A couple of items caught my attention this morning.
First was a post in The Millennier in which Leah Hennessy knocks all the “well intentioned but TERRIBLE advice” about Millennials that pops up all over the Internet. She gives the example of a condescending employee handbook aimed at Millennials, and suggests a simple cure: Recruit a couple of Millennials to create the handbook, and it will resonate.
This confirms something that the University WebChat team has said on this blog and in our white paper. Get your students involved in the recruiting process. Put them on your chats and blogs. Let them make and post a video about your institution. Seriously, mull this over during the weekend.
And while we’re on the topic of weekend mullings, here’s something else to think about.
USA Today ran yet another story about the most-talked-about generation. And the paper came up with a new name for them: The Recession Generation.
About a third of the way in, the article quotes an adolescent psychologist who says Millennials are seeking “happiness not based on economic success.” He notes, “they talk more about having autonomy and freedom, not being as enslaved to material goals that they perceived their parents being caught up in.”
It struck me that this is more or less what experts were saying about Generation X a couple of decades ago. And about the Boomers before that.
“Generation X” got their title by rejecting the values and lifelong career paths of their parents. Freedom and autonomy were so important to young X-ers that in The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe, Generation X is called “The Nomad Generation.”
The world is being flooded with research and data and commentary that imply Millennials are a new species, or a freak of nature. The technology and means of communication may have changed, as they always do, but basic human nature stays the same. All you need is an iPhone, a good blog and some webchat software. If you’re still uneasy, take Leah’s advice and recruit a few Millennials to help you out.
In many ways Millennials really are different. But a lot of what passes as characteristic of a new generation is really characteristic of youth in every generation. Don’t let the issue get too clouded. Keep it real.
