Why Millennials Will Rule The World

Caution: Only For Those Willing To Get Their Hands Dirty

The Brookings Institute posted some interesting facts and figures in early June 2014, and that is millennials will account for 75% of the work force in 2015.

Many of the Baby Boomers are starting to reach ages where they are entering retirement, and leaving the workforce in droves. In fact 1.5 million of them are leaving every year in the US.

A vacuum is being created for all the millennials coming into the workforce, and there is an experience gap, as many seniors are leaving their roles and companies are struggling to find worthy millennials to take on greater responsibilities.

One of the biggest issues is a lack of trust for the new millennials.

I am not surprised, as many of us lack the practical, real world experience needed to fill those medium to higher level roles. Some might blame it on the education system or parents raising them to be entitled, but that is not always the case.

What this means is that the way that people run their companies will change dramatically.

I have already witnessed, especially in companies run by millennials, as the UK is seeing a huge rise in startups made by under 30 year olds. This is creating a positive effect on the economy.

Millennials have different common values, world views, and perspectives from previous generations. Some studies show that 64% would rather be paid £40k and do what they love than £100k doing a boring job.

This might sound ridiculous to some people but I have to admit that I would join that 64%. Simply, because I know that with that I can be more productive, grow faster, build confidence and still progress from that level of pay.

In fact, I would choose a job that was a perfect fit for me, offered more flexibility, and paid less than one that was the opposite of those things, because I know how to make more with less.

Now, if I had responsibilities like a family of my own, I would be thinking differently, because there are more factors to consider, beyond myself.

I think that there is a big difference between the ‘’I want to do what I love, and make a little less money’’ and the ‘’I don’t want to do anything that isn’t what I love’’ mentality.

Most roles include some things we might not want to do. It is difficult to find a role that has 100% of the things that we would want to do.

Somebody has to do the difficult tasks, but I will always choose the roles that, for the most part, allow me to be the most productive. This means that they fit my competencies, experience, temperance and interests

I remember once taking a role, and within the same company I met a guy just under 25 years old, and he was making £70k a year, on his way to making over £100k a year.

Great, but the problem was he lacked attitude and character. He treated others quite horribly. He once told somebody that they should listen to him because he is the one that makes more money.

If money reflected a person’s intelligence, I am sure that many Professors would be wealthy.

Somebody who is that insecure, and has to try to make others look like fools to make themselves look better, cannot be happy doing what they do. People often confuse self-worth with economic value and I think that is the problem.

I love being in the trenches, and getting my hands dirty or doing the dirty work. But, I would never compromised values, integrity, and long term goals, for opportunities that do not fit. I believe this is one reason why there are so many fake entrepreneurs.

They do not want to go through the difficulties that successful entrepreneurs have to go through to get to where they are.

They do not want to sacrifice a comfortable lifestyle for a period of time, or to avoid keeping up with the joneses, or doing whatever it takes without losing themselves.

Anybody can put up with a job as long as it provides certain benefits, but very few can sacrifice security, or comfort to get to where they want to be.

They lack the ability to do what it takes to achieve greater goals. Following short cuts, many times, leads us into error.

It is not about being selfish. It is more about giving your best, and doing whatever allows you to not only put your best foot forward, and add more value, but to reach your goals.

Feel free to like this post, and share with others that may benefit from reading this post. You can also give me a shout on twitter, I promise not to bite: @LesliePoku

For more articles feel free to check out www.scribd.com/leslie_poku