How generational stereotypes hold us back at work | Leah Georges

181,719 views ・ 2019-05-16

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Translator: Ivana Korom Reviewer: Krystian Aparta
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So, for the first time in America's modern history,
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we have five generations interacting at work.
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The veterans, born between 1922 and 1943,
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are known as the Greatest Generation, the matures, the silents.
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They're known for their self-sacrifice,
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respect for authority and work as its own reward.
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The boomers came shortly after, born between 1944 and 1960.
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This is a generation characterized by hard work.
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In fact, we can thank this generation for the term "workaholic."
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They appreciate competition, they love effective communication.
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And they're thinking towards retirement, if they haven't retired already.
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Generation X is known as the lost generation
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the latchkey generation, born between 1961 and 1980.
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This is the smallest generation,
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sandwiched between boomers and the big millennials.
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More parents were divorced in this generation
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than any generation prior.
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They also were the first generation to tell us about work-life balance,
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and the first to really ask for that in the workplace.
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And then millennials -- you know, the everybody-gets-a-ribbon generation --
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born between 1981 and 2000.
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Never knew a time where technology wasn't present in the home.
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They're incredibly pragmatic, they're hopeful and they're determined.
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They think they're going to change the world,
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in fact, I believe they're going to do it.
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They might be a little bit idealistic sometimes,
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but in just the last several years,
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we've seen millennials overtake Generation X
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to be the most represented generation in the workforce.
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In fact, more than one in three people in the United States labor force
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is a millennial.
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And soon to join us there, Generation Z, born since 2000,
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our high school interns or soon to be high school graduates.
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Now, if you open any internet browser,
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look at Amazon,
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search any of your favorite search engines,
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you might assume there's a literal war in the workplace, right?
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We see blog topics like
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"Seventeen reasons why millennials are the worst generation."
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And "Why baby boomers have ruined it for everybody."
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Or "Bridging the great generational divide."
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It's like turning into this "West Side Story,"
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like, boomers come in one door,
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millennials come in another door, the lobby,
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they just fight with each other all day, complain, go home, do the same,
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come back to work, right?
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Well, so what if I told you these generations may not exist?
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I've been spending some time thinking about this and researching this,
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and fellow researchers and I aren't exactly sure
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that these generations are real.
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And in fact, if we can agree that these groups even exist,
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we certainly don't agree who belongs in them.
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And they span something like 20 years.
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So at whatever point in history,
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a one-year-old and a 20-year-old are said to share the same value system,
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to want the same things at work,
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to have the same stereotypes working for and against them.
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And in fact, different areas of the world define these generations differently.
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So we can't even compare generations across various areas of the world.
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And these stereotypes about each generation
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have, in a lot of ways, created this self-fulfilling prophecy,
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that people begin to act as if they're part of that generation
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because we've said out loud that generation is real.
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I'm not so sure that it is.
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And in fact, this idea of generations
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has become deeply embedded in United States culture.
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When we talk generations,
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people know exactly what we're talking about.
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In fact, people have a lot of thoughts and feelings
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about each of these generations.
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And I'll tell you how I know this.
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I did the thing
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that every red-blooded American and pre-tenure academic does
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when they have a question.
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I Googled some stuff.
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And this is what I learned.
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Google is based on algorithms,
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and they provide you with commonly searched terms,
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or suggested hits, based on what other people are searching
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surrounding the same topic.
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And it gave me a really good sense of what people think
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about each of these generations.
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Take a look.
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I learned that baby boomers are conservative,
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that Americans think they're stupid.
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The worst generation, they're angry,
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apparently they're racist and they're so important.
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Looking at Generation X,
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I learned Generation X is a cynical group,
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they're angry,
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they're known as the lost generation -- we know this;
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they're the smallest generation.
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Apparently, they're stupid too.
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(Laughter)
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And mostly, they're frustrated with baby boomers.
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Alright, millennials, this is what I learned about us.
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So, we're obsessed with food.
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(Laughter)
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We're also stupid, ah!
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We're lazy, we're sensitive, we're fired,
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we're also hated, and we think we're important.
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And perhaps the most terrifying search result on the internet --
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Generation Z is screwed.
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(Laughter)
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OK, so, for five years, I've been talking to leaders and followers
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across a wide variety of organizations.
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And this is what I've come to realize.
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Generations haven't become part of the conversation --
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generations have become the conversation at work.
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What I've learned
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is that we're working under the assumption that those Google results are true.
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And so, what I think is that organizations are now desperate
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to figure out how to "manage" the multigenerational workplace.
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"Manage" it.
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We manage all sorts of things.
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We're preparing for this wave of millennials to come to work.
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So we prepare for hurricanes, right?
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We prepare to take the MCAT, we prepare for natural disasters.
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Why are we preparing for 23-year-olds to come to work?
