The Social Evolution for Generation Y

While it is true that Generation Y is in social evolution,
it is false that the boomers either should be or need to be so quickly
written-off to accomplish the socialization of business.  Let’s not send boomers away for re-education
as if this were the new “cultural revolution”.  Our friends in China have already re-written
their rationalization for having done the same thing one generation ago under
the leadership of their now discredited Chairman Mao, and recognized that it
was a big mistake.  History continues to
be re-written by persons who believe themselves to mean well by how they come
to their evolutionary imperatives.

This time, the death panel orders come from certain
sociological technocrats who can’t forecast age cohort behavior to save their
own reputations.  The perception that
“baby boomers are reaching retirement age” is significantly
over-inflated due to two factors:

First, life expectancy has surged, which further extends the number
of years that a person is capable and desirous of continuing to pursue her/his
career.

Second, the economic catastrophes of the new millenium have obliterated the net worth of many more individuals than the economic statistics
have been able to estimate.  This large
group of persons who would have been retiring in the previous paradigm, must by
necessity continue to work and save.

While the prognosticators of the workforce’s age cohort
shape continue to project distributions using long term estimators, the
fundamentals have changed.  While such
planners have dismissed the continuous contributions of the boomers to the
global economy, this prematurely written-off age cohort will (out of necessity)
be forced to innovate and to engage in entrepreneurism in part because business
journalists have taught the leaders of tomorrow not to employ boomers based on
flimsy statistical assumptions.  After
all, once we have succeeded in training Gen Y and the Millennials to never hire
a boomer, the boomers will have to take care of their own futures, and
collaborate with those whose minds have not become so poisoned as the authors
of this article seem to think that they should be.

The perception that boomers do not adapt to social networks
in the enterprise flies in the face of many other data sources showing that
boomers are among the fastest growing cohort of  adopters in mobile
technology.  Boomers have not been given
the opportunity to demonstrate how they will perform in enterprises which have
already pre-ordered their exclusion.  A
large counter-effect is overdue and growing in certainty.

The inferred assertion that boomers are incapable of
capturing knowledge, overcoming information gaps, collaborating, communicating
with the right people in real-time, building strong relationships with
co-workers between departments, throughout companies, and globally is patently
absurd.  That they are not good at
reaching decisions by consensus comes from where?  It is a delusion brought about by a degenerative social disease
that is overtaking the world: ageism.

At the same time, Ms. Ponce de Leon, is correct
in restating the conclusions of Socialware.com, and advocating that companies
adopt enterprise social networking.  We
should pull together in the hope that business socialization be accomplished through inclusiveness,
rather than through a discriminatory diaspora for the disposal of Gen Y’s
parents.

Thanks for your speedy consideration of my initial
concerns.  As I review your post, I see
other points of order and concern as we work toward a deeper understanding of
the outlook and a variety of possible outcomes.

While I agree with you that there are 75 million millenials,
is it true that everyone in a particular age cohort is (or will become) a
member of the job market?  Historical
data would not support that assumption. 
“Expected to hit the job market” remains an overstatement.

Indeed, half of enterprises do provide social tools to their
workforce for the purpose of knowledge capture, information gap closure,
collaboration, and real-time communication. 
Yet, the training, support, and guidance that most employees need to
obtain great performance from such tools is still resource-constrained.

You are correct in observing that the new generation prefers
decisions by consensus, yet the actual socialization of businesses has a long
way to go before most will agree that the consensus process is thoroughly
supported by their leadership (C-suite) and authorities (HR, Finance, and
Legal).

Brandon Russell’s survey into the definition of the millenial
stands up well for a moment, but it crumbles when he opens his view of the role
between heroics and respect.  He asserts
that the millenial is defined by a hero “archetype” that places a
deep trust in authority.  Millenials
neither adhere to, nor behave as, nor claim to identify with this definition.

Mr. Russell might have done a better job elaborating on this
fantasy.  Regardless of how he might
reposition his framing of the millenial soul, ask yourself “What millenial
hero fits this mold?”  Both Joseph
Campbell and Karl Jung would have called “the hero’s deep respect for
authority” a non-sequitur. 
“The Heroes Journey” is made from stronger stuff.  Examine the millennial hero archetypes
represented by Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter, or the Mutant Ninja Turtles.  They feared authority, and put on the happy
face as a survival mechanism.  The
visible gestures of respect that they showed to the figures of authority bought
them the time and resources needed to defeat the leadership that they
distrusted.

While I will be interested in reading the sources of Mr.
Russell’s hero definition, I see that others have made their own efforts in
this subject.

At the Comic Con San Diego in 2009, Daniel Debowy describes
the Millenial Generation Hero as one who avoids traditional conflict with the
prior generation as the route to advancing real change.  http://www.liheliso.org/2009/08/09/millennial-generation-hero-interview-with-daniel-debowy-m-d-ph-d/

However, avoiding traditional conflict is only a feigned
trust in authority, an immediate tactic to postpone battle until one is better
equipped to and confident in one’s ability to defeat one’s opponent or former
authority at the moment of one’s choosing. 
Kinda Machiavellian. 
Kinda Ninja or Art of War.

Ask any millenial:

who the authorities are that they put the most trust
in.  They will tell you that authorities
are more likely to be the villains who they distrust.  .

how they feel being labelled or defined with the
“Hero” archetype, and you may be surprised by how the conversation
turns back onto the labeller or the person defining the term.

For a contemporary discussion of
who the Millenial archetype is, look at the Marvelous Millennial Wine Marketing Circus at Sebastiani on May 17th,
2012 (or one of the same meetings elsewhere in California that week).  The panel will discuss with the community
the hopes, the dreams and the expectations of the Millenials.  A good deal of discussion is taking
place in anticipation of this event. 
Questions are being asked about the extent to which businesses are going
to entertain, amuse, show a fun time to, be likable towards, stimulate the
creativity of, cultivate the emotional level of engagement with, and be
provocative toward the socially-connected millenial customer.  

The panel (as
well as a most thoroughly engaged audience) will grapple with how millenials
influence the customer relationship space of enterprises through their
immediate interactions with each other in the tribal/online/IRL communities
where they are most socially active. 
It’s already apparent that the B2C approaches which are more empathetic
with the millenials (among those businesses progressing in their paths toward
becoming social businesses) are gaining mindshare as well as marketshare with
the millenials.  Such brands that
connect with the Milennial mindset are not trusted authorities, but rather are
viewed by those connected consumers as partners or welcomed participants in
their communities.  For a closer view,
see Mutineer Magazine’s blog:  http://www.mutineermagazine.com/blog/2012/04/the-big-top-comes-to-town-mutineer-magazines-marvelous-millennial-wine-marketing-circus-is-coming-to-a-town-near-you/