Earn your Sleep!

May 19

Posted by Seth Mattison in Generation Y, Innovation, Leadership | No Comments

Earn your sleep is a phrase I recently came across and it’s been ringing in my ears ever since. I can’t stop thinking about it. So much so that I wrote the phrase on a sticky note and posted it to the refrigerator this morning. The phrase coined by design guru and author Steve Gordon Jr is hitting upon the idea of placing a premium on your time and resting only when you have exhausted the possibilities for that day, not because the clock suggested you shut your eyes. Digging in and completing that final line item before turning out the lights for the day. Earning your sleep.

How many times have you left work or turned in for the night and felt that feeling of disappointment from putting off that project or task that you promised yourself you were going to do that day. I know I’ve been there. Too many times to count. Why do we do that. Is it laziness? Is it that we just get busy? It could be any one of a million little excuses we come up with not to push through and complete what we set out to do. What ever the reasoning, we usually end up feeling like we let ourselves done and another day of progress passes us by.

While in Canada I spoke at a couple of events on the topic of recruiting and motivating Gen Y, and as always when talking about Gen Y, the work life balance conversation came up. Manager after manager shared with me their frustration with my generations work ethic or apparent lack there of. Not earning our sleep so to speak! I hear things like, “You’re generation wants to work where and when you want to.” “I can’t get them to stay past 5!” Or my favorite, “they’re on facebook all day and there’s no way you’re getting work done while on Facebook!” My response is always, are they meeting expectations and completing projects on time? When the response is yes, it’s like, then what’s the problem. If the answer is no then we have a real issue and changes need to be made but assuming that just because a generation goes about completing the work from a different angle doesn’t make it wrong.

Gen Y has a different view of work and logging the long hard hours. We’re not exactly know to be work workaholics. However, I find it very hard to say that as a whole this generation has a bad work ethic. We just have a didn’t idea of when and where the work should be done. And as long as the work is being completed, why are we questioning this generations work ethic? It might look different but different doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

At the same time I do think my generation would be well served in asking ourselves the question, did I earn my sleep today? Did I do everything I could to move the project forward today, to help my team be successful? Did I cross that final item off the list today? I’m all for balance and having a life outside of work but we have to remember that nothing truly remarkable has ever been created while coasting or doing just enough to get by. If we’re going to step up and fill big leadership roles in our organizations we’ve got to be willing to put the time in and do the long hard work. Find the balance, have a life, but remember to check in with yourself and the ask the question, did I earn my sleep today?

Dear Baby Boomers…

May 19

Posted by Seth Mattison in Generational Diversity, Talent Management | No Comments

Last month I was speaking in Philadelphia and upon checking in to my hotel room a magazine at the front desk caught my attention. On the counter was the March issue of Philadelphia Magazine which read in bold letters, Dear Baby Boomers, JUST DIE ALREADY. (We’ll take Philly from here. Thanks.) XOXO, Generation X.

My first thought was, whoa, the East Coast is hardcore! I mean everybody doesn’t always see eye to eye but we don’t usually see one generation rooting for another generations’ death!

Unfortunatley articles like these have set off a ticking time bomb between the generations. This past fall USA Today published an aritcle entiteld, “Will Boomers ever yield the stage?” that set the blogosphere ablaze with backlash towards Xers. Online forums have become generational battle grounds where Boomers , Xers, and even Millennials duke it out over who’s better or worse and whose to blame for the economic and political mess we find ourselves in today.

While it’s easy to stereotype, label, and even get mad at Xers, especially after seeing an article like the one in the Philadelphia Magazine, we have to stop and think about what the past two decades of work have been like for Xers.
When Xers first came into the workplace, Boomers tried to treat them as if they were just like them. Many were left to either sink or swim on their own. Fast forward to today and we see Xers who have worked their way up the corporate ladder are now finding themselves stuck under what we call the “grey ceiling”, waiting for Boomers to move up or out of leadership positions.

On the flip side my generation is breezing into organizations with high expectations, visions of the corner office, and lots of needs. The responsibility of managing us is landing squarely on Generation X’s shoulders. Add it all up and I’d be pretty fed up too! In fact, I think we’d all be.

So how can we overcome this growing sense of animosity?

Millennials- Recognize and appreciate what Xers have accomplished for all of us. They blazed new paths on the work life balance front and helped create many of the benefits we all enjoy today. Don’t take it for granted. We also have to understand that Xers are independent operators and showing up in their office every 15 minutes to collaborate on the latest project is not a good strategy for working with them. Find out how the Xers in your life collaborate best and then work towards finding that middle ground with them.

