I went to a talk last week at the Rayburn Office Building in DC. The speaker was Prof Weigel from MIT and she did a splendid job. But the take aways were interesting.
This may be common knowledge but we characterize our generations as follows:
• 1981 – 2000: Generation Y / Millennials
• 1965 – 1980: Generation X
• 1946 – 1964: Baby Boomers
• 1926 – 1945: Silent Generation
• 1916 – 1925: Greatest Generation
That placed me and a few other old folks at the Silent Generation. It was not clear to the three of us what we were so silent about but I suspect it must have been something.
Then the kicker came in. Namely what characterizes the so called Millennials. They are:
– Expect mobility and frequent change
– Want to excel and move ahead quickly
– Value “killer” lifestyle, diversity, friends
– Assume technology, internet, constant connectivity
– Multitask fast
– Institutions are irrelevant
– Rewrite the rules
– Optimistic / realistic
– Nurtured as children
When I go back I remember many of the same expectations. Except one that is, since I was raised during WW II all I remember was women running the world and men went off to War. I kept thinking how long it would be until I too was to be sent a packing. Thus being nurtured was not something they did back then, you see there was no time and no people to do it. Thus you just winged it and grew up.
The speaker went on to pose the following:
If we understand them better, we can design engineering work and organizations that will attract and retain them.
This was the strangest statement that I had ever heard. Yet it must be a Gen X or Baby Boomer speaking to a Gen Y. If we the Silent Folks were to deal with this issue we would tell them they were lucky to have a job!
Yet this was a pitch about aeronautics and since that community focuses on Government work, never really see much entrepreneurial aeronautics, it does not apply to EECS students, who all aim to be entrepreneurs of some sort.
This may be common knowledge but we characterize our generations as follows:
• 1981 – 2000: Generation Y / Millennials
• 1965 – 1980: Generation X
• 1946 – 1964: Baby Boomers
• 1926 – 1945: Silent Generation
• 1916 – 1925: Greatest Generation
That placed me and a few other old folks at the Silent Generation. It was not clear to the three of us what we were so silent about but I suspect it must have been something.
Then the kicker came in. Namely what characterizes the so called Millennials. They are:
– Expect mobility and frequent change
– Want to excel and move ahead quickly
– Value “killer” lifestyle, diversity, friends
– Assume technology, internet, constant connectivity
– Multitask fast
– Institutions are irrelevant
– Rewrite the rules
– Optimistic / realistic
– Nurtured as children
When I go back I remember many of the same expectations. Except one that is, since I was raised during WW II all I remember was women running the world and men went off to War. I kept thinking how long it would be until I too was to be sent a packing. Thus being nurtured was not something they did back then, you see there was no time and no people to do it. Thus you just winged it and grew up.
The speaker went on to pose the following:
If we understand them better, we can design engineering work and organizations that will attract and retain them.
This was the strangest statement that I had ever heard. Yet it must be a Gen X or Baby Boomer speaking to a Gen Y. If we the Silent Folks were to deal with this issue we would tell them they were lucky to have a job!
Yet this was a pitch about aeronautics and since that community focuses on Government work, never really see much entrepreneurial aeronautics, it does not apply to EECS students, who all aim to be entrepreneurs of some sort.
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