Generation Y is leading us into the future

Compiled by Ashley Mwanza

Billy Wilkerson wrote that Generation Y is definitely living up to its name. Why, why, why, everything is ‘why’ these days. It appears that the good old days of say it and obey it are over and behind us. Blind faith leadership is becoming a thing of the past. After all, as Colin Powell said, “if you have a yes man working for you, one of you is redundant.” Yes men, and women, add no value to problem solving. This is not to be confused with the need for command structure on an emerging emergency scene. But, when there is time, “WHY” has its place.

Today’s challenges are more complex than ever before. With twitter, facebook, linkedin, google, iPhone, etc., technology is changing the way we interact with the world, and Generation Y is changing the way we once blindly accepted the status quo. This generation will redefine problem solving. By not being afraid to ask why, they will learn instinctually how to solve problems at the root cause level. They force the previous generations to intelligently support their methods of doing business with facts. And when they can’t, this forces them to change. Without even realizing it, Generation Y is leading us into the future, thereby demonstrating their true ability to lead.

Generation Y have grown up in a very different world, therefore inevitably their values and conditioning is different.

This true story illustrates how easy it is for conflict to arise between the generations. A young high-flier in an ad agency emailed the CEO to tell him that he disagreed with a decision that he had taken. The CEO responded immediately saying “I have run this company for X years and I think I know what I am doing”. The young graduate replied by saying “I realise this is an uncomfortable conversation but I am not the only one who thinks this” And he went on to give reasons and rationale as to why he disagreed with the decision. The CEO, although he had always said he welcomed feedback, ‘open-door’ policy and all that, was indignant at receiving this email from this young upstart.

I firmly believe that there are many assumptions and practices in the world that need challenging. And much of what Generation Y is challenging needs to be challenged.

The young man in this story didn’t want to stay silent when he thought a mistake was being made. It did not occur to him that he may annoy his boss and their bosses by going over their heads and emailing the CEO direct. He did not know that the hierarchy and your status in it was such a big deal. He couldn’t understand why he received such a terse reply from the CEO. The problem is that the CEO grew up in a very different time when you did not challenge the boss. By emailing in this way he had spoken to the person not the position. Long ago people were conditioned into speaking to the ‘position’ not the ‘person’.

This was a clear case of each person judging the other on their behaviour not on their intentions. And of not understanding the rules of the other’s game. Barack Obama in his inauguration speech said, “What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.” Later on in the same speech he said “For the world has changed, and we must change with it.” We need to move with the times and stay on course, whole generations will need to be engaged to think and act in a way that matches the scale of the challenge/s we face today. This is an exhilarating time to be alive as society is challenged to re-design and re-think many of its assumptions about progress, development and the finite capacity of the Earth to provide the resources necessary to sustain the human enterprise.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

One day in the not so distant future, men and women of all ages and races will come to realise that change we can believe in, change we can achieve, and that change waits for no one because “WE are the ones we've been waiting for!”