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(Laughter)
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I've talked to these organizations,
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and I've heard amazing things that they're doing
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to create a workspace for everybody to get along
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and to have autonomy and to feel like they're thriving.
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But I've also heard some really incredibly harebrained ideas
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about how to navigate the multigenerational workplace.
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Are you ready?
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This is what I saw.
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I visited an organization,
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and they adopted this idea that if you can see it, you can be it.
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A really important concept.
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But I think they blew it.
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The put pictures on the walls of the ideal multigenerational workplace,
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because if you can see it, you can be it.
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(Laughter)
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Or like this one.
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(Laughter)
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Like, I don't even want to work here.
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(Laughter)
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You don't get to wear color here, apparently,
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and HR seriously has problems with people jumping in heels,
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I promise you that, OK?
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I talked to an organization who recently decided
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against putting a ball pit in the break room
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because that's how you retain millennials.
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We're 30, not three.
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(Laughter)
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And in fact, I know a young, at the time, millennial,
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who was told that if she wanted people to take her seriously,
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just because she was a millennial, she would have to do this --
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wear shoulder pads.
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Yes.
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People younger than her and older than her wouldn't take her seriously
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unless she wore shoulder pads.
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Straight-out-of-the-80s,
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can't-even-buy-them-anywhere shoulder pads.
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This young woman had two graduate degrees.
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This young woman was me.
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And this is the best we came up with?
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How to navigate the multigenerational workplace ... is shoulder pads?
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(Laughter)
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So, this is also what I've learned talking to organizations
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that employ a wide range of people of various ages.
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We are so much more similar than we are different.
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And we're hearing this consistently.
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People want work that matters, they want flexibility,
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they want support, they want appreciation,
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they want better coffee.
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But none of these things are tied to a generation.
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Now, sure, we see small differences in what people want.
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We know 20-year-olds and 60-year-olds go home and do different things.
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They have different values.
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At least when it comes to things happening outside of work.
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But I think what's happened
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is that this focus on generational cohorts,
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these groups of people,
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has created a space where we just forgot that people are people.
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And to know who they really are, who we really work with,
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we have to figure out how to better navigate
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this multigenerational workplace
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than ball pits.
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Call me one of those idealist millennials, but I think we can get there.
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And I don't think the idea is too terribly difficult.
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What if we radically, simply, not easily,
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meet people where they are?
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Individualize our approach.
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I've never met a generation.
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I've had a lot of conversations
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with people who happened to identify with a specific generational cohort.
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I know that 80-year-olds text message
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and 23-year-olds crochet blankets.
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None of these things are stereotypical of that generation, right?
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Nilofer Merchant -- she's a thought leader in innovation --
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she tells us we have to meet people in their onlyness,
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that is, that spot in the world where only we stand,
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as a function of our unique history, our experiences and our hopes.
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But this requires flexibility and curiosity.
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And what happens when we meet people in their onlyness,
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only the spot in the world that they stand,
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we learn that that boomer who is just acting "angry" at work all the time
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is scared.
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Because he's worked every day since he was 16 years old,
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and on a Monday, sooner than he can imagine,
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he'll never go to work again.
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He's got plans.
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It's going to take like a week and a half
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to do all the things on that retirement list.
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But then what?
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What if we give a little bit of grace
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to the person that might be a little scared?
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Or that Generation X-er
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who has four drop-offs, three kids, two hands,
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and is just trying to keep the wheels on the bus.
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Sure, maybe she's a little aloof at work.
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Maybe she's a little independent, maybe she's exhausted.
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Or that millennial
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who asks for a raise after two months because they're "entitled?"
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Well, maybe it's because that generation has more debt
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than any generation before them, coming out of college,
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and they just need the money
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to keep going, to pay rent.
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And suddenly, when you meet people in their onlyness,
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that spot in the world only they stand,
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we're not talking about a generation anymore.
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We're talking about Jim or Jen or Candice.
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And so here's my challenge to us.
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Pick a person, just one, and explore their onlyness.
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And then learn.
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And then in the moments where it's appropriate, teach.
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And figure out what they bring to work that no one else can bring to work,
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because that's what makes work richer.
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And then do it again.
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And do it again.
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And then some day, we're not working with generations anymore.
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We're working with people.
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And so to really understand the beauty of the multigenerational workplace,
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I think we just have to meet people where they are.
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And that doesn't require that we unpack and live there with them.
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But we might find, at least on occasion, it's a beautiful place to visit.
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And so I think there's just no need
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to argue about which generation is the most angry
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or the most entitled or the most so obsessed with food.
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We all come to the classroom, to work, back to our homes,
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a little bit tired and a little bit tattered sometimes.
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Maybe let's just do our best to humbly meet people where they are,
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how they show up that day,
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generation and all.
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And in those moments
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where it can feel a little bit like intergenerational warfare,
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I think we can at least all agree
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that shoulder pads aren't the solution.
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(Laughter)
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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