Expanding Our Perspective on the Millennials: Talkin’ ‘Bout My Transformation
I received an email recently from Kyle M. Sanchez, a self-described Millennial, thanking me very kindly for the influence my book Never Eat Alone has had on his and his friends’ lives and careers. But the truth is, I believe I have more gratitude for Kyle than he does for me. (Yeah, I know, I’m very competitive — even when it comes to expressions of gratitude!) That’s because Kyle’s email has really helped expand my perspective on his generation.
Like a lot of “pre-millennials,” as Kyle refers to me and my older generation, I may have fallen into the trap of over-generalizing where Kyle and his generation are concerned. And Kyle, to his credit, was willing to bust me on this offense:
“I’ve been noticing a lot of talk from people in management, you included, and across many different industries, regarding the ‘millennial’ generation which has caused some alarm … As a millennial, my heart sinks to the floor each time I hear someone attempt to describe the psychographics of us all. (Note: I do realize that ‘my heart sinking’ is a telling sign of my being a ‘feeler.’) But, I truly believe that it is a strength vs. a weakness and that our upbringing has been gravely misrepresented and/or misinterpreted by our generational predecessors.”
Guilty as charged. I wrote a blog for Medium recently where I referred to many millennials as having been “conditioned from an early age to have all of their thoughts, feelings, and interests nurtured and indulged.” In my defense, I very pointedly was referring to anecdotal evidence here and not any larger studies. But Kyle was having none of it.
“I was never ‘coddled’ for a single moment of my childhood. My parents were completely tapped out of cash from helping my older brother get through college and any hope for assistance that I may have had was out the window before junior high…
As far back as third grade, my teachers told us very frightening things such as,“There will be no Social Security for your generation.” Or,“The cost of living will be almost double by the time you are in college and the minimum wage will only be a couple of dollars higher.”…
To make things even more fun, when it was finally time for me to attack this monstrosity of an economy, the entire thing crashed during my second year of college.”
In addition to making his case eloquently about not pigeon-holing millennials, Kyle also expresses the hope that expanding my perspective on his generation, “may add some meat toward perfecting [my] ‘first year success’ project.”
Done and done, Kyle! Millennials cannot and should not be painted with a single brush. They are clearly as multifaceted as any other generation and should be treated as such, in and out of the workplace. I couldn’t be more thrilled to report that my “first year success” project — a.k.a. Yoi Corp, a platform that ensures organizations really nail the first year experience for new hires and their managers — is growing meatier by the day. It offers a cadence of questions throughout the first year to help new hires feel grounded (not coddled!), and become better integrated with their peers and higher-ups. Yoi is currently serving an increasingly wide range of users. And yes, that includes the large number of hard-working and resilient millennials.
Thanks for the added perspective, Kyle!
Keith Ferrazzi is the Founder and Chairman of Yoi for New Hire Success, a digital platform that automates and enhances the onboarding process for new hires, managers, and their organizations. For more information about Yoi, or to request a demo, click here.
