generations Archives - Diane Hamilton

A Successful Leader’s Growth Mindset with Louis Efron and The Need For Soft Skills with Me’chelle McKenney

Behind every achievement is a purpose. That is what writer, speaker, and Fortune 200 HR executive Louis Efron believes and helps people look for. Talking about how he transitioned from theater to the corporate world, he shows how he brought over his love for moving people into HR. He discusses the secret to leadership and how to measure a successful leader, giving three things that these people must possess. Louis also touched on the importance of the growth mindset and being able to immerse and learn about the environment you are in while giving us some taste of the contents of his books.

Adding more wisdom on leadership is Me’chelle McKenney. She is an entrepreneur, certified leadership speaker, trainer, author, business coach, and owner of 3rd Degree Solutions. Discussing the different generations present in the workplace today, Me’chelle gives some leadership strategies for businesses to empower their people amidst their differences. She covers the need to improve people’s soft skills as well as for companies to be more dynamic, rounding it up with the mission of consultants to reach and teach more schools about it.

Continue reading “A Successful Leader’s Growth Mindset with Louis Efron and The Need For Soft Skills with Me’chelle McKenney” →

Improving Workplace Conflict Requires Understanding Preferences

How do we know how others would like to be treated if we only look at things from our perspective? Understanding personality and generational preferences is so important because we learn about opposing or differing perspectives. To improve some of the key challenges in the workplace requires this understanding. These challenges include poor soft skills, low emotional intelligence, lack of engagement, and a negative culture. Many articles address how these problem stem from Boomer and Millennial conflict. Continue reading “Improving Workplace Conflict Requires Understanding Preferences” →

Managing Millennials Requires Understanding Their Values

Millennials are one of the most misunderstood generations, which has led to frustration in the workplace. With so many generations working together, it is not unusual that there would be some conflict. The biggest issues have revolved around the clash between Boomers and Millennials. With varying views on political and leadership issues, as well as differences in the frequency at which they embrace technology, conflict management has become a top concern for many leaders. Part of learning to manage this unique generation includes understanding and embracing their values. Continue reading “Managing Millennials Requires Understanding Their Values” →

Impact of Boomers Working Past Retirement Years

As people are living longer and the age for receiving social security payments is extended, baby boomers have found that they are working well into what used to be considered retirement years. USA Today reported, “The Associated Press-LifeGoesStrong.com poll found a baby boom generation planning to work into retirement years — with 73% planning to work past retirement, up from 67% this spring. The poll involved online interviews with 1,095 baby boomers.” According to the Examiner, “boomers are likely going to work five to 10 years longer before retiring.”

There are currently 77 million baby boomers. This group has found it difficult to retire because “41% of boomers said they are expecting to have to scale back their lifestyle in some way in retirement and 31% believe they will struggle financially.”

Having a lot of baby boomers in the workplace has had an impact on the post-boomer generations. In the article Millennials Hoping for Boomers to Retire, it was noted that many people who used to retire in their 60s are continuing to work, making it harder for Millennials to find employment.

There are currently four generations coexisting in the workplace. These 4 generations include:

World War II Generation (aka depression babies) – Those born prior to 1945

Baby Boomers – Those born 1946 to 1964

Generation X – Those born 1965 to 1982

Generation Y (aka the Millennials) – Those born after 1982

Baby Boomers represent the largest segment of the American work force. However, millennials will be replacing the baby boomer group soon. According to Harvard Business Review /HBR.org, “The makeup of the global workforce is undergoing a seismic shift: In four years Millennials—the people born between 1977 and 1997—will account for nearly half the employees in the world. In some companies, they already constitute a majority.”

Related Articles

How Millennial Are You? Take The Quiz

Check out this interesting quiz by clicking here. It is only 15 questions long and lets you know if you fall into the Silent, Boomer, Gen Xer, or Millennial category of personality type. The higher your score, the more you have in common with the Millennial generation. They define Millenials as those born after 1981, Gen Xers are those born between 1965-1980, Boomers are those born between 1946-1964 and the Silent Generation are those born between 1928-1945. At the end of the quiz, check out the report about Millennials.

In our book about personalities, Toni Rothpletz and I wrote about how to get along with this generation.

Pew research found:

Millennials Less Religiously Active Than Older Americans

A decline in blogging among Millennials but a modest rise among adults ages 30 and older.

Members of the Millennial generation also give generally high marks to societal changes such as the greater availability of green products and more racial and ethnic diversity.

To get the full report click here: Millennials will make online sharing in networks a lifelong habit

About the Research

America’s newest generation, the Millennials, is in this coming-of-age phase. Who are they? How are they different? How are they being shaped by their moment in history? And how might they reshape America in the future? The Pew Research Center sets out to answer these questions in a yearlong series of original reports that explore the behaviors, values and opinions of today’s teens and twenty-somethings.