Stamping out stereotypes!
Posted on November 27, 2007
Filed Under Off the beaten path, Career Development, Gen X, Gen Y
Ok, I’ve had it with generational stereotypes! Every time I turn around it’s Gen Y is this or Gen X is that. I can’t take it anymore. Every generation is made up of millions of individuals, we shouldn’t be lumping them all into any one category or two or three. Granted there are trends within each generation, that’s inevitable, but when we allow these trends to become perception what we’ve really done is exclude the masses and we’ve discounted their value.
Here’s my favorite recent stereotyping example from (name withheld to protect the blogger) 
:
One of the great new additions to the world of recruiting blogs a/k/a the recruiting blogosphere is Mark Liston of Valpak. He just posted a great blog entry in which he gave an example of how a Gen Y sales rep would handle his work differently than his Gen X and Baby Boomer counterparts:
Recently a boomer asked me to describe the differences of the three working generations. My perception is the following. The scenario is that it is 10 a.m. in an office with three sales people - a boomer, an X’er and a Millenial. The Sales Manager tells each of them that we need to get new sales and the sales manager wants them to go out prospecting and come back with four appointments. I envision the following:
- The millennial is back by noon announcing that they have their four appointments, have a lunch appointment with their friend and will be back in the office right after lunch.
- The gen x’er starts to argue with the sales manager and asks why they have to go out of the office to prospect. Why they can’t just use the phone to set the appointments and save some gas. They then ask why new sales are so important and get into a philosophical debate on growing new customers versus having to get new customers. At the end of the argument everyone is frustrated.
- The boomer grabs a cup of coffee and tells the rest of the people in the office how he used to be able to get 10 appointments a day. He goes on ad nauseam about how he knocked on doors, got around the gatekeeper, made huge sales to the president of the company, etc. By lunch time he is still in the office pontificating.
C’mon bloggers, let’s take a stand, no more sterotypes, let the individual rule!
Until next time…
It’s interesting that Mark’s post though talks about the generalization of generations (say that 3 times fast) and kinda speaks out against it. I think him pointing out the differences is to call attention the stereotypes, I don’t think he’s necessarily supporting them. I could be wrong though but it’s how I read his post.
Rosie- My intention in using this example wasn’t to throw Mark under the bus, rather to use it as an example of how often we see generational stereotypes used today. I agree Mark’s anecdote is a bit tongue in cheek.
We have been thrown under the bus for quite some time now. Ever since I have been in the HR and Recruitment field, I have seen post after post after article on how Gen-Y behaves, or how Gen-X reacts to Gen-Y and then they throw ridiculous claims of helicoptering parents and bad work ethic. Are they blind to all the good work we have been able to accomplish? But hey, my parents didn’t job hop, want to be recognized on the job, want to spend more time on the couch, or work so hard to have a better life for their family. Or did they?
What goes around comes back around!
Greg’s last blog post..Dreams and Dremaing Big
Meanwhile the Gen-Jones’er (1954-1964) will have gone out and quietly made 10 sales since they’re used to dealing with the Boomer’s hogging the spotlight and the X-er’s getting attention by whining about everything.
Frank C’s last blog post..Some Links: EntreCard Edition
@Frank - as a fellow Gen-Jones’er I love it!
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