e-Tips

As professionals and executives become more senior, there is often a desire or expectation that they will want to devote themselves to "good works" as a legacy. The philanthropic and pro bono world is watching. But pro bono, volunteering, unpaid work is not for everyone. So I had an interesting thought…

Recently I read still another article on the gap between how college graduates are educated and the skills employers say they need. Despite all the talk about more STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) education, especially for women, that’s not what employers are crying for. Here's my suggestion.

The advertising industry is just one of many struggling with inter-generational challenges and how to benefit best from and work harmoniously with the huge, impatient, Gen Y/Millennial generation. Their impact will be felt not only in the workplace itself, but also in how they influence consumers of advertising, media and products and services.

Since interest in social media as a key marketing strategy shows no signs of waning, I thought I’d share responses I prepared when I served as a panelist on “social media and the generations,” one of the topics for Social Media Week.

I became aware of My Loud Speaker, an all-Millennial Canadian advertising agency, when they started to follow me on Twitter. Checking them out on their blog site, I found a wonderfully insightful post by one of the partners, Matthew Tsang. He gave his perspective on what he deemed the top five issues that can stand in the way of their career and life success – and he says they are working on them.

When I started focusing on inter-generational issues intensively again in 2004 and started my monthly e-Tips in July of that year, it was sparked by the increase in questions and stories of frustration I was getting from clients and others about young professionals’ shortcomings in communicating and working with clients older than they were. Then some Traditionalists told me their own stories about discomfort working with clients in their 30s and 20s. From these concerns it was clear that this was a bottom line issue: They were concerned about causing client dissatisfaction and potentially losing significant business currently and in the future. It was also likely that many firms didn’t even recognize that generational differences and challenges were responsible for the threat. I speculate that is true today as well. Given the significant danger of losing clients or not attracting new ones because of inter-generational issues, I have been helping firms and individuals to understand and benefit from the generational influences and behaviors that secure relationships for business development and retention.

Unresolved inter-generational tensions can cause stress that decreases engagement, productivity and ultimately, profitability. The symptoms are likely to strike workers at all levels and management – up to the top. This e-tip lists 5 common symptoms and then gives 5 approaches to avoiding the potential stress.

Wouldn’t we all like a jumpstart in the fast-paced and competitive work world? When facilitating discussions within groups of students and alumni or other multi-generational groups I often ask: “What do you wish your knew sooner in your career?” Recently on the Cross-Generational Conversation group on Linkedin I asked members to name three things. I share here highlights of the results as well as additional contributions from other online and in-person forums.