How generational stereotypes hold us back at work

The Silent Generation, baby boomers, Generation X, millennials, Gen Z -- we're all in the workforce together. How are our assumptions about each other holding us back from working and communicating better? Social psychologist Leah Georges shows how we're more similar than different and offers helpful tactics for navigating the multigenerational workplace.

So, for the first time
in America's modern history,

we have five generations
interacting at work.

The veterans, born between 1922 and 1943,

are known as the Greatest Generation,
the matures, the silents.

They're known for their self-sacrifice,

respect for authority
and work as its own reward.

The boomers came shortly after,
born between 1944 and 1960.

This is a generation
characterized by hard work.

In fact, we can thank this generation
for the term "workaholic."

They appreciate competition,
they love effective communication.

And they're thinking towards retirement,
if they haven't retired already.

Generation X is known
as the lost generation

the latchkey generation,
born between 1961 and 1980.

This is the smallest generation,

sandwiched between boomers
and the big millennials.

More parents were divorced
in this generation

than any generation prior.

They also were the first generation
to tell us about work-life balance,

and the first to really
ask for that in the workplace.

And then millennials -- you know,
the everybody-gets-a-ribbon generation --

born between 1981 and 2000.

Never knew a time where technology
wasn't present in the home.

They're incredibly pragmatic,
they're hopeful and they're determined.

They think they're going
to change the world,

in fact, I believe they're going to do it.

They might be a little bit
idealistic sometimes,

but in just the last several years,

we've seen millennials
overtake Generation X

to be the most represented
generation in the workforce.

In fact, more than one in three people
in the United States labor force

is a millennial.

And soon to join us there,
Generation Z, born since 2000,

our high school interns
or soon to be high school graduates.

Now, if you open any internet browser,

look at Amazon,

search any of your favorite
search engines,

you might assume there's a literal war
in the workplace, right?

We see blog topics like

"Seventeen reasons why millennials
are the worst generation."

And "Why baby boomers
have ruined it for everybody."

Or "Bridging the great
generational divide."

It's like turning into this
"West Side Story,"

like, boomers come in one door,

millennials come in
another door, the lobby,

they just fight with each other all day,
complain, go home, do the same,

come back to work, right?

Well, so what if I told you
these generations may not exist?

I've been spending some time
thinking about this and researching this,

and fellow researchers and I
aren't exactly sure

that these generations are real.

And in fact, if we can agree
that these groups even exist,

we certainly don't agree
who belongs in them.

And they span something like 20 years.

So at whatever point in history,

a one-year-old and a 20-year-old
are said to share the same value system,

to want the same things at work,

to have the same stereotypes
working for and against them.

And in fact, different areas of the world
define these generations differently.

So we can't even compare generations
across various areas of the world.

And these stereotypes
about each generation

have, in a lot of ways,
created this self-fulfilling prophecy,

that people begin to act
as if they're part of that generation

because we've said out loud
that generation is real.

I'm not so sure that it is.

And in fact, this idea of generations

has become deeply embedded
in United States culture.

When we talk generations,

people know exactly
what we're talking about.

In fact, people have
a lot of thoughts and feelings

about each of these generations.

And I'll tell you how I know this.

I did the thing

that every red-blooded American
and pre-tenure academic does

when they have a question.

I Googled some stuff.

And this is what I learned.

Google is based on algorithms,

and they provide you
with commonly searched terms,

or suggested hits, based
on what other people are searching

surrounding the same topic.

And it gave me a really good sense
of what people think

about each of these generations.

Take a look.

I learned that baby boomers
are conservative,

that Americans think they're stupid.

The worst generation, they're angry,

apparently they're racist
and they're so important.

Looking at Generation X,

I learned Generation X is a cynical group,

they're angry,

they're known as the lost
generation -- we know this;

they're the smallest generation.

Apparently, they're stupid too.

(Laughter)

And mostly, they're frustrated
with baby boomers.

Alright, millennials,
this is what I learned about us.

So, we're obsessed with food.

(Laughter)

We're also stupid, ah!

We're lazy, we're sensitive, we're fired,

we're also hated,
and we think we're important.

And perhaps the most terrifying
search result on the internet --

Generation Z is screwed.

(Laughter)

OK, so, for five years,
I've been talking to leaders and followers

across a wide variety of organizations.

And this is what I've come to realize.

Generations haven't become
part of the conversation --

generations have become
the conversation at work.

What I've learned

is that we're working under the assumption
that those Google results are true.

And so, what I think
is that organizations are now desperate

to figure out how to "manage"
the multigenerational workplace.

"Manage" it.

We manage all sorts of things.

We're preparing for this
wave of millennials to come to work.

So we prepare for hurricanes, right?

We prepare to take the MCAT,
we prepare for natural disasters.

Why are we preparing
for 23-year-olds to come to work?

