Next Generation Next Destination

THE GENERATIONS COLLABORATE TO BUILD THE COLLABORATIVE ECONOMY

A few weeks ago, Maria Bartiromo did a “Seat at the Table” segment on her Sunday NBC program about the sharing or collaborative economy. The key concepts are Rent, Share and Trust. You rent your car or home or dresses or cook, etc. on a temporary basis.

The entrepreneurs behind the new businesses say this approach changes the concept of “consumption.” And they say they are in it for the long haul – that this is not a fad concept. It focuses on the actual user of a product rather than intermediaries. Though these businesses operate on technology, they are actually very personal. Person-to-person connections are facilitated by the technology. It is efficient for the new normal and sustainability because it uses excess capacity.

So you can rent a chef to come into your home to cook for your family or dinner party guests, rent expensive textbooks, or rent a designer dress you will only wear once anyway. These are examples of enabling luxury experiences for people who couldn’t live that way every day but can on a select, limited basis.

The businesses were started by young, “digital natives” – that is, Gen Y/Millennials or young Gen Xers – mostly under age 35. The venture capitalists supporting them are in their 40s and 50s – Gen Xers and younger end Baby Boomers. They are united in the excitement of these new concepts and services and their collaboration with the young entrepreneurs.

They have identified and latched onto some trends that have emerged, especially with the Millennials:

• Decreased interest in ownership of cars, houses and other possessions other than electronics/technology
• Desire to live in urban areas where the action is and have what they need and want nearby
• Sustainable environment lifestyle
• Innovate and love your work

I find this very exciting. Simplify. Save time and money. Avoid waste. Connect for personal needs and to fulfill dreams. I guess my Millennial tendencies are showing J

Phyllis Weiss Haserot       www.pdcounsel.com

GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES GLOBALLY

I am often asked if the typical generational patterns and attributes we observe in the U.S. apply globally. In the past, the answer is mostly no, except for parts of Western Europe and Canada, and even there are differences and variations based on factors other than geography. In more recent years looking at the Gen Y/Millennial generation and those younger, there are many more similarities around the world since communication is instantaneous so we have access to the same news at about the same time and are influenced by the information on the Internet. But this converging applies mostly to the educated top of the social pyramid.

Here are some notable differences, with thanks to Andreas Fried from Universal Consensus.

• Boomers and the older half of Gen X in China had two very formidable influences: The great Chinese Famine in the early 1960s in which an estimated 36 million people died from starvation; and the Chinese Cultural Revolution from 1966-1976 in which China’s education system was brought to a virtual halt.

• The generations before the fall of communism in the former Soviet republics, including Russia had few similar influences to the Western nations. Now the young people are trying to catch up in several ways.

• The Gen Xers in Japan had quite a different experience from their American peers in the years they were entering the workplace. Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s experienced a “Bubble Generation,” relatively untroubled and free spending.

• As for Gen Y/Millennials, Fried thinks the global convergence of that generation is occurring mostly at a “visible” level, such as with tech usage, popular culture and fashion more than with values and behavior, which I imagine probably are still greatly influenced by parental and religious attitudes and national or ethnic culture

. • Chinese Gen Ys are often referred to as “little emperors” born under the one-child policy of the ruling communist party. They may get a lot of attention, but they may have the huge burden of having to support two parents and four grandparents. Fried says Western Gen Yers are more worried about their own pensions or lack thereof than about their parents’ economic well-being or retirement.

Given world conflicts and the ever-speeding pace of change it will be interesting to see how much convergence or divergence of generations develops. More multi-national, multi-cultural and cross-generational conversation is a clear necessity.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com

YOUNG GENERATIONS’ APPROACH TO PHILANTHROPY

For some time I have been following the philanthropic and legacy efforts of Generations X and Y and how they differ from Traditionalists and Boomer generations in general. Also I’ve been advising on conflicting approaches within families that financial advisors and planners often need to address with their clients. So the report “Next Gen Donors: Respecting Legacy, Revolutionizing Philanthropy” by 21/64 and the Johnson Center for Philanthropy caught my interest. I found the conclusions align pretty much with my more limited research and my experiences working with inter-generational workplace issues.

The examples of what twenty-somethings are doing are quite enlightening. As always they want to do it their own new way, not only in their use of technology, but also in making it about connecting with other people. Though some of the young people I worked or spoke with had substantial wealth, most others were finding ways to donate very limited assets and make them add up to become very meaningful contributions.

Here are the typical elements I noticed concerning this philanthropic activities.

• The younger generations are looking for an “experience.”
• They prefer ongoing involvement rather than an annual event.
• What really juices many of them is to be able to connect directly to the recipient of their contribution
• They use e-mail blasts to urge everyone they have ever come in contact with to join in. They are very open in their connections and it’s all about connecting.
• They like voting for “the person who contributes the most…” and cash awards and recognition.
• They are drawn to compete in contests; they like competitions and prizes.

