Millennials' New Mantra: Have Less, Imagine More
The Millennials, who were supposed to be the harbingers of a global interwebbed knowledge-based prosperity, are now inheritors of one of the greatest collapses of collective judgment this century has seen. Are they in denial, in disappointment or simply in disbelief?
Some recent research we've conducted at JWT, part of our AnxietyIndex.com, provides a window into some answers. We found that more than 60 percent of today's youth believe their generation is receiving an unfair blow due to this recession.
This makes sense. Raised in a time of inflated prosperity, full of golden promises and expectations, Millenials were marred in the media as "entitled" and "narcissistic," the "Me Generation." Their career prospects appeared virtually limitless, their optimism buoyed by our faulty assumption that China would do America's saving while the U.S. spent itself rich.
As that myth unravels, in pace with the global balancing of current accounts, America's youth will shoulder a heavy portion of the fallout, most notably a rapidly shrinking job market with no clear end in sight. While we at JWT have noted that yesterday's "me" mentality is trending more toward "we"--thanks to Obama and other factors--that doesn't soften the blow of watching your opportunities shrivel in step with the stock market.
This can have severe cultural consequences, ones that define an era. In 1951 Time doomed the children of the Great Depression as the Silent Generation. As the New York Times' Kate Zernike put it, they were cast as "a generally drab lot: cautious and resigned, uninterested in striking out in new directions or shaping the great issues of the day--the outwardly efficient types whose inner agonies the novel Revolutionary Road would dissect a decade later."
Will today's youth suffer a similar fate? I don't think so. Unlike their counterparts in the '30s, they're reading the tea leaves through a different lens. More than a quarter of Millennials in our study said that if they lose or have trouble finding a job, they'll start their own business. And more than a third said they have friends who are doing interesting entrepreneurial things to make more money.
While youth of the Great Depression flocked to trusted organizations and institutions, valuing corporate continuity over the thrill of entrepreneurship, the pendulum appears to be swinging in the other direction. As confidence in mega-multinationals declines, youth appear prepared to venture into the uncharted. They're asking, "If this whole mess is the result of a system broken at its core, why not just reinvent it instead of trying to fix it?"
The time may be ripe for just that. In fact, downturns have been historically friendly to startups, product innovations and disruptive technologies, those that, in hindsight, have proved to be game-changing business models or breakthrough products or services. GE, HP, Trader Joe's, FedEx and Microsoft all grew out of economic adversity. Seemingly simple inventions--text ads and no-frills search--that were born from recessionary constraints became the monolith we know as Google. Necessity is the mother of invention--or in other words: Have less, imagine more.
Business academia has been preaching the same narrative: Recessions are the best time to bring a product to market and widen the gap between you and the competition. Markets voice their needs better in a downturn, when the competition has thinned and fewer parties are chasing the same demands with duplicative new products or services.
So rather than retreating into a silent shell, youth today are seeking out opportunity and creating things that were harder to imagine in a boom economy. Look at the artist colonies rising from the ashes of Detroit's neglected neighborhoods: Young couples are transforming beaten-down $500 homes into tomorrow's creative communities.
And for another illustration of the optimism youth are finding in the downturn, look at the startup New Work City. This co-op office share in Manhattan marries the need for flexible work space with the mission to incubate and connect entrepreneurs. In a down economy--with more people flying solo--this new membership-driven enterprise is rightly sizing the market's demand for flexible prime real estate. This "recession busting" program seeks to unlock creative spirit through collaboration and community.
Today, collaboration and community are being propelled in large part by technology. The same platforms that make this generation the most globally connected and culturally aware in history also dramatically lower many of the traditional barriers to entry that startups face. Facebook is the new contact management software, Twitter the new newswire. Virtual networks and pre-existing sites and services represent enormous efficiencies that only the Millennial generation has the collective wherewithal to maximize.
Armed with a WordPress account and a keen curatorial eye, young entrepreneurs in the ad business are carving a niche for themselves as independent consultants, social media gurus and virtually networked hot shops. Take Josh Spear, a 24-year-old marketing strategist, trendspotter and recent inductee into the World Economic Forum's Young Global Leaders group. He's built a religious following on his blog, and his insights are in high demand by the Fortune 500 precisely because they represent a fresh departure from the stale status quo. I've met him on several occasions, and each time I think, "If this guy's the representative Millennial, we're all in good hands."
So while the twentysomethings of today have every right to be angry and disappointed, they're not letting resentment get the best of them. Their optimism and self-reliance stand in defiance of the depressing headlines. That spirit should guide all of us who are in the driver's seat as we brace for the rough ride ahead.
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The is from the CEO of the ad agency that handles the Marines, De Beers Diamond Mines, Shell Oil and Merrill Lynch. Hello?
Interesting post, but it’s missing an important part of the equation: Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X. Google Generation Jones, and you’ll see it’s gotten a ton of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) now specifically use this term.
JWT BOOM, a division of JWT focusing on middle-aged people, had a keynote speech at their last conference about Generation Jones. As CEO of JWT, your ommission in this article is surprising.
It is important to distinguish between the post-WWII demographic boom in births vs. the cultural generations born during that era. Generations are a function of the common formative experiences of its members, not the fertility rates of its parents. Many experts now believe it breaks down this way:
DEMOGRAPHIC boom in babies: 1946-1964
Baby Boom GENERATION: 1942-1953
Generation Jones: 1954-1965
Generation X: 1966-1978
Here is a recent op-ed about GenJones as the new generation of leadership in USA TODAY:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090127/column27_st.art.htm
Great article on USA Today - Thanks.
I agree - never really considered myself a Boomer or a GenX. How great, after all these years, to have a true demographic identity.
Let the forest burn! Use the old and decayed to regenerate new growth. And I’m not talking Boomers or Millennials. We all have our part to play. And whatever part that turns out to be, we all need to think in new ways. I don’t know about you, but this old dog learns new tricks every day!
Millenials is a silly name. As if their 1000 years old. They're the next generation. And as all generations seem to their parents, they too will seem naughty. And since '00 is translated as "nought", they shall evermore be known as.....
The Naughties.
Just came from a panel discussion where I was talking with a fellow millennial, who's now a state representative. She just proposed an amendment to an economic development bill that would seize federal funds for green jobs training programs. I'm going to run for a spot on the local planning and zoning commission so I can help bring sustainable development to my town. I reckon we're doing all right.
As someone who was a history and social sciences teacher for more than three decades, I have to say I am appalled by the incredibly flawed practice of making sweeping generalizations about whole categories of humans, especially the widespread tendency to jam people into "generations" and make all kinds of "profound" observations about them on this basis. This is simply arrant, utter nonsense. People are individuals with unique biographies and unique perspectives. They are far too complex to be pigeonholed into such grotesquely over-simplified categories as "Silents", "Boomers", and "Millennials". Such categorization distorts human reality beyond recognition and gives intellectually lazy types an easy way to think about other people. I REJECT the whole concept of "generation" except in the strictest biological sense, and I am tired of pseudo-scientific nonsense masquerading as social analysis.
You're a history and social sciences teacher...your teaching colleagues in Biz Marketing and the biz world came up with "Teen-Ager" , "Baby Boomer", "Gen X", "Millennials", etc....Over-simplified categories to sell you things you don't need most of the time.
You're right. We don't stand a chance if we don't stop referring to ourselves in marketing terms.
But on another note:
If we don't educate ourselves about the past...we can forget about the future.
The US is a CULTURE of denial.
If the youth want to stand a chance...you all better wake up about the war-mongering.
All those dreams could end up bleeding to death on a battlefield in Afghanistan, or who knows where next...
The election went to this new generation. They will live with the consequences.
Oh yes we will, you old biddy!
I don't that you're an old biddy, but you sure sound like one right there.
Maybe bitter will be more appropriate. AnnfromCA, what has your generation contributed to lately? It's right in our faces.
Bob,
Great post; thanks for the mention!
As a millennial and Mayor of New Work City, I can attest to the optimism I've witnessed among the millennials and non-millennials who have joined our community over the past several months.
Several of our community members have walked into New Work City over the course of the past few months to somberly announce that they were just laid off from their jobs, saying they needed to go somewhere that wasn't home, so they came here.
I promptly congratulated each of them on their newfound independence, and offered them a seat.
Now, most of those folks are already off and running as freelancers or contractors.
We've formalized our efforts at helping people affected by the recession get started as independent workers by forming the Runway Project, which is a series of free workshops and talks given by volunteers in our community aimed at first-time independent workers.
This is all just a small part of a large and growing coworking movement, which is in over 70 cities worldwide. There are spaces like New Work City in major and minor cities all over the world, with new ones opening every day.
Feel free to come join us!
Cheers,
Tony Bacigalupo
New Work City
http://nwcny.com
http://meetup.com/coworking-nyc
Bob -
As part of the NWC community - just wanted to say thank you for your callout.
We also must give credit where credit is due - we would not have gotten here if it was not for some people before us: Tara Hunt (@missrogue) and Chris Messina (@chrismessina) who run Citizen Space in San Francisco - one of the first coworking spaces, Amit Gupta (@amitgupta) who started Jelly in NY which is home-based coworking, Nate Westheimer (@innonate) who argued for Cafe Bricolage and many others who helped us grow from a simple use of a restaurant on St. Marks to a cafe at Gramstand to our space today lead by Tony Bacigalupo, our own Mayor of New Work City.
One thing to note - Tara, Chris, myself and Amit are all part of Gen X and working handedly with Gen Y and Millenials - the goal of which is to foster community, collaboration and borrowing a little from the Boomers and the Kibbutzim from long ago. Resources are scarce, but creativity and innovation is never far from our fingertips.
