Some people may take issue with me lumping Millennials and Gen Z together in one book, as if they are a single entity. Volumes have been written about both of them and their unique world views. However, these two generations span today’s young adults, who are defined by advertisers as being between the ages 18 to 34.
There is no question that these two generations are different. However, their collective impact as employees and consumers in the United States is forcing a sea change in how businesses operate, and their impact on Corporate America is the focus of my book.
As with all generations, Millennials and Gen Z have different views of the world than their predecessors. They are breaking conventional norms, up-leveling social values, and changing how we do business.
This is nothing new. This is what a new generation does, and it is how society progresses. However, these two generations are having a more radical affect than we have ever seen, and it is causing a lot of friction in the business world, which is why my book was originally titled, “You Raised Them, Now You Have to Live with Them in the Workplace.”
As parents, teachers and mentors, we instilled these two generations with different values, and we developed the technologies that now act as a megaphone for their opinions and experiences on social media. In fact, thanks to social media, Millennials and Gen Z are forcing change in the public and private sectors with a speed and intensity that no previous generations could.
I have a radical position on this, which my Gen X peers and our Baby Boomer colleagues are slowly coming to realize. Millennials and Gen Z are not going to adapt to us. We need to adapt to for them. We do not have a choice, because these two generations have a lot of choices.
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Excerpted from Dr. Joanna Massey’s upcoming book “Culture Shock: Surviving Five Generations in One Workplace."
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