Thank you for this very accurate (in my experience) and affirming message. I will be turning 40 this year and recently started to consider and explore employment avenues that will allow me to work independently or within a smaller venture. While I have not worked in "corporate" America, advancing my career in higher education (administration, not faculty) has not been dissimilar to what you describe.

If there's been one big positive to my X-er experience, it's that I learned at an early age how to manage money and to have an enjoyable life on very little. Sometimes I think I have more in common with my paternal grandmother who was a child of The Great Depression and bore the scars of hunger and material want. This way of life has allowed me to save considerably for my retirement, not fall prey to "facile" displays of materialism (I still like nice things, but I'll buy them on eBay or at TJMaxx instead of Barneys or Nordstroms), and given me the confidence and ability to change jobs when I've needed to. I know that I'll always be able to take care of myself and I won't need to rely on any form of external support.

Throughout my varied and winding career I have always looked for mentors but never had much luck finding them. I did not have a family-social network in the professional/educated class growing up so it has taken me time to learn the value of those support structures and how to create them for myself. I've learned a great deal through trial and error and by developing my research skills and knowledge, and I am eternally gratefully that almost all of my education has been funded by scholarships or grants.

What I would most like to know about is how to best position myself for the "second half" of my life. :-) I realize that as I get older, the strategy of changing jobs for more money/more interesting projects/ more freedom... may no longer work. I'll be vying for positions with younger, more competitive candidates and I'll soon "age-out" and reach my career plateau. What do I need to consider and prepare myself for?

And what am I most afraid of? Being old, alone, and stuck in some god-awful nursing home with sub-standard care. I'll take the walk out into the desert before I spend my final days that way. :-)

Thanks so much,
Laura Z.

As someone who works with Gen Y's, I want to thank you for this post. I believe that there is a tremendous opportunity for leadership with Gen X. We need their wisdom and guidance considering the transition we are in with so many Boomers leaving the workforce in the next few years.

As I travel around the country, many Gen X leaders have a great deal on their minds, especially around the question of how to lead Generation Y and how to meet their expectations in a world that is struggling with so many economic, political and social challenges. I think one of the best books for everyone to read on this subject is Navigating the Badlands: Thriving in the Decade of Radical Transformation by Mary O'Hara-Devereaux. I believe that radical times call for radical leadership, and this book addresses this topic head on.

As a Gen Xer myself, managing the ADHD of Generation Y is a tenuous experience. Gen Xer's have a lot of responsibility in the workplace being the conduit between the older generation and the newer generations. Let's just hope Xers don't get stuck in middle management their whole life.

It is impressive how accurate many of your observations are. I fall in that GenX category.

Your points about backup plans were particularly interesting. I always have at least one backup plan for any action I take and while I rarely need to use them, I take pride when they are put into action.

I can also identify with the lack of trust in corporations. I believe this quote best defines my feelings about that subject:
"Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility." - Ambrose Bierce

I am looking forward to this book you mention.

As a younger Gen Xer, I don't understand why everyone doesn't take more control over their own corporate destiny.

There are companies out there (large and small) that give you the ability to make an impact on a corporate level. You just have to find the right companies and the right niche within the company.

For me that happened to be in a communications role, where I can help shape the corporate image. And image is becoming ever important for Gen Yers, