Tired of millennial bashing? Their generation (and Generation Z) may have grown up with Google at their fingertips to answer their questions and an encyclopaedia may seem like Greek to them, but actually here in lies the challenges that this generation faces on a daily basis.

Millennials want to work in a place with purpose and make an impact – nothing wrong with this right? What great ambitions to have. But what does this mean to them? That they want beanbags and free food? That they want to be the CEO of their own business in just a few years time? What’s challenging here is that we have more generations in the workforce today than ever before, and the people typically in the positions at the top didn’t get there in 5 years, nor did they expect to get there in 5 years. Time and longevity in post played a big part in their definition of working hard to achieve and deserve those positions for the more mature generations. So the generations misunderstand each other.

Ultimately as fun as an environment is to work in, what is really at the core of work and success is hard work, determination and grit. And you can’t buy these, they come over time through hard work, failure, bouncing back up and carrying on.

In Simon Sinek's video about millennials he talks about the following four things as having a big impact on the generation. If you consider them, points 1, 2 and 4 are what millennials are at the mercy of and rarely have a choice in, and point 3 is symptomatic of the other points.

  • Poor parenting
  • Technology
  • Impatience
  • Environment

Simon compares life to running a marathon not a sprint. Time and perseverance are key to surviving let alone succeeding. Simon compares addiction to social media to addiction to alcohol and he compares going on social media to feel better when you’re feeling low, to going into the liquor cabinet for relief from the pain. Dopamine is what gives us that ‘good’ feeling when we get a text, or a ‘like’. And this is addictive and when we don’t have it, we feel bad.

On the note of impatience, the younger part of this generation has grown up in a world of instant gratification. Want to buy that book? Three clicks and it’ll be on your doorstep in under 24 hours. You want to go on a date? Download an App, swipe right, type a few words and there is your date. Whilst this may sound like the easy option, feeling a sense of achievement is key to self esteem.

The millennial generation is growing up with lower self esteem than ever before. They grew up in a world where their classmates got rewarded for coming last and participating. They are also growing up in a world of life through the iPhone camera lens and everything looks perfect and like everyone else has it sorted.

One thing we know is that this sort of environment does not equip people with skills to survive life. So perhaps consider this and spare a thought and an ounce of patience for the next millennial that ruffles some feathers. And remember what fresh insight they inject into your environment. Every generation has something to offer and it’s important that we learn to understand each other.