, and I’m a narcissist… but I’m going to save everyone.
Which, quite frankly, doesn’t sound all that bad. I’d love to save the world, because then I’d be on the cover, right? I also appreciate these types of statements because 1) it makes for a good read and 2) it makes people take sides.
More recently, moving away from general commentary on lifestyle, the experts are narrowing their attention on ‘Me in the workplace’ to help organizations ease generational tensions, increase my productivity, encourage me to contribute to company culture, etc. For example, a few days ago Forbes explored the love/hate relationship between boomers and Gen Y. Welp, I’m here to help, so read on Mr. Forbes.
First, let’s recap what the experts have concluded about me and my like-minded, egomaniacal millennial peers…
I push for progress at the cost of any long standing traditional value or practice. I can barely focus on any one thing which is sometimes scientifically proven to indicate that my mental capacity to process and organize information is, in fact, declining… most likely because I’ve played too much flappy bird. I’ve established very strong social circles, within which I passive aggressively compete for status through likes and hearts. And despite my embellished portrayal of being “cultured”, I stick to what is familiar. Being ‘cultured’ is retumbling a nice photo taken by some guy in Barcelona. I can’t stop talking about myself. And I share pictures frequently, probably too frequently, but don’t really care because my instagram friends help fulfill my constant need for attention. All I want to do is win and when i don’t win, I get fussy. So if I do in fact lose, I still expect a nice small plastic golden trophy mounted on a marble base.
More specifically, what about me in the workplace?
I don’t seem to be able to articulate a direction for my life. I’m too scared of commitment to answer a question like that, which often is loosely associated with my overall lack focus on the task at hand. Nonetheless, I’ve made substantial career progress and intend to make more money tomorrow by being more vocal than my counterparts. Oh, and without consideration for merit, experience, or even performance, I expect more money and responsibility. If I don’t receive it, I am going to get pissy, then quit in the near future. I am a massive primadonna that has lost touch with the idea of hard work.
Overall, I’m entitled with overblown expectations and questionable work ethic.
Again, this stuff makes for a good read. It picks fights and I like fights. There is a whole bunch to challenge in this collection of expert observations, but I’m going to focus on the one underlying, broadly applied notion of entitlement. This has been a word associated with Gen Y for years. It is the foundational characteristic that spawns the other claims of narcissism and self-importance. It is also the primary complaint I have heard from hiring managers and companies trying to deal with the ‘millennial problem’.
But this problem is misdiagnosed. It is not entitlement that defines our professional attitude and demeanor. It is something much more primal. It is about fear. Fear of the future, fear of adult responsibilities, fear of financial instability, fear of career unhappiness, fear of looking back and thinking about what could’ve been. It is a fear of all the things that could come about if we do not do everything in our power right now to find our professional sweet spot and push our annual income as far north as possible.
Now, this is not the type of fear that makes us quiver in the corner or forces us to retreat to safer environments. Instead, it’s a fear that keeps us hungry. It gets us excited. It drives our ambition. It keeps us assertive and aggressive in our pursuits. It encourages us to take chances and challenge what we were told. It forces us to swing for the knockout instead of the body shot. Our fear is our version of Tony Stark’s Arc Reactor. It makes us tick.
In other words, all the scary shit motivates us. Instead of getting passive and settling for safe, we have become respectfully cutthroat.
Let’s get a bit deeper with this…
Before we know it, we are going to be supporting our parents. That’s in addition to any kids of our own. We’ve carried student loans through our 20’s and it is now time to commit to paying them off. We’ve lost confidence in those who supposedly know how to manage their clients’ wealth and we are hammered by headlines about our broken global financial system. We’ve got home ownership on the horizon and everyday we observe the widening gap between the haves and have-nots. We are staring down a shotgun barrel full of future financial obligations and, therefore, professional roadblocks can’t exist.
Furthermore, when shit feels stale, we move on. The above stuff is all about making bucks. But, just as important is the sense of increasing ownership. Every career decision builds on the last. We are focused on selling ourselves because the job market is ruthlessly competitive, primarily by our own doing. If you don’t have a career narrative and a point of differentiation, you are dead before the interview. AND, we aren’t afraid to apply our experience differently — dabbling in varying fields, starting companies in industries we don’t know shit about, or embracing 1099 status. This isn’t a lack of direction. This is about creating our own options. We can learn about anything right now, just like any other individual with internet access. The difference is that we try to learn about everything right now. We go down rabbit holes because something of interest led us to another interest that we didn’t even know we had. This happens to stress us out because new and half-baked ideas never stop flooding our brains. And we will never know if these ideas, whether good or bad, have any real traction unless we share them with the people around us to consider. When we’re asked what we’d like to do with our lives, the honest answer is we don’t know. But we are slowly figuring it out. All we do know is that we have ideas.
So, Bossmen & Bosswomen, you better pick-up your game, otherwise, your job will be taken along with your better paychecks. And, please understand, no offense is intended towards you or your family. Our intention is not to make buying weekly groceries difficult for you. This has not been and never will be personal. We are simply threatening your job security because we try to learn more, faster. If we don’t know something, we find out right now. If we need a new skillset, we start to learn it tonight. Collateral damage has always existed within competitive workplaces. Our focus is to move on, move up, and take advantage of every opportunity presented, sometimes at the cost of others. But again, it is not personal. All we can try to do is stay respectful and say please & thank you along the way.
It is not that we maintain a false sense of entitlement. We simply don’t believe in wait & see. We have more options because we create more options and have the ability to pursue them. And, most importantly, we are scared. But, like many of our generation-mates, we use fear as a reason to do things, to challenge others, and to improve our condition.
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