Sanford Dickert
I graduated college at the end of the 1970's, during the worst economic downturn prior to the current one since the Great Depression. There was diddly for jobs and precious few with a college degree started anywhere but the bottom or near bottom. I have been waiting to hear the great collective whine by Gen X and Millenials as they have to accept entry level jobs (if they're lucky) and actually have to work their way up to management instead of bullshit in out of college. As for whining about who caused what, Gen X is just as resposible for the current mess as the boomers. They flocked to Milton Friedman's free trade fantasy park and Reagonmic selfishness because it said greed is good, you're entitled, and the poor don't count so who needs a safety net. And, most importantly, deniability, as the market fairy will take care of everything. So wah, wah, wah.
As one Gen-Xer who graduated from High School in 1983 (at the end of a recession), and then from College (the first time) in 1987 (at the start of a second - Reagan-induced recession),... I am not whining,... I'm complaining loud & long. I have been since I was able to vote.
Reagan was a disaster for the middle class,... Bush Sr. piled it on deeper,... Clinton did nothing for most of us,... and what little good Clinton did Bush Jr. shot to hell.
Most of us Gen-xers (born after 1964) didn't get to cash in on the economic selfishness, although we did pile on the debt trying to keep up with the Jones' (so to speak). Now, we enter what should be the peak of our earning power and stability just in time to get smacked in the mouth.
The market fairy was a myth. Many of us knew it long ago.
OK - Born in Feburary, 1972, I think I was eight at the time Regan took office and 16 when he left. The FIRST time I was able to vote, it was Bush One vs. Clinton. Boomers get the credit for Reganomics all by themselves - like everything else, the Boomers dictate what the rest of the country does. Maybe you're mixing Clinton with Regan - Regan was president from 1981 to 1989. I was 8 years old in Jan 1981. Like most of my generational cohorts, I voted Clinton, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Obama. Boomers have outflanked us at the polls every time.
You have to be kidding me. I just hope the Boomers don't show themselves (yes - generalization - please don't tell me this doesn't apply to everyone) as selfish in old age as they were in youth and middle age.
The millenium in my family isn't even worried about the deficit. He's still obviously in denial. *haha
Shades of Nelson from the Simpsons: "Ha-ha" finger-pointing.
You sure are a prize.
Buddha grew up as a rich kid, and he turned out all right. I think a lot of these kids have had enough given to them, and have seen the downside of materialism at such a formative age, that they may very well move beyond that that motivation and rise to the challenges that face the entire planet. Us elders may even come to envy the quality of their challenges.
Sounds much like the experience of every new generation of young people.
"Raised in a time of inflated prosperity, full of golden promises and expectations, Millenials were marred in the media as "entitled" and "narcissistic," the "Me Generation..."
Huh, sounds like their Reaganite idiot parents, the spoiled, selfish knee-jerk narcissists produced by the sacrifices and savings of their Depression-era surviving parents. Tired of being told to save, spend wisely, eat everything on their plates and not give in to the call of mindless consumerism, they went on a three-decade "me me me" rebellion that has wrecked everything for the Millenial generation, the poor bastards. So the kids will have to clean up after their parents, like the depression-era children did for theirs. Maybe this time we'll learn, but probably not.
You would have though people would have learned after the Reagan Era and era of George H Bush where there was a series of recessions. People seem to have short memories.
And the boomers continue to project their "Me, Me, Me!" attitudes onto their kids.
That's what I thought when I was reading the descriptions of Millennials as "narcissistic" and "spoiled" and the "me generation".
Millennials are narcissistic and selfish. As one, I can safely tell you, we have been raised by parents that make their children the center of their attention and expect the rest of the world to do the same and expect their children to succeed, telling them every day, everything they do is awesome, no matter what.
Since the world can't possibly resolve around each of us, I think we'll grow out of it, though.
Something should also be said for the individualistic psychology of "Millenials" not fitting in particularly well with corporate culture dominated by boomers. That's a big problem I'm having right now (24 years old working for a major engineering corporation where the average age is around 48-50), and partially because of it I'm working on the prelim stages of a couple different startups.
Believe me, there are quite a few boomers who did not fit in with the corporate culture and still don't.
I hear you! I admire the youth today that branching out on their own. My folks harped on getting into a good company or civil service job and keeping at any cost. I bought into it for a while. I am glad these kids have the guts to just get out there and do it. But I know some who mom and dad are still paying their rent at 22, while they work at coffee shops and spend their money at the mall.. Not that there's anything wrong with that if they are happy and their folks are happy.
But the ones I admire are those that have a vision and a dream (one I hope they love) and dive in with both feet and make it so.
I've been really disenchanted with the youth the last ten years, I see them on boards asking what careers make the most money so they can choose what to study...they weren't following their bliss.
Nothing wrong with being an individual,... have been one all of my Gen-Xer life. And - I'll give a hand up to any 'youngster' I can as long as that individual is will to do the job.
There are lots of ways to get to the same endpoint - and us 'oldsters' don't have all the right answers.
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