(Laughter)

I've talked to these organizations,

and I've heard amazing things
that they're doing

to create a workspace
for everybody to get along

and to have autonomy
and to feel like they're thriving.

But I've also heard some
really incredibly harebrained ideas

about how to navigate
the multigenerational workplace.

Are you ready?

This is what I saw.

I visited an organization,

and they adopted this idea
that if you can see it, you can be it.

A really important concept.

But I think they blew it.

The put pictures on the walls
of the ideal multigenerational workplace,

because if you can see it, you can be it.

(Laughter)

Or like this one.

(Laughter)

Like, I don't even want to work here.

(Laughter)

You don't get to wear
color here, apparently,

and HR seriously has problems
with people jumping in heels,

I promise you that, OK?

I talked to an organization
who recently decided

against putting a ball pit
in the break room

because that's how you retain millennials.

We're 30, not three.

(Laughter)

And in fact, I know a young,
at the time, millennial,

who was told that if she wanted
people to take her seriously,

just because she was a millennial,
she would have to do this --

wear shoulder pads.

Yes.

People younger than her and older than her
wouldn't take her seriously

unless she wore shoulder pads.

Straight-out-of-the-80s,

can't-even-buy-them-anywhere
shoulder pads.

This young woman had two graduate degrees.

This young woman was me.

And this is the best we came up with?

How to navigate the multigenerational
workplace ... is shoulder pads?

(Laughter)

So, this is also what I've learned
talking to organizations

that employ a wide range
of people of various ages.

We are so much more similar
than we are different.

And we're hearing this consistently.

People want work that matters,
they want flexibility,

they want support, they want appreciation,

they want better coffee.

But none of these things
are tied to a generation.

Now, sure, we see small differences
in what people want.

We know 20-year-olds and 60-year-olds
go home and do different things.

They have different values.

At least when it comes
to things happening outside of work.

But I think what's happened

is that this focus
on generational cohorts,

these groups of people,

has created a space where we just forgot
that people are people.

And to know who they really are,
who we really work with,

we have to figure out
how to better navigate

this multigenerational workplace

than ball pits.

Call me one of those idealist millennials,
but I think we can get there.

And I don't think the idea
is too terribly difficult.

What if we radically, simply, not easily,

meet people where they are?

Individualize our approach.

I've never met a generation.

I've had a lot of conversations

with people who happened to identify
with a specific generational cohort.

I know that 80-year-olds text message

and 23-year-olds crochet blankets.

None of these things are stereotypical
of that generation, right?

Nilofer Merchant --
she's a thought leader in innovation --

she tells us we have to meet people
in their onlyness,

that is, that spot in the world
where only we stand,

as a function of our unique history,
our experiences and our hopes.

But this requires
flexibility and curiosity.

And what happens when we meet
people in their onlyness,

only the spot in the world
that they stand,

we learn that that boomer who is just
acting "angry" at work all the time

is scared.

Because he's worked every day
since he was 16 years old,

and on a Monday,
sooner than he can imagine,

he'll never go to work again.

He's got plans.

It's going to take like a week and a half

to do all the things
on that retirement list.

But then what?

What if we give a little bit of grace

to the person that might be
a little scared?

Or that Generation X-er

who has four drop-offs,
three kids, two hands,

and is just trying to keep
the wheels on the bus.

Sure, maybe she's a little aloof at work.

Maybe she's a little independent,
maybe she's exhausted.

Or that millennial

who asks for a raise after two months
because they're "entitled?"

Well, maybe it's because
that generation has more debt

than any generation before them,
coming out of college,

and they just need the money

to keep going, to pay rent.

And suddenly, when you meet people
in their onlyness,

that spot in the world only they stand,

we're not talking
about a generation anymore.

We're talking about Jim or Jen or Candice.

And so here's my challenge to us.

Pick a person, just one,
and explore their onlyness.

And then learn.

And then in the moments
where it's appropriate, teach.

And figure out what they bring to work
that no one else can bring to work,

because that's what makes work richer.

And then do it again.

And do it again.

And then some day, we're not
working with generations anymore.

We're working with people.

And so to really understand the beauty
of the multigenerational workplace,

I think we just have to meet
people where they are.

And that doesn't require
that we unpack and live there with them.

But we might find, at least on occasion,
it's a beautiful place to visit.

And so I think there's just no need

to argue about which generation
is the most angry

or the most entitled
or the most so obsessed with food.

We all come to the classroom,
to work, back to our homes,

a little bit tired and a little bit
tattered sometimes.

Maybe let's just do our best
to humbly meet people where they are,

how they show up that day,

generation and all.

And in those moments

where it can feel a little bit
like intergenerational warfare,

I think we can at least all agree

that shoulder pads aren't the solution.

(Laughter)

Thank you.

(Applause)