Boomers – Xers will be tasked with leading us all into the next few decades and having you there to grease the way and support them on the journey will only improve their chances of getting it right. Find ways to allow them to step up and feel supported in leadership roles today because at the end of the day their success is your success. And Xers….I feel your pain but we love our parents so go easy on them.

The Need For Speed (Bumps)

Mar 9

Posted by Seth Mattison in Generation Y, Generational Diversity, Inspiration | No Comments

A few years ago The Washington Post conducted an interesting experiment to see how fast-paced our hectic lives have become. You may have seen it on the internet; it’s called Pearls Before Breakfast. They asked a world-renowned violinist to play in the heart of a busy metro station to see if people would notice pure genius right in front of them. The story made me reflect on my own generation and our intense need for speed.

Millennials love the idea that we can juggle a couple of work projects, four IM conversations, updates to Facebook and twitter, and texts to our moms, all while running to the bus stop.
The question I have and the question The Post asked was: “What are we missing in the present moment because our heads are in the cloud”?

The story goes as follows: One January morning, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for one hour. During that time, a thousand people went through the station, most on their way to work. After three minutes, a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then hurried on to meet his schedule.

Four minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk by.

At ten minutes: A 3-year-old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without exception – forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes: Six people stopped and listened for a short while. 20 people gave money but each continued to walk at their normal pace.
After one hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, he sold out a theater in Boston where seats averaged $100 each to listen to him play the same music. And yet there in that subway station people flew by him, all too busy to notice.
For most of us, life moves at a frantic pace. While it’s great to be able to do five things at once – when it comes to relationships, they require our full attention.
As the new generation on the block, one of the things we may be missing because of our pace is the chance to learn from the other generations’ wisdom.
Most Traditionalists are retired and many Baby Boomers are starting to move on. If we hope to grow into the leaders we all want to be, we need to pull off the fast lane once and awhile and spend a little time on the scenic route with these folks before they, and their vast experience, have left the workplace.

Put Your Game face On! Are You Ready for a Chief Gamer in the Boardroom?

Dec 23

Posted by Seth Mattison in Generation Y, Innovation, Talent Management, Technology | No Comments

As a leading edge Millennial I’m old enough to remember video games like Poll Position on Atari but still young enough to be excited about the recent release Call of Duty Black Ops on Xbox. Video games like these have been a key influence on my generation while growing up but it’s amazing to see the recent transition of video games in the dorm room to video games in the boardroom. As more and more Millennials enter the workplace with extensive gaming experience, executives and training departments are being forced to look for new and innovative ways to incorporate video games into everyday work life.

Just how much video game experience are Millennials bringing with them to the workplace? According to a recent study, the average 21-year-old has spent 2,000 to 3,000 hours reading and more than three times as much playing video and computer games. In the December’s edition of Fast Company, an article titled “Everyone’s a Player” highlighted a number of interesting gaming statistics:

• 97% of 12 to 17-year-olds play computer games. (They’ll be showing up at your orientation soon!)
• Only 35% of C-Suite executives play video games. (Higher than I expected but I have a feeling most are not playing Medal of Honor or World of Warcraft.)
• Price Waterhouse estimates that global sales of video games will reach $68.4 billion in 2012.Why is that important? Because that number is more than the global revenues of film box office & DVDs COMBINED.

Companies like Sun Microsystems, IBM, Lexus, Cisco, and even McKinsey & Co are all harnessing the power of video games to train and improve employees’ skills and reaping the rewards. Even the health care industry has caught on to the advantage of utilizing video games for training. One study funded by Beth Israel Medical Center and the National Institute on Media and Family at Iowa State University found that surgeons who play games three hours a week commit 37% fewer errors and work 27% faster in laparoscopic surgery—which require the use of a joy stick, instruments, and a tiny camera—than doctors who don’t.

So Millennials are showing up with extensive video game experience. What does this mean for you and your company? Similar to the way Facebook and social networking has impacted the business world and the way we communicate, video games will have an impact on the way we train the next generation of employees. Whether it’s today or in the very near future, these games will become a part of your company’s overall strategy to improve employee performance.
Are you ready to get in the game? If not, this may be a perfect opportunity for your Millennials to step up and share their gaming knowledge with the rest of your team and help drive new training innovation.

Generations across the Globe

Dec 12

Posted by Seth Mattison in Uncategorized | No Comments

I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop enjoying an excellent local beer staring at a 150 page research project on generations across the globe. USA, UK, India, China, and South America to be specific. It’s a compilation of the research projects from companies across the globe and it takes an interesting look at the generational breakdown in each of these regions.

