Leadership, It’s all Different Except Where It’s The Same

It’s all Different Except Where It’s The Same with Millennial Leadership

It is said that the old guard don’t change their beliefs, we just have to wait for them to die.

Many in leadership today complain about these Millennial’s “They don’t have our work ethic,” “they’re all entitled” and “they think they’re going to change the world”

Let’s just stop for a moment and do a Reality Check: As weird and different as the Millennial generation may seem, let’s not forget that the old guard of today (the baby boomers) were at one time “hippies” who weren’t going to “work for the man”. The generation before them said pretty much the same thing: “They don’t have our work ethic” “they’re all entitled” and “they think they’re going to change the world”

Some of todays leaders are children of those hippies. They said they would fight authority, consumerism and corrupt governments. They spiked their hair wore studs and safety pins and went punk (Gen X’ers)

It all makes me wonder if Gen Y (Millennials) will have similar complaints about generation Z in twenty year. Like I said: It’s all Different Except Where It’s The Same.

In May of 2014 I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the C-Suite Network Event by the host of Bloomberg TV’s The C-Suite, Jeffery Hayzlett and his business partner Thomas White. This was an event that showcased highly successful and fast growing organizations who were doing things significantly different.

There were great keynote speakers including Mark Sanborn, top organizational leadership speaker and multi bestselling author who is the quintessential professional. David Horsager author of “The Trust Edge” who is young vibrant and dynamic.

There was the totally authentic brilliant, irreverent and irrepressible Gary Vaynerchuch who knocked it out of the park. He was Not in C Suite uniform (no suit and tie) and apparently dropped some 27 “F-bombs”. He made us laugh, and he definitely woke us up. He showed us how “marketers ruin everything” and that we are all marketing…