Every Millennial’s Challenge
Hello and welcome to Living Right with Bill Cortright Blog. I am writing this Blog to share with my Millennial followers in The Stress Mastery Podcast and to parents and employers like myself who works and are raising this generation. Last week I was invited into an amazing company called HubSpot. HubSpot (a company based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts) develops and markets a software with two separate platforms; one for marketing and one for sales. I was there with a colleague and we were brought in to create a video series on work-life balance. Most if not close to all the employees I saw were of the Millennial generation a group roughly defined as those born between 1983 and 1999 (ages 17-33.) Now I have seven children that falls into this group and one 15-year-old so I have a lot of interaction with this generation. What I saw at HubSpot has changed my entire perspective on how I feel about the Millennial work force but more on that later.
Millennial Programming
Millennials may be the most baffling generation till date. In the professional environment, work habits of millennials differ from those of the Generation Xers and Baby Boomers, causing friction and frustration. These earlier generations have a tendency of stereotyping millennials as being “lazy”, “entitled” and “arrogant” and this could not be further from the truth, the truth is millennials have been given bad programming. In Stress Mastery, I teach there are two survival responses when it comes to stress, the stress response which is the physiological response to stress and Tribalization which is the programming we carry in our subconscious mind designed for us to carry the tribe’s beliefs, values and rituals to the next generation.
The Tribalization process happens the first seven-years of our lives as our brain operates in a recording level so we can take to the tribe quickly. This survival program is the programming that makes up much of our, concepts, values, habits, and beliefs on how things are supposed to work with our tribe. It is this programming that gives us our self-concept and forms our actions that we will and will not take in our lives. The Tribalization process is passed from generation to generation and designed to pass our rituals and concepts to the future generation.
So, let’s take a closer look at the Millennial generation. Human civilization has seen three major revolutions in its history. We had the Agricultural Revolution of the ancient times, the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th to early 19th century and finally, the Digital/Tech revolution in which we currently live. Thru history it would take hundreds of years or at least many decades before culture would have a huge shift. The Millennial was born 1983 so their Tribalization process would end in 1990 (Note: This is when the Comfort Zone Cage closed its door. These programs are designed and protected not to change).
In 1990, the total amount of cellphone subscribers was only 12.4 million — 0.25% of the world's population at that time. In 2002, 1.17 billion people had cellphones — 19% of the world's population. By 2010, the number of cellphone subscribers has gone up to 4 billion — roughly 67% of the world's population.
The Millennial was given their Tribalization programming for work, money, health, relationships, etc. that was rooted with programs that were non-existent in the world they were living in. This is what causes them to be rebellious because the programming WE gave them does not fit into their reality. Because of this they are more anxious, and somewhat lost on the direction of how life should be lived. We programmed them to go to school, get an education, find that job with benefits and work 40-years to retirement. The problem with the programming they received it just is not true any longer in today’s world. Our world changed completely overnight and it is still in a full free fall of change. There were not hundreds of years of time between the fax machine and the personal computer to the smart phone. The Millennial is caught in-between the concepts we gave them and the truth of how things work today.
Understanding the Millennial
They think quality over quantity. The Millennial wants to feel good about what they are doing and where they are putting their time. My generation looks at this as entitlement but I can now see this is because they don’t live for the future. We were programmed to plan for retirement but because the Millennial is swarmed by an ever-changing environment since the day they were born they are focused on feeling good today and making a difference.
They challenge the old paradigm of career. Getting a job and being with one company for a lifetime is not a top consideration for Millennials. They are looking for companies that are making an impact. They are also looking for a company that will allow them to grow both mentally and their role professionally.
They are about customization. We grew up with three television stations and a teacher handing us a stack of books with the assignment written on a chalk board. I remember seeing some of the science text books that were passed down for a decade. Now if you are in the wellness industry teaching the same concepts you did two years ago you are behind. Millennials grew up with hand held smart phones that act as a computer with blazing fast information on the spot. Millennials can join a work force and see how to increase inefficiency by customizing their work to fit their skill set. We feel this is insubordination as we have done this work like this for years.
They wish to work as a team. Millennials are team oriented but not meeting conducive. They are about communication and when given authority they are problem solvers. Millennials were the first generation to have social contact at all times. They were the first to use portable devices to stay connected with the world. They were the first to have external stimuli at their fingertips always connected. Teamwork is something Millennials enjoy. Having grown up in an environment that fosters teamwork, most Millennials like working in groups and we highly prefer a sense of unity and collaboration over division and competition. They look for support and reassurance among our peers, and are a highly social generation.
The Millennial Challenge
Employees of generation-x and my fellow baby boomers often complain of the inability of millennials to adequately conform to the demands of a professional environment. Almost 40 percent of all millennials have tattoos that are often considered unprofessional in corporate settings. Others complain that millennials often take liberties with the dress code, indulge in gossip unbecoming of someone in a professional setup, are unable to adequately and accurately exercise discretion and even lack professional email etiquette. But the millennials do not really give all of this too much importance, they want to produce results their way.
The most important thing a Millennial can do at a young age is start personal development. It is through personal development that we can change the operating system of our lives which is dictated by the Tribalization process described above. If you are a Millennial or a parent of one and it seems like you don’t fit into the world it is because you really don’t fit into the programming of the past generations. The challenge is if you don’t work on yourself you will feel anxious and like you are spinning your wheels. Companies are slow to change their tribal rituals so it is imperative that you find your place. Read books, take courses, join groups, get a coach, a mentor, but do something! It is also imperative you find a company and or the work that fits your constitution.
This brings me to HubSpot a company that embraces the Millennial and is ranked as one of the companies for the Millennial to work. This is a quote from an employee you will see how everything described in this blog is taken care of.
“Management’s style strikes a great balance between the natural extremes of no direction and micromanagement. They start with the assumption that you are working hard and doing your best and, rather than seeking to implement systems that monitor employees in an effort to verify this assumption, look only to whether you or your team is achieving its goals and moving the company forward. This creates an atmosphere where people are treated as the responsible and competent adults that they are, and in which they can feel free to engage in the substance of their work rather than spend time in pursuit of looking good. It’s a surprisingly healthy work environment.”
-HubSpot Employee
If you have questions or comments I look forward to hearing from you. You can contact me at my email bill@LivingRightWithBillCortright.com Join me every Monday thru Friday on The Stress Mastery Podcast.
StayInspired
Bill
Aug 23rd, 2017
Who is Bill Cortright? Bill is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, high-level coach, wellness specialist and a foremost expert in the field of stress and stress management. Bill’s purpose is to motivate, educate and inspire people to live their most authentic life. Host “The Stress Mastery Podcast”.