Y Not Gen Y?

My roommate came home yesterday fuming about a bad day at work (she interns for a global communications firm). During her vent-session, it somehow came out that her boss requires her interns and employees to back up all work and emails in two places on their computers, in file folders (massive file cabinets apparently crowd the office, transporting employees back to the 20th century), and on—get this—FLOPPY DISKS. What??? I don’t even remember the last time I saw a computer that even has a floppy drive, and the damn things barely hold any information. I understand the desire to back up important documents, but what good is it if the device holding them doesn’t work on 99% of computers? I was shell-shocked. I then told her about how my 40-something boss always prints out lists that he wants me to update and scrawls names all over to indicate which should be added or removed, rather than just emailing me the document and typing the names out, which would be quicker for both of us and much more legible. It’s little and picky, but it’s these small things, like printing out every document and creating manila folders for every tiny project, that waste so much time, often that of the interns and young employees. Of course, this sparked a conversation about how much more efficient everything will be when Gen. Y starts running the corporate world. Efficiency is our forte (Boomers call it ADD—and then struggle to fit floppy disks into CD drives), and it's key in this fast-paced world of split-second electronic communication.

Now, pages and pages and endless pages have been written about Generation Y (aka Millennials) and our stereotypical characteristics. My favorites are the articles about “how to manage millennials,” as if we are some strange and infantile breed of human being. Psychological research has been conducted on us en masse, and there seems to be an intense interest in what makes us tick, probably because we are the largest generation after the Baby Boomers and are about to inherit the world. So many stereotypes have emerged about our generation, and I’d like to evaluate some of these. Keep in mind that no one can ever generalize about an entire generation of people, and these opinions are based on my observations of my peers, who all attend high-ranking universities and look forward to promising careers.

1) We’re arrogant and self-assured, the result of helicopter parenting and constant praise as children and as adults:
I don’t know if arrogant is the right word… but I must agree that many of my fellow millennials are brimming with self-confidence. But this doesn’t mean we all strut around with our noses in the air. Like any generation, many of us do encounter humbling self-doubt, especially at that critical point when we are trying to decide what sort of career path is right for us to pursue. (I suppose you could say that we agonize over this so much because we all believe we’re special and destined to do something significant with our lives. But what’s wrong with aiming high and being optimistic?) On the other hand, while we admit we don’t know everything there is to know about our future careers and seek mentors to guide us through the process, almost everyone I have talked to complains that “real world” work is rarely challenging enough at the intern or entry level, even when one is unfamiliar with the industry. And no one is happy making copies or—ahem—compiling tons and tons of media lists (grrr) because we want to really learn about the business and believe we can do much more difficult and interesting work. Is this arrogance if it’s true? We are an unbelievably resourceful, quick-learning, and efficient generation. We don’t require much of a learning period, and anything we need to learn can be found on Google or by asking someone higher up. Many managers complain that their young hires expect to move quickly up the corporate ladder and tackle more challenging projects or else we won’t hesitate to move on to a new company, citing our pampered upbringings as the cause of such self-entitlement and disloyalty. Apparently, being motivated is a bad thing. With a stale economy and little job security, are we supposed to unhappily stick with work that insults our intelligence and wait to get fired? This is a fast-moving world, and there’s no time to spend years paying dues and wasting our intellectual capital. In a world run by Gen. Y, we will harness this enthusiasm and use it to its full potential.

2) We can’t take criticism:
This sensitivity to criticism is also attributed to doting parents and soccer team awards ceremonies that dole out trophies for every athletically-challenged team member. Now, I admit it: I don’t do well with criticism. I’m a type-A perfectionist and have never been good when it comes to hearing my work is sub-par. But as a generation, are we collectively bigger cry-babies than our elders? I’ve seen some crying breakdowns at school that resulted from that deadly combination of stress, fear of failure, and harsh criticism. But is that really something that defines our generation? Aren’t there neurotics and perfectionists and headcases in every age bracket? I guess I’m not really sure about that one. If anything, I’d say our generation is remarkably laid-back when it comes to handling large amounts of work due to our multi-tasking prowess and get more annoyed about having to waste time redoing a sub-par project than hurt by the boss’s criticism.

3) We're lazy and have ADD:
Just because we multi-task like it’s our job (which it should be) doesn’t mean we have a disease. Everyone has ADD; our generation is just over-diagnosed. Sure, we talk in short instant-messages and Facebook wall-posts, but that doesn’t mean we have half-second attention spans. When something interests us, we are just as capable of focusing as anyone. Which is even more reason to give us challenging, interesting work. Many employers complain that we are lazy and get bored easily. I'd bet that 90% of the time it's because we finish projects too quickly and are given mundane tasks that wouldn't hold anyone's attention for more than 5 minutes. I know that the times I resort to blogging and browsing the web at work are the times that I've finished all immediate projects and have only dreary long-term assignments that bore me beyond belief and will probably take half the time my boss expects to complete anyway.

4) We are stupid:
Mark Bauerlein wrote the book "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)” as a diatribe against Gen. Y. Doesn’t he know that complaining about the younger generation just makes him sound old? Newsweek wrote a smart rebuttal (http://www.newsweek.com/id/138536) that more roundly sums up our generation’s apparent ignorance. I agree that many of us are politically unaware, have little knowledge of history, and quickly forget the myriad of facts we learn in class once we pass the final exam. (As a history and international studies major, I take slight offense to Bauerlein’s claims and like to think I buck that trend a little bit.) But there’s a reason for this: Google. Everything we need to know is at our fingertips, so why bother memorizing it? Instead, we are programmed to cram our brains with skills and “fluid intelligence” that can be applied to a variety of situations. I hate to admit it, but that’s probably more useful in corporate America than knowing when the Battle of Antietam took place (1862), who Henry Clay was (The Great Compromiser), and when the Soviet Union collapsed (completely by 1991; note: not due to anything Ronald Reagan did or said) off the top of one’s head. And no, I did not look those up. My friends would have, but what difference does it make?

Now, I admit that some of my fellow Millennials that I have encountered are useless: lazy, bratty, whiny, ignorant, the list goes on. But that’s not something inherent to or particularly prevalent in my generation. After all, the ones doing the most whining right now are Boomers and Gen X-ers mourning the incoming hordes of eager, plucky Gen Y workers demanding more mentorship, opportunities, and challenges. Why complain when you can capitalize?