Photo by Julián Gentilezza on Unsplash
Ilya Pozin contends millennials are taking over, and companies can’t afford to miss out on this generation of consumers.
Businesses are seeing, Pozin argues, an increase in millennials entering the workforce at a rapid rate. As of 2012, they are the first generation to surpass Baby Boomers in numbers. In 2017 [and now going into 2018], businesses can expect the shift of generations in the marketplace to change even more drastically, and if they’re not prepared, they will suffer.
Millennials are driving changes in business climate and culture, while slow adopters are being left behind, as innovators and early adopters are becoming experts at optimizing the use of new models for human talent to drive productivity, innovative products and services, and customer relationships.
Innovators and early adopters are becoming experts in their passion to create sustainable environments in organizations that put people first and grow authentic human-centric places to work.
Results are innovative business models and processes that drive economic growth for all stakeholders.
What’s missing?
In IWB speak: A bandwidth of psychological insights showing how, where, and why we connect with each other the way we do.
For millennials — Mindshare is often more important than Market Share — not just a big Footprint.
People see what they want to see, and hear what they want to hear. The choices we make in “normalizing the abnormal as an art form” are often hidden. These choices are very dangerous to the health of organizations.
Success and failure in organizations are linked to human behavior — what people do, how they do it, and especially “why they do it.”
Everyone has stories to tell, and everyone deserves a chance to tell their story.
Multiple worldviews, mental models, mindscapes, and cultural differences exist amongst us all, as do creative ways to bridge them.
Organizations do not make people, people make organizations. Neither do job titles make people, people make job titles and people bequeath them with authentic power.
Unlike predecessors, millenials are refusing passion for becoming brainboxes or brilliant fact collectors who fit neatly and confortably within political correctness, tick-the-right-boxers, or plug-and-players.
So, what’s the integral calculus here?
Helping organizations and stakeholders treasure individuals and interactions over the wizardry and magic potions of process and tools, data and technique.
The private, public, and social sectors are full of examples of enterprises who are failing to adapt or survive in their operating environments.
Would you like to avoid being or becoming a theme park dinosaur in your industry?
Adaptability and resiliency require a willingness to abandon routines, reboot the mind, see and lead in the dark, craft new realities, and build on existing strengths.
Don’t lie to anyone, but particularly don’t lie to millennials. They just know. They can smell it. Be yourself: if you’re old, be old. If you don’t know anything about pop culture, don’t pretend to know anything about pop culture. When you credit teenagers with intelligence and emotional sophistication, they respond intelligently and with emotional sophistication. — John Green
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Originally published at Medium on January 19, 2018
