Posts Tagged ‘Age’

Earlier today I published an article in Personal Branding Magazine about that cadre of millions of Americans born between 1980 and 1993, known as the Millennial Generation. These more than 80 million citizens have been derided by many as coddled from birth, impatient for excitement, arrogant with confidence and full of a sense of entitlement. As usual, generalizations have led to a lack of understanding of the nuances of a diverse group. But even if we were to make broad statements about these 15 – 28 year olds (which I will do here), acknowledging the fallacy of over generalizing, these pervasive critiques seem to be a little off the mark.

There is no doubt the Millennials were beneficiaries of relatively strong economic times during there childhoods and parents took extra care to shield their kids from hardship. But lets not forget this generation has seen some of the most visible examples of terror and human unity during the 21st century. As impressionable children and teenagers they saw on the television the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building in 1993, genocide in Kosovo and Africa and of course the events of 9/11. They also were shaped by the hope and optimism that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War represented.

Together, these events have left Millennials as driven to ensure atrocity does not happen at the individual or community wide level. They are also idealistic and

In the end, Millennials want to build and tell a unique narrative story that shows how they are changing the world for the better.

In my article, “Story Time for the Millennials,” I compare this generation with others by saying

The Greatest Generation sat down near the radio to hear fireside chat stories from FDR. The Baby Boomers heard their collective angst played back to them by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Doors and the like. This generation, the Millennials, do not want to hear a story told to them; they want to tell their own story – each and every one of them.

To read the entire article please go to the following link, download the issue and turn to page 19.

http://personalbrandingsample.com/

And please be kind to Millennials, they don’t mean any harm, they just want to be heard.

I celebrated a good friend’s birthday yesterday and on my subway ride home I started thinking about how age affects our behavior and consequently our personal story. Most people say age brings more experience and wisdom. However, I believe age affects us in a more complex and subtle way.

Today’s society tends to value what Zen Buddhists call the “beginner’s mind.” It implies fresh insight unfettered by experience. With this in mind, I contend age means less now than a couple of decades ago. In today’s world most people are drawn to innovation, creativity and passion. None of these characteristics inherently grow with age.

In a seminal book on age and leadership, Geeks and Geezers, author Warren Bennis suggests age does strongly influence our values; more so than any other attribute including birthplace, race, ethnicity or religion. After interviewing 43 leaders of varying ages, Bennis concludes our deepest and most strongly held beliefs tend to correlate with what generation we come from. He defines anyone under 35 as a geek and anyone over 70 as a geezer.

Bennis suggests “geeks have bigger and more ambitious goals than geezers did at the same age; they aspire to ‘change the world’ and ‘make history’, whereas geezers were concerned with ‘making a living.’”

While I agree with Bennis that our core values are highly dependent on the generation we grew up in, I do not believe age is a significant indicator of compatibility between two people, success of an individual or even a signal of experience and wisdom.

The age of age as a standard for experience and wisdom is over. The most widely lauded and valued characteristics in society today - including innovation, creativity and passion - are age indiscriminate.

So happy birthday dear friend. I am sure you are glad to hear I believe getting older brings you nothing. Except sometimes you get a free drink at a bar.