When it comes to understanding a particular generation you have to go beyond age and really dig into the events and conditions that took place during that generations formative years to appreciate their generational personality. Most of the work I’ve done up until this point has been looking at and researching the 4 generations showing up in United States. Of course we’ve done a few high-level research projects on the generations across the globe but this will be the first real in depth look at the key differences and commonalities between generations in the US, the UK, China, and Indian.

In the coming post I’ll talk about some of the key characteristics of Millennials born in China, India, and the UK and compare and contrast those traits of US born Millennials. If anyone has extensively researched the generations in these countries, I’d love to connect and talk about the findings. As companies workforce becomes more and more globally diverse, it will be come increasingly important for them to understand their future workforce in every region of the globe. Stay tuned for some interesting generational comparisons.

What Executives are Saying about Gen Y

Dec 6

Posted by Seth Mattison in Generation Y, Generational Diversity, Talent Management | No Comments

When I hung up the phone this morning from chatting with yet another high profile executive from one of the countries largest accounting firms, I couldn’t help but smile. The conversation was on the topic of Millennials in the workplace, in particular the accounting space, and like most conversation I have with executives, the word entitled and work ethic came up multiple times. This particular executive, was for the most part, excited about the ideas and energy that Millennials bring to he’s teams. They’re smart, resourceful, tech savvy, and capable but when it comes time for them to put thier head down and crank, I just don’t see the willingness to put the time in. I just don’t see the willingness to sacrifice for the team, for the company.

I hear comments like this all the time. In fact, in the last year I’ve interviewed hundreds folks from around the country about their experiences with my generation and at some point during just about every conversation, I usually end up defending or owning the entitlement/work ethic argument.

As a Millennial, it bugs me that my generation has been pegged with these characteristics and it doesn’t just bug me because I think it’s a load of crap either. Sometimes I think we can act a bit entitled as a generation. Sometimes we do come in and expect big things right out of the gate from our companies and our bosses, including the ability to speak up and have our ideas heard. However, I think we as a society today can act a bit entitled. You see we grew up watching our role models live in an ever expanding economy where credit was limitless and just about anything was attainable in a relatively short period of time. Our reality of how long things like careers take to build can be a bit misguided but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re always acting entitled.

One of the things we always ask folks when the topic of entitlement comes up is to ask themselves if the actions they’re labeling as entitled really could be considered engagement. Speaking up and pushing back on the way things have always been are often considered entitled behavior. “Who does this generation think they are coming in here and questioning the way we do things when they’ve only been here three months!!” I hear that one all the time. Questioning and pushing back. Try this, next time you have a Millennial pushing back and challenging the status quo, ask yourself, is this entitlement or is this an employee that is so engaged that they care enough to push back, to speak up, to challenge and ultimately try to make this a better place.

Now of course I’m not saying that it’s always engagement. Sometimes we do come in to the workplace with an air of entitlement and to those folks I say, wake up friends, get with the program and eat some humble pie. Push back but make sure you show respect for where the other generations have been. We’ve got much to learn.

When it comes to the generations, amazing things can happen when we take the time to see the world through another generations lens and recognize it’s very rarely black and white but usually many shades of gray.

We All Want to Be Young

Nov 17

Posted by Seth Mattison in Generation Y, Inspiration | No Comments

This is a great new video documenting the youth of every generation. From sex, drugs, and rock n roll to sex, drugs, and….well facebook, the Brazilian research company BOX 1824 has done a remarkable job of encapsulating Boomer, Xers, and Millennials youth. Proving to us that every generation is indeed uniquely shaped by the events and conditions of their formative years and in turn produce a unique generational personality. But it also proves that we share many similar experiences during our youth that tie a common thread through each of us. This video communicates why I love the generations topic so much. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. And remember…no matter your age…always stay forever young at heart.

We All Want to Be Young from box1824 on Vimeo.

Levi’s reinvents their brand and connects with the next generation

Nov 3

Posted by Seth Mattison in Generation Y, Innovation, Inspiration | No Comments

Levi’s is one of the oldest and most recognized brand of jeans in America. The iconic blue jeans brand literally spans generations. From California gold miners at the turn of the century, to James Dean to Justin Beiber. Levi’s blue jeans are literally woven into the fabric of this country.

While the brand lost some of it’s luster during the turn of the 21st century, Levi’s has made a big a come back as of late, not only with consumers but also with potential employees. The company has worked hard to create an employer brand that appeals to and attracts the next generation.

Levi’s is reinventing the way they process and manufacture their iconic jeans and this past week the company made headlines as they revealed a new line of waterless jeans. Traditionally blue jeans are process intensive with some jeans being washed up to ten times and consuming massive amounts water. To cut down on water consumption Levi’s went looking for ways to reduce their water consumption and found opportunities to save during the finishing process and as a result have been able to save an average of 28% with their WaterLess line. Some jeans have cut water use by 96%. The company suspects they’ll be able to save over 16 million gallons of H20 by Spring 2011.

