A caller asked what advice I had for the graduating class of 2011. He introduced the subject by describing how successful his youngest daughter had become. She was five years out of college and making a salary none of us dared dream at her age. His concern was not for her financial future but for her ability to relate to those around her.
“She’s as bright as she can be, and personable, too,” he said, “but she doesn’t have a life outside her job. Her friends are all in technology as she is, and they’re all running at warp speed. Her mother and I barely have a conversation with her. She crackles with energy, but it’s all between her ears. She’s as wired as the equipment she works on. When we ask her about taking a little time off for the holidays, for vacations, she bristles. “Now’s not the time. I could fall behind.”
“When IS the time?” we ask.
“When I retire.” she sighs, wearily, “in the next few years.”
She’s 25 years old.
Her dad is an impressive guy; chief operating officer for a mid sized manufacturer who’s not gotten where he is by slacking off. He’s clearly concerned for his talented daughter.
I asked him why. He thought about it for a while and this was his reply:
“I watch bright kids coming into our company. They’re intense. They’re smart. They’re competitive. They want to prove just how good they are. We offer them high salaries, competitive benefits, and flexible work options. We don’t want them burning out and we can’t afford for them to leave. We have a heavy investment in them and they’re got our inventory locked in their heads.
They do the job we ask and more. But they don’t connect with the other employees. Maybe without meaning to, they set up adversarial relationships with their colleagues and that makes them difficult to work with.
So, to answer your question, I’m not worried about my daughter in a conventional sense. I’m concerned about this whole generation of young people. I’m concerned about a disconnect I see in this group. They don’t relate as we did and they don’t conduct business as we do. I’m not sure if they’re lacking our acumen or that we’re lacking theirs.”
That took us to the question at hand: what’s in store for these new graduates? What limitations might they experience? The fast crowd with the entrepreneurial spirit goes where it wants. They’re not concerned about who they travel with as long as they’re not held back. They want unlimited resources, cutting edge training, and no limits.
What can undo these young folks? Consensus building, conventional thinking, and each other. The technology field is frustrated by its inability to attract strong people managers even while dissuading those who would be.
How’s that? Those who are drawn to a field of unrelenting change do whatever it takes to stay current. It’s impossible, of course, but they are driven toward the effort. It’s the draw as well as the payoff. The biggest bucks go to those who know what’s hot and can provide it. Any time spent away from the keyboard is time wasted. Technology evolves. No loitering. People skills are rooted in time, process and patience and are neither valued nor pursued.
What can we learn from the Class of ’11? That complacency doesn’t win and this crowd wants to win. Their brand of urgency isn’t driven by anxiety. They’ve got plenty of the former, and that probably gives the rest of us plenty of the latter.
Their sense of urgency stimulates extra effort and makes them try harder. Urgency enables them to do more with less and do it faster.
The Class of 2011 and beyond will need to combine their passion for action with a vision that the rest of us can understand. They will need to move beyond mobilizing their own interests to mobilizing those around them. They will, in short, need to become leaders who drive the engines of technology to a values driven prosperity everyone can believe in.
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Yes! You may use this article by Executive and Career Coach, Joyce Richman, in your blog, article in your blog, newsletter or website as long as you include the following bio box:
Joyce Richman (www.joycerichman.com) has been specializing in executive and career coaching since she started her own practice in 1982. She works in a variety of environments including: higher education, manufacturing, sales, marketing, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, banking and finance, service, IT, and non-profit sectors. A member of the adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, Joyce is certified to administer a number of feedback and psychological instruments. Joyce is a weekly guest on WFMY-TV and the career columnist for The Greensboro News & Record. She is the author of Roads, Routes and Ruts: A Guidebook to Career Success and co-author of Getting Your Kid Out of the House and Into a Job. A popular speaker, Richman conducts seminars and workshops throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Her coaching profile can be found at TheCoachingAssociation.com
