In 1991, the media said, "Let there be X," and there was Generation X. We are unlikely to shake that moniker, but maybe we can shake up the definition and turn it on its head.
Why did the mathematical variable "X" stick as a label for our generation? The reason is this: America's meaning industry rushed to sell a caricature of Gen-X as a commodity before anyone could investigate our true identity as a generation. They needed to call us something and they didn't want to get it wrong so they settled on the enigmatic "X."
Since our naming, we have been masked and unmasked repeatedly in the ongoing effort to pin down our defining characteristics.
The dominant caricature persists: We are portrayed as baby-busters, the lost generation, "slackers" with short attention spans and no work ethic, dropping out of the rat race to live off of our parents or barely surviving in low-pay, low-status, short-term "McJobs."
The truth is that Generation X is over forty-million strong in today's American workforce and our presence is growing steadily. While some are dropping out of the rat race and others are climbing out by starting their own entrepreneurial ventures, the vast majority are still trying to make it in mainstream jobs in mainstream companies. The problem is that these hard working Xers fall victim on the job to the same "slacker" stereotype that we see in the media. We feel misunderstood at work and often mismanaged as a result.
Listen to what one young lawyer had to say about her experience: "I have been working at this firm for just two years. During that time, a lot of my peers have decided to leave -- to move on to another law firm or another profession. Every time a young lawyer leaves this firm, you can hear the echoes of the senior partners' voices all saying the same thing, 'These kids are disloyal, they have no work ethic, they can't stay focused, they don't want to pay their dues.'"
"Just imagine what it's like for those of us who stay with the firm. Every time they open their mouths they prove they have no idea what is on our minds. They have no idea what is at stake for us in our careers."
Maybe the best thing we can do for managers is correct some of the more common misconceptions:
First, Xers are not disloyal, but rather, skeptical of institutions and cautious about investing our creative energy without any promised return. Remember, Xers entered the working world in the post-job-security, post-pension-security era. The idea of a life-long relationship with one employer is ancient history to Xers. However, Xers are capable of a new kind of loyalty which managers may earn by forging a new workplace bargain based on relationships of short-term mutual benefit.
Second, Xers do have the ability to focus, however, we think and learn differently than those of prior generations. Xers are voracious consumers of information, capable of sorting and assimilating massive quantities of information at a very fast pace, a style conditioned by our life-long immersion in the information revolution. What looks to many managers like a short attention span is, in fact, a rapid-fire style of information consumption which goes hand in hand with our technology prowess, both of which make Xers uniquely suited to the workplace of the future.
Third, Xers' fierce individualism and entrepreneurial style should not be mistaken for arrogance. Remember that Xers are the latchkey-kids--we are used to taking care of ourselves and we are used to finding original solutions to intractable problems. What looks to managers like arrogance is, in fact, a profound self-reliance nurtured in a society which is increasingly chaotic, isolating and dangerous. But, Xers' creativity and self reliance are good news for managers who want to build leaner organizations around highly productive value adding self-starters. Given responsibility for specific goals and a measure of creative freedom, most Xers will take the opportunity to demonstrate our value by achieving tangible results.
Until managers abandon the slacker myth and get to know Xers as real people trying to make it in a very challenging world, the generation gap in today's workplace will continue at a high cost to everyone involved.