According to Sharna Goldseker, Managing Director of 21/64, consultants on strategic philanthropy and the generations, beneath the surface of much of the under 35-year-old involvement in philanthropic projects is a search for their own identity.

Keep in mind that the Gen Y way is another search for community much as Gen X did, but perhaps for different reasons and with a desire for individual attention. Gen X originally sought community at work because it was missing for them outside of work. Gen Y has been educated in a more collaborative environment and it is their modus operandi.

I definitely see the desire to be hands on and to produce measurable change with their giving. Interestingly, this has been characteristic of the Boomer generation of women donors and something I personally very much relate to. All my professional life I have observed that women donors don’t simply want to write checks.

As for the under 35 year olds in families with foundations desiring to maintain family bonds as philanthropists, that is not surprising. Gen X and Yers are typically quite family-centric. The tension comes.from wanting to have a strong voice and their own style of philanthropy while maintaining family harmony

Millennials don’t think they have to wait to be older and richer. They think they can make meaningful contributions right away, and they do it creatively with new methods and tools.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot     www.pdcounsel.com.

2013 - THE YEAR OF CROSS-GENERATIONAL CONVERSATION

I’m declaring it, and I mean to see it spread as plans for our “big idea” unfold.

Why do we urgently need cross-generational conversation now in the world at work, in these times?  7 reasons.

*  Knowledge transfer is vital. We have more information to capture than ever, so there is more at stake to lose.

*  Businesses need to avoid losing clients and customers of other generations and obtain new ones

*  We need to transform information to knowledge to wisdom. That requires sharing perspectives and mutual mentoring.

*  We are connected to each other facing common problems that we can only solve for the long-term through multigenerational collaboration.

*  Over-emphasis on electronic communication means we are losing the personal touch and the full communication of non-verbal cues.

*  Looming inter-generational wealth transfers are challenged by family member emotional blocks and lack of effective communication

*  Young people are hungry for it. They want to know what older people know. That’s the feedback I get as I talk with and mentor students and young workers in my work.

This year and going forward build awareness and re-think the importance of cross-generational conversation at work.

As Gandhi urged us: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Wishing you all a healthy, joyful, fulfilling and successful new year and fun celebrations!

To learn more and get started, contact me.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com

 

GENERATIONAL CONNECTION OBSESSION

Workplace Factoids from Human Resource Executive. According to surveys:

• 30% of people born after 1980 say they feel anxious if they can’t check Facebook every few minutes.
• 23%vof recent college grads wouldn’t take job if they weren’t allowed to make or receive personal phone calls.
• 46% of 18-24 year olds would rather have access to the Internet than access to their own car.
• The number of hours U.S. college students spending studying declined by 59% from 50 years ago. At the same time, the number of hours students spent working at a job increased by 44%.

INTERVIEW WITH PHYLLIS WEISS HASEROT on COACH WORLD TV

Enjoy and gain some insights on inter-generational challenges, including the need for knowledge transfer and leadership transfer between and across the generations.

Let me know what you think. I welcome comments, questions and all feedback.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com 

 

 

 

Coach World TV with Terry Yoffe, Featuring Phyllis Weiss Haserot ... Coach World TV with Terry Yoffe (Phyllis Weiss Haserot - 09/10/12) www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfwYtuF10Zg

 

CONQUERING INTERGENERATIONAL CHALLENGES MEANS BUSINESS

Workplace intergenerational challenges are a puzzle and an opportunity. When I started this blog in 2006, we were still in an economic boom, and the mantras were “win the talent wars,” be “the employer of choice,” and “reinvention is the new retirement.” Demographics are still our destiny to a large extent. But the environment has changed – and will again. So we’re staying on top of the developments, trends and focused on solutions.

 After almost 6 years it’s time for a renewed Welcome!!!

Visit and subscribe to this blog for continuing insights on how to do it right and make your organization and business relationships better, more profitable and more satisfying for all generations of workers and clients.

Offer your comments and your stories – we love stories – and contribute to the conversation.

            --- Phyllis

 

A NEW GENERATIONAL LABEL: “THE HESITATION GENERATION”

 In his June 21, 2012 HBR blog post Daniel Gulati dubs the approximately 25-34 year old cohort the “hesitation generation,” an expanding class of talented individuals who inadvertently are training themselves to be systematically indecisive.” He says they’ve been taught “to carefully weigh alternatives and pick the path with the highest expected utility.”

