In Defense of Gen Y

If you have been listening to the reports on Generation Y or recent grads, you are probably under the opinion that the future of our world is in trouble. The latest crop of the next great generation has been called lazy, entitled, apathetic, too optimistic and the sweet nothings keep coming. And, I don’t doubt that there are some people who are lazy and apathetic but to be fair those types of people are in every generation. But the two labels attributed to Gen Y,  entitled and too optimistic, are both qualities that I think this generation needs to have. I seem to be in the minority because these traits have been dubbed their greatest faults.

Gen Y feels entitled

I hear and read this a great deal and it mostly pertains to the work world. What I see with my clients is that they don’t want to be a slave to their job, and that’s not to say they are lazy. Not at all. They want to work with you, be part of the team and know that their opinions are valued. They are not so much willing to work 10 hour days because they also value spending time with friends, family and working on personal projects.

I know, it’s a totally different way to look at working for those who have been working for years. Previous generations were taught that your career, your job, and your position defined you as a person. So, they stayed late at the office, missing family functions and vacations to do their job, which most of them hate. Now they are realizing that they’ve wasted their loyalty to a company that was never loyal to them. And, from watching their parents get laid off, Gen Y learned that pledging your allegance to a company that may turn around and lay you off is not what they want.

In Kelly Sharp’s article Gen Y: Entitled or Just Smarter Than Those Who Came Before? she makes an excellent point about the previous generations and their assessment of Gen Y.

“Much of the criticism of Gen Y comes from the Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers, who, interestingly, were the ones who raised them to believe that family was crucial, they could be successful at everything, and that their opinions were important and should be heard. But now that these Gen Y’ers have come into the workplace, those beliefs are considered an “entitlement.”

You created Gen Y and now you want to complain that they actually listened to you and want a life that is not surrounded and defined by their job.

Gen Ys optimism is just nativity

Yes, they are hopeful that things are going to be better. They know the job market kinda sucks right now and prospects are slim but they still believe they will get the job they want and enjoy the life they deserve. Some say this is unrealistic and that they need to understand the hardships of life. Just because they are not rocking in a corner hugging their knees, doesn’t mean they don’t realize the difficulty before them.

While reading J. Maureen Henderson’s article “Economic reality no match for Gen Y optimism,” I found one Gen Y’s (erjorgenson) comments on why they are optimistic:

“I’m optimistic because of the available tools for change. We stand on the brink of a cataclysmic breakdown of our society, or a period of renaissance that will beautifully harmonize technology and the human spirit…. However, given that our options are pretty much limited to innovate or die, it seems to me that the brightest and most ambitious of our generation has quietly shunned the archaic traditions that bred the problems of that generation, and are slowly developing our own creed, and tackling the problems of tomorrow today.

So are we worried? Yes, absolutely terrified. Would we have a hard time finding a job like Daddy’s? Yes. But that’s not what we want, and not what we need.

We are optimistic because it is the only choice. Uncompromising, dedicated creativity, and relentless innovation are the only stones that will bring down this giant.”

I congratulate them. Nothing is going to get solved by dwelling on the negative. There is a quote by H. Albright that I love: “A positive attitude may not solve all your problems but it will annoy enough people to make it work the effort.”

I’m not saying that Gen Y is right and Gen X, Baby Boomers, and the Silent Generation are wrong. I’m just trying to shed a little light on this generation that is positioned to take over and dramatically change the way we view the work world. They are not going to do everything, have the same values or follow the same rules that the previous generations did. They are making their own way.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts.