Why You Should Understand The Different Generations Near You

The most popular topic that organizations ask me to speak on is generational diversity. How can managers inspire teams made up of three or four generations, including the Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials, and Generation Z?

When I address this topic, I often hear a common complaint.

Some people wonder why folks make such a big deal of these generations. Is it really a science? Aren’t people merely different because of personalities? And doesn’t this conversation perpetuate unhealthy stereotypes of others? 

My personal belief is that discussing the various generations in your organization doesn’t have to lead to stereotypes; and, in fact, this conversation can be extremely helpful. Let me explain.

People Are Like Concrete

When I was eight years old, my friend Steve and I were goofing around outside when we discovered a patch of repaired sidewalk. Workers had just finished setting the concrete, and it was still wet.

I am sure you can imagine what a temptation this was for two kids.

Being more adventurous than I was, Steve suggested we should press our hands into the wet cement and leave a print that would forever let people know we were there. In fact, we decided to sign our handprints. It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. We realized later what a mistake it was. Steve and I both told our sisters who, in turn, told our parents what we’d done. Our moms and dads immediately reminded us that because concrete hardens, the neighbors would likely be upset that our handprints were onstage forever in front of their house.

Our parents were right.

  Two days later, the neighbors knocked on our front door complaining. By that time, however, it was too late to fix what we had done. Everything had hardened and could not be smoothed over. Trust me, Steve and I tried our best to undo our work, but alas, cement workers would need to return to lay a fresh sidewalk square.

This same principle applies to our brains.

  In the same way, that concrete is moldable when it’s first set, our brains establish unique neural pathways in our earliest years. Dr. Britt Andreatta, an internationally recognized expert in leadership and learning, released a book called Wired to Resist. Years ago, I asked Britt to speak at our National Leadership Forum on what she’d uncovered about brain research. She says we are biologically wired to resist change after we become adults. It’s both the key to our survival and also an obstacle that gets in the way of us fulfilling our potential and connecting with others. Our neural pathways, like cement, take shape in our early years. According to Deborah Ancona, professor of management and organizational studies at MIT, when the brain is young and still forming, there’s a lot of flexibility and plasticity, which explains why kids learn so quickly. After 25 years, we’re less flexible. It isn’t that we can’t change; it’s simply that it requires harder work to do so. “The more we use our neural pathways over years and years and years, they become stuck and deeply embedded, moving into deeper portions of the brain,” Ancona says. By the time we get to the age of 25, we have so many existing pathways our brain relies on that it’s hard to break free of them.

So, consider the impact of this reality on today’s generations.
 

Timing and Generations

The point in history when a person spends their first couple of decades is a major factor in determining what the “brain concrete” looks and feels like. My mother and father, for instance, grew up in the midst of the Great Depression and World War II. Virtues like gratitude, humility, and resourcefulness were firmly drilled into their mindsets. Consider the times that shaped their neural pathways. I am a Baby Boomer who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s and was shaped by protests, the Vietnam War, and Watergate. My children are Millennials who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s and were shaped by computers, cell phones, and technology. This issue isn’t black and white, since there are so many other factors that play into the shaping of each human being. But it is both a biological and a social science we must consider. 

So, just what makes up the personality of a generation?

The social science of understanding different generations is all about recognizing the personality of a population of people. What shapes their comprehensive values, senses of humor, fears, and hopes? Obviously, every individual has a unique personality, but generations do as well. Elements that make up a generation are not only age but shared experiences, economies, music, movies, television, technology, tragedies, villains, and heroes. Recognizing generations enables us to connect with others distinctively. The goal is not to stereotype but to understand. Let's take a look at the shaping factors of each generation.

The Builder Generation (1929-1945)

This generation started with the stock market crash in November of 1929. There was a run on the banks as people feared they wouldn’t have access to their own money. As withdrawals mounted, banks shut down. The ensuing years were called the Great Depression and lasted, according to many economists, about a decade. One factor that ended this depression was our entrance into World War II, which ended in 1945. 

The Baby Boomer Generation (1946-1964)

This generation launched when the soldiers returned from the war. Babies and more babies were born as civilians and military men began to focus on building a family. The 1950s were called the age of “normalcy.” We wanted to get back to normal, with a spouse, some kids, a dog, and a home mortgage. The “boom” of babies turned out to be 76 million, the largest number born in a period of time up to that point. 

The Baby Buster Generation (1965-1982)

This generation didn’t want to be tagged with any nickname, so the term Gen X stuck with them. At first, however, they were called “busters” since their generation began with the public introduction of the birth control pill. Add to that Row v. Wade and you have a shrinking population--a bust rather than a boom. They grew up in darker times in the shadow of the much larger baby boom population ahead of them. 

The Millennial Generation (1983-2000)

While some start this generation earlier, it is marked by a shift in culture and parenting. In the 1980s to the 1990s, America recalibrated herself, recovering from Vietnam, Watergate, an OPEC gas crisis, and a failed rescue of hostages. Campaigns focusing on child safety, self-esteem, and status became looming factors in how parents raised these kids called Millennials -- a term coined for them since they’d spend their entire adult life in the new millennium. 

Generation Z (2001-2018)

Generation Z will never know anything but the 21st century. I have this generation launching at the turn of the century because society pivoted again: the dot.com era bubble burst affecting the economy, corporate scandals, a 9-11 attack that ignited an era of terrorism, racial unrest, mass shootings, and smart technology which both connected and disconnect us, fostering mental health issues. This is all of our new normal. 

One more item. I am asked frequently what the next generation of kids will be called. The term currently used to describe the newest population of children (following Generation Z) is the Alpha Generation. Although, at this time, it is too early to define their characteristics in any meaningful way. They are very young.  

You might say, the cement is still wet.