What Gen Y Stands For
Due to popular demand, here is another blog by Jon, a Gen Y colleague. I’ll start writing again for the next blog.
One of the defining characteristics of Gen Y is our love and need for immediacy. Raised in an on-demand world, we expect to have anything we desire just by googling it.
The uncertain world we grew up in enforced our love for instant gratification. Knowing there is no guarantee that tomorrow won’t bring some terrible environmental disaster or terrorist attack makes us realize how important today is.
The global financial disaster we now face has only increased our awareness of how unsure the future is. It is heart-breaking to see lives ruined by diminished 401k’s and rising unemployment. But as we look upon these hard times, it is a certainty to Y’s that better times lay ahead. In hard times only the strong can survive, and we are seeing that now. When “old-school” companies, unable to adjust to the global economy, shut down or restructure, it opens the doors for new and more efficient companies to to spring up. Companies built for Y’s, and eventually managed by Y’s, are the way of the future.
All of a sudden it matters what a company stands for and how it gives back to the world. In addition to the companies focusing on giving back, there is an increased push from Gen Y individuals to make a difference. More and more young people (fueled by the recession or not) are choosing to make use of their talents in ways that are aimed at universal, not personal, gains.
Without doubt, this recession has a light at the end of the tunnel. With our generation looking for meaningful and enjoyable work, I suspect that more and more of us will shift our focus to building wealth not defined by bank accounts. It seems promising that our legacy comes from our desire to give back to the world we were raised in and to leave it better than we found it.
Jon Yale-Loehr recently graduated from Boston University and is currently working at Book of Odds. He is the co-author of our soon to be published book, Managing the Unmanageable: 21 Management Topics for Succeeding with Gen Y. He can be contacted at jyaleloehr@gmail.com.
