Wait, we’re really different?
There’s a helluvah lot of hulla-baloo about differences between generations. Consultants, managers, recruiters, bloggers of all stripes just can’t seem to wrap their heads around the fact that we are all different.
Yup, we’re different. End of story. If you don’t believe me, hop over to the folks at Pew and see some of their generational research. Let’s be real, though: are you surprised? If there weren’t differences between people, then life would have gotten boring about 10 million years ago and the prospect of human civilization would have faded away with the last, dying gasp of a vague eukaryote.
The problem is that people continue to harp on differences as if they matter. As I’ve just stated: they don’t, because saying “we’re all different” is like saying “the sky is blue.” So the dialogue needs to shift from “Are there differences?” to “How do we bridge those differences?” And by “bridge” I mean “learn about each other.” There’s a wealth of experience that Gen Y needs to tap into from the Boomers. There are new perspectives that Gen Y can show to Gen X. You can see where I’m going with this. Bottom line: the differences we observe in others are just chances to learn something more.
And what do we call the process about learning about others? Building relationships. What’s one of the major keys to career success? Building relationships! If you have the ability to seek out and create meaningful relationships, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Boomer leading a team that spans generations – if you know and understand your team members, you’ll know the best way to engage them.
Staying on point with the “generational differences” only procrastinates the real, meaningful discussion about how to harness the differences, move beyond on them, and do something greater. My Hofstra-grad-in-crime Steve Levy said it best yesterday: “It doesn’t matter if you’re Y, X or BB, we’re all part of Generation Learning – GenL – until we die.”