What I love about what Levi’s is doing with this project is that they’re not only making a statement about their brand, they’re making a statement about the kinds of people that work at Levi’s. They’re making a statement about the fact that they take social responsibility seriously and that’s precisely the kind of company I, along with many from my generation want to work with. Now of course there are major cost benefits to reducing your water consumption by those amounts that we can’t say their efforts are entirely altruistic. However, the focus to create quality products while at the same time protecting our environment, as well as local communities, is exactly what motivates my generation to work and buy from a particular company. The key to what Levi’s is doing from an employer branding perspective is that they’re talking about these efforts and broadcasting the message that they are about more than just profits. Many companies today are making an effort to reduce their consumption and waste but very few are talking about these efforts from the perspective of employer branding. If you really want to appeal to the next generation of employees then you have to go beyond your recycling programs and do something that truly changes the game. Levi’s is manufacturing waterless jeans. What can you do with your products? See how far you can take it. You might just surprise yourself.

Mistaking Interruptions for Colllaboration

Aug 9

Posted by Seth Mattison in Generation Y, Generational Diversity, Innovation | No Comments

You’ve all heard about how much Millennials love collaborate and how wonderful we are at multi-tasking. We are known for our ability to collaborate with anyone, anywhere, anytime. The trouble is it can sometimes be very difficult to focus in and get actual work done when we’re constantly “collaborating” and multi-taksing. I don’t know a single Millennial right now that doesn’t struggle with having a million distractions at work. Between facebook, IM, blogs, emails, text messages, the phone, and whatever project you’re suppose to be working, it can be challenging. On top of that you throw in all of your co-workers/friends/managers wanting to collaborate with you during the day and you can pretty much forget about being productive on a consistent basis. I mean how much actual work are you getting done during a given 40+ hour work week and be honest with yourself? Seriously. We have to be more protective of our time and attention or we risk blowing through hours, days, weeks, and months without the kind of productivity we want to achieve.

As managers and leaders, think about how you’re addressing collaboration and what that means to each of the generations you’re managing because I can pretty much guarantee that it’s going to mean something different to each of them.

For Millennials, this is a subject we need to take a closer look at and ask ourselves how much of our collaboration is actually just interruptions from the tasks at hand. Every time we ping someone or obsessively check email, facebook, etc, we’re pulling our attention away from the task at hand and research shows that it takes on average 20 minutes to get back to where you were before you were pulled away.

Jason Fried addresses this and a number of other great issues affecting the way we work today in his latest book ReWork. In the video below he talks about distractions in the workplace. He says we don’t go to work to work anymore, we go to work to get interrupted and in some ways, I think that’s true. One of the key take-aways I got from this video is the idea of structuring collaboration and communication to take place in a manner that isn’t interrupting for people. Create a process that allows individuals to respond to non-urgent issues when they’re ready and available. We have find ways to guard and protect our time so we can stay productive. Are you collaborating or are you interrupting?

Pepsi’s Refresh Project – Tapping Millennials Strong Desire to Contribute

Aug 6

Posted by Seth Mattison in Generation Y, Innovation, Inspiration, Social Media | No Comments

One of the biggest things we hear from Millennials when asking about what motivates them at work is that they want to contribute ideas and they want their voice to be heard. They want to feel like they can contribute and make impact on their company from day one.

We’ve grown up in an environment where our parents have included us in big decisions from an early age. Everything from where we go on vacations to major electronic purchases, we’ve been able to chime in. Of course we didn’t make the final decision in the end but we always got to contribute. So when we show up in the workplace and we’re not allowed to speak up in meetings or contribute ideas, we can feel frustrated and discounted. The exciting thing is a number of companies have started recognizing that ideas can come from anywhere and any generation.

Pepsi launched a very unique campaign this year entitled the “Refresh Project” The project allows individuals to submit ideas in a number of different categories that can make a positive impact on the world. We vote and the best ideas get funded by Pepsi. Anywhere from 10K to 250K grants are awarded to winners. Now Pepsi is doing this from a marketing perspective but think about what your company do to run with an idea like this from an internal innovation perspective. This format works just as well if not better within organizations that are trying to push innovation and new ideas to forefront of their culture. Remember you never know where good ideas might come from and a campaign like this could be just the ticket to get your Millennials engaged and fired up about working for a company that wants to hear their ideas.

Check out the video below talking about how Pepsi is charging all of us with helping to change the world for the better. Love it.

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