I got to hang out with my niece during a recent trip to California. Knowing I like music and live performances, Delaney wanted to share her favorite song with me. She ran and got her mom’s iPhone from the purse, surfed the icons and music directory and played “Delaney talks to Statutes” by Jimmy Buffet. The song was classic Jimmy Buffet but that was not the special thing.
After playing the song with a big smile, I asked Delaney if she could spell her name. She then surfed the icons on the iPhone again, found the keyboard and typed “Delaney.” So what you might say, but Delaney is THREE YEARS OLD and not capable of holding a pencil steady enough to write clearly. As leaders, if you think GenY’s are a different breed, just wait until Delaney and her friends enter the workforce. This is going to be something really special.
Another way of thinking about this lesson involves your personal skill set. Are you doing everything within your power to stay current and relevant? Do you learn the lessons the kids are teaching?
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Watch out Gen Y – Delaney is coming
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16 comments:
thanks, john for sharing this experience! this one goes to prove the point that GenY is smart, intelligent and likes instantaneity. managers need to learn methods to deal with such a great bunch of energy and speed! their conversations with GenY need to be instantaneous, sharp and powerful.
The fastest growing school system in the world is the Waldorf Schools. In fact, many public school systems are, in fact, looking at how they might leverage some of their success. However, the school does not believe in having students immediately work with letters at the forming stages of human development. FYI: it damages the soul structure of the human being. Of course, materialistic thinkers believe that the earlier a child can read/write, the more advanced they are. Anyone who has taken the time to study the soul structure of the human being (e.g. Mystery Schools) knows that this is not true.
The way I read your description is that human beings are being increasingly more materialistic in their approach to education. Personally, I do not see this as a good thing for the individuals, education, and/or humanity. I guess it's more a matter of what one believes is current and relevant? FYI: the Waldorf Schools are notorious for their ability to enable students to unfold properly during the forming stages of life; work in teams...something that the future will depend on.
http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/
The world is just different to when we were young. I had the crazy experience of uploading a Powerpoint slide show to my son's class computer for his presentation last week. So?, you may say; He is only in grade 3, at 9 years old he is doing slide show presentations that included a short video shot on his cell phone.
I know a lot of adults who have yet to cross this technology barrier. Gulp, the future is here.
John,
Just think how much the older generation must change just to stay even with the up and coming one.
It's staggers the imagination.
Thanks for a great story with business applicstion.
Wow, it is amazing what young people are learning and capable of doing these days. This is a good example of what is to come and can be expected from this future workforce. Kudos to you for always working to try and stay relevant and up to speed with what people are doing. As leaders we all need to stay current and adapt to the changes around us. We are never done learning and growing, regardless of what position you are in, there is always room for improvement. It will be exciting to see what the next generations bring to the future workforce and how to tap into that talent to take our organizations to the next level. Thanks for sharing, hope you had fun in Cali!!
Reverse mentoring comes to mind. There's a lot to learn in both directions. The Delaney's have a lot to learn from 'Uncle John' and 'Uncle John's' ignore the growth of the 'Delaney's' to their detriment.
New generation has always more advantage in adapting to new technology than thge older ones. They are fresh and on learning mode while older generation has to unlearn many things and are not fresh so that makes adaptation slower...
It was a very interesting story John and made me laugh as I had a similar experience. I think you bring up an excellent point and one that I find is critical for HR to really think about and ensure they are staying up with the cutting edge of technology. Thanks for the reminder to "stay current".
The creativity you get from children of that age is amazing. I just keep feeding my kids new stuff (electronics, software, ...) the links they are able to make keep surprising me ...
Question: Where/when do they loose that gift?
AND, I might add, are you ready to change the way these folk will interact (and expect to interact) in the workplace? Changes to our "old" way of doing office work are happening exponentially.
[as a aside, look out, she sounds really precocious! how cute!]
I love Delaney's taste in music. Do you think she can help me learn how to use an iPhone?
My 4 yr old grand daughter and 5 yo grandson have the same type skills. But my worry about the new generation is that they are lacking social skills. General courtesies. Their education is on line, but one-on-one interaction seems to be lacking and it shows in work group and partner meetings. We should be improving, not dismantling EVERYTHING about our society. I don't think that its normal to see a group of teenaged girls sitting next to each other and rather than conversing, they are texting. Fortunately texting will be old fashion pretty soon and videography will be the way to go -- then human interaction through technology will be the most productive way. You lose so much in emails and texts. Facial expressions and body language are missing. I hope our small children keep their sense of awe and accomplishment as they continue with human interaction while using electronic interaction.
I read a story just this morning that highlights this and other astonishing gaps in our perception of the world vs. college students. http://www.rrstar.com/news/x297560235/Class-of-2014-says-e-mail-too-slow-watches-are-ancient Email is too slow? Only a small fraction even know how to write cursive? Most have NEVER used a phone with a cord... All I can say is "WOW!" As leaders we need to be prepared for an extreme culture shock in the very near future as more of this particular generation enter the workforce.
Interesting US viewpoint, except it is also the Aussie viewpoint. Like you guy's we have the same child and youth culture developing. My worry is that with everything being so accessable to them, they will not be ready to do the legwork to create rather than use technology.
Speaking of technology, recently took a holiday (vacation) in the mountains, no mobile (cell) or wireless intenet access, not digital radio access, just me an the people I was holidaying with. My goal was to live for 2 weeks without the modern trappings of technology. I lasted 3 days and then drove 40 miles to get mobile phone service. I am not a young techo kid, I am 53 years old and I have been sucked into this world of techneed.
I highly recommend that all of you read Nicholas Carr's latest book - The Shallows and this recent article which also discusses the book http://tiny.cc/h6hf6 .
We are by coming here. Technology is changing so fast, and the "fast" will just make us faster. New tech will blow our mind if we look back 10 years from now. I will say that it's not really to stay current, but the curiosity that drives me.
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