As Barry Schwartz explained in his book The Paradox of Choice the more choices the more stressful and difficult to make a decision and the less satisfied with the choice. Social media multiplies the problem because we are able to compare endlessly, solicit numerous opinions and second-guess our choices.

The 25-34 year olds from top-tier schools and work experience Gulati interviewed for his new book Passion & Purpose ranked as the #1 reason for choosing a job, intellectual stimulation. That was a requirement they sought and easily switched employers to find. Many just defer making career decisions. Gulati says generating options can quickly become an end in itself. As a result, “Some of the most talented individuals in the world find themselves stuck in an unending holding pattern, a professional gray zone housing those who have the most options of all and have failed to convert any of them for fear of missing out on all others,” wrote Gulati.

By his own admission, Gulati drew these conclusions from a sample of dozens, hardly a scientific sample or a significant size pool. Apparently he saw some patterns he considers significant.

Add the broader statistics regarding young people returning to their parents’ home in their 20s and delaying marriage and parenting, and perhaps the “Hesitation Generation” label has some validity for some of the Gen Y/Millennials cohort. They have been told to do what they are passionate about. Many may be searching for passion, but not everyone feels passion early on or sometimes, ever.  Or is a desire for options and more learning to keep ourselves marketable a reaction to the times? Desire for options and flexibility has been a typical attribute of Generation X since they entered the world of work in another bad recession and having witnessed the historical employer-employee social contract being ripped to sheds.

Feeling purpose in one’s work, feeling one has a purpose, is very important to career and personal satisfaction. (The young orphan in the recent film “Hugo” talks of everything and everyone having a purpose.) But it may not necessarily go hand in hand with passion or perfection.

My personal experience with people in the 25-34 age group (many in a similar privileged category as Gulati’s interviewees and many not) has been largely positive, but I do recognize some of the symptoms that Gulati talks about and have read much about it.

What are your thoughts on this? Is the “hesitation generation” simply a manifestation of the new life stage between adolescence and adulthood called “enduring adolescence” or “emerging adulthood”? Or is it something else?

Phyllis Weiss Haserot    www.pdcounsel.com

 

PRIVACY CONCERNS ACROSS GENERATIONS

Do you realize how much data has been compiled on you, your habits, preferences, purchases and connections? A front page story in the New York Times Business section 6/16/12 (warning: the actual article is a long one) on a little know company, Acxiom, that collects a huge amount of data on consumers in great detail from their use of the web, purchases online, social media sharing, etc.  Here’s the article link  “You for Sale: Mapping, and Sharing, the Consumer Genome”

To quote the reporter Natasha Singer “It peers deeper into American life than the F.B.I. or the I.R.S., or those prying digital eyes at Facebook and Google. If you are an American adult, the odds are that it knows things like your age, race, sex, weight, height, marital status, education level, politics, buying habits, household health worries, vacation dreams — and on and on.” She continues later on in the article, “It is integrating what it knows about our offline, online and even mobile selves, creating in-depth behavior portraits in pixilated detail. Its executives have called this approach a “360-degree view” on consumers.” Privacy advocates worry it will it could lead to a new era of consumer profiling.

What’s your reaction: Great opportunity for consumers as well as advertisers or scary?

Do you think the privacy issues are a greater concern of the older generations than the Gen Y/Millennials who tend to be much freer about revealing details of their personal lives and activities.? 

Phyllis Weiss Haserot      www.pdcounsel.com 

YOUNG PHILANTHROPY, NEW MODEL – Part II

It’s been characterized as a tribal thing in Silicon Valley – a tribe with young “elders.” Wrote Holly Finn in a recent Wall Street Journal column,  “Philanthropy plays to their strengths. They are resilient, craving results but loving risk. They know how to mobilize millions. Scaling equals success. And they understand technology is transferable, profit to non-profit.”

Look where they give. It’s what they know, they understand, they see as the future: not so much giving to the arts and culture, but to education and growing entrepreneurship, new businesses that will create jobs.

I think that whether we call it impatience or desire for immediacy or living in the moment because of constant change, uncertainly, distrust of or frustration with established institutions and desire to see the impact of their efforts quickly, we can expect Gen X and Gen Y philanthropy to exhibit some similar characteristics:

• Support causes they personally relate to such as educational- and small business-oriented ones, that is, they foster economic growth and innovation;
• Support causes and market-driven helping enterprises that are started and supported by their friends and peers;
• Take active roles as doers, not wait to “pay their dues” in the traditional board hierarchies;
• Use social media, crowdfunding, alliances and joint ventures to gain visibility and have impact faster than in the past – as they do in their businesses and personal life.

It will be interesting to see how new approaches to philanthropy, many enabled and influenced by technology, ripple out to other views about money, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and solving both local and world problems.

Phyllis Weiss Haserot   www.pdcounsel.com