Think Trends in Our Time Not Generational Differences

I was invited to speak in London today about  - Inside the Bloggers Mind, The Gen Y Perspective.

I struggle in a way to talk about generational differences...why? Because I don't believe that we can categorize people by age. I know we love to categorize, as that is easier - however I think it is too dangerous. My mum at 77 is a member of social networking sites such as Linked In...my nephew who is 21 has not heard of Facebook!

What I do think we can look at, are the trends in society that are strong as we enter the workforce. Why? Because I think the trends of our time, influence the way we behave before corporate life potentially "makes us to conform to the way we do things around here!"

Trends of this time which will affect the Millennial's are

• A sense that personal debt is normal
• A sense of freedom and desire for personal expression
• A sense of embracing technology to make life easier
• A sense of our impact on the world
• A sense of sharing, collaboration
• An awareness of social media

To name but a few....now these are trends, not specific to an age group. Society is evolving, there are people across the generations that will evolve with these societal changes and others that will see these changes as bad and will resist them for as long as possible. I believe in business, we need to see people's resistance to change rather than their age...that way we don't disengage people who could be agents of change.

Comments

[Anna Farmery]

Richard don't disagree that there are offsetting trends...I was just showing how trends have changed, not that long ago personal debt or bankruptcy would have been a social no-no. I am not trying to draw a conclusion on who is right...just that the trends change and influence how people approach work? Thanks for stopping by and adding to the conversation

[Richard Morton - WiRE]

While I agree with you I think that some of the trends are more complex, for example "a sense that personal debt is normal" is partly offset by "a sense that personal debt is growing out of control" but also reinforced by "a sense that personal bankruptcy is not as devastating a position to be in as it used to be".

The same goes for "a sense of our impact on the world" being offset by "a sense that dropping litter is normal".