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The Impatient Generation (Part 2)
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In my previous post I briefly described the impatient nature and the formative years of today’s 20-somethings entering the working world; a group of dynamic, hard-working, exciting, charismatic, and fundamentally flawed people who want big paychecks and top jobs immediately. Now that we have a deeper understanding of their environment growing up, the big question moving forward is: how will this affect the world in the future? While the answer is uncertain, there will be a few defining moments we can all look for to see which direction things are moving in. Some of these moments will happen soon, others down the road, and possibly the most important one will not be known for at least twenty more years. Lastly, we’ll have to look at their parents and how they responded to the world around them for some more insight into how generations have handled the future.
The first thing to look for will happen this year: how is this generation going to affect the Presidential election? Voter turnout in general declined steadily from 1960 until the 1996 election (with a spike in 1992), yet is has increased starting with 2000. Not only will the upcoming election be a pivotal moment in the United States, it will be interesting to see if voter turnout continues to increase and if this younger generation reverses the trend and becomes a significant voting force or not. I will admit, from the first Presidential election I was eligible to vote in (2000) I felt like information about the candidates was at my fingertips. With time I realize how connected we are, and how that might be the thing that drives us to vote and make our voices heard. If we turn out in a higher percentage than the national average, that would be a positive sign; it would point towards this generation as being proactive in their life and society as a whole.
Over the next five to ten years we will begin to see the impact of this generation on the business world. Many current 20-somethings will have moved into middle management or started their own companies. What we need to look for is who moves into higher positions, what skill sets they possess, and what direction they push the company in. Although many people in this generation seem to be weak fundamentally when it comes to written and verbal communication skills, it will be those who can communicate effectively with upper management AND people their age that will most likely advance their careers. If these people share the vision many people this generation has – a focus on work/family balance and a return to when companies took care of their employees – this would likely cause employees to stick with their employers longer and explore fewer careers throughout their lifetime. That is, assuming these employees are willing to sacrifice their rockstar dreams for a little stability and loyalty.
As I said before, many have already written off Social Security and expect to need to find a different way to pay their bills later on in life. What will be interesting is this generation’s spending and investing habits. Most Americans have barely any assets besides their home and little or no savings; people in most other developed countries are likely to save a significant portion of what they make. I pointed out that many, including myself, leave college with significant debt and less-than stellar paychecks compared to the past. How we handle our money once we’ve paid off that debt will be huge. Look at the economy right now – banks and lending companies are showing huge losses if they had not gone under already, because some less-than savvy businessmen saw an opportunity to make a quick buck. If this generation does not develop a better personal understanding of finances, investments, savings, and debt than we’ve seen recently, expect inflation to continue out-pacing the increase in wages and the economic cycles to be less favorable than past decades.
What I expect to be the biggest factor in how things will turn out is the way this generation raises their own children. This is where we have to look at the parents of this current generation. Most of them are baby boomers, which can be divided into two groups. The first decade of boomers lived through JFK, MLK, and the social revolution that happened in the 60’s. They are considered to be individualistic and focus on social causes. The second decade of boomers lived through Nixon, focused more on the Cold War, and grew up during rapid inflation and the gasoline shortages. They are considered to be more cynical and do not trust the government. On the positive side, they have pushed to create a more accepting society, causing dramatic shifts in what’s acceptable. On the flip side, many have essentially dubbed them a group of people who are selfish, short-sighted, and unwilling to accept simple realities such as aging and death.
The Impatient Generation grew up in an environment where respect, long-term vision, and facing reality were not required. Many are soft exiting college, at first not realizing that obstacles are the real opportunities in life, and skirting around them means they’ll never really grow or move up in the world. However, people are getting married and having kids later in life. It’s quite possible that this generation will face reality, get a grip on things, and let their kids understand life’s ups and downs. It’s also possible that they’ll follow in their parents footsteps and create a new legion of children who grew up on MTV and video games, with little regard for their grades and who turn out to be even more of a problem. We have a really good idea of what might happen and why. The question now is: what does this generation need to do to make things right?
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