Quote:
Originally Posted by futuretalk
How do generations approach the workplace? Silents seek loyalty and responsibility; Boomers want money, respect and peer recognition; Gen Xers love appreciation from the boss and stock options; Millennials value time-off and mentoring; and in a future where most human jobs will be lost to automation, Zogs could become tomorrow’s wealthiest entrepreneurs.
Can radically different generations deliver tomorrow’s “magical future?” Positive Futurists believe they can. Comments welcome.
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Up until this part of your very interesting dissection of culture, you had me. I thought it was the best such summation of generations I'd seen in a long time.
I was born in 1946, an early but quintessential baby boomer.
The people running seminars and doing supervisor training at the university where I worked told my supervisors I would be more interested in time than in money, much more interested in my life outside work than my life at work, wouldn't care that much about what co-workers thought about me, and anything that could be done to give me more flexibility in my schedule would make me a more loyal worker.
My supervisors didn't care about providing flexibility, so I provided it for myself. I retired at 55, after years of thinking how I coiuld survive on practically nothing. I love my life with no alarm clocks, no bosses, and no money--as the training people said I would. I'm surrounded by pets, plants, books, art, and memories. Although I've lost my parents, who were central to my existence, I'm still somehow happier than I've ever been in my life. Again, those training people were exactly right.
I'm curious about your sources, since you cite none. I'm sure you were relying on good information, but I'd like to know who said I'd "want money, respect and peer recognition." That isn't me, and in fact it's someone I don't recognize at all.
Over the years, being in the first wave of the baby boom has had its advantages. It has always seemed that if I started to want something, no matter how bizarre, within six months it would be available for me. The future purchasing power I represented would dictate a change in manufacturing to satisfy my whims. That's why I have the confidence to challenge that one minor part of your otherwise fascinating post.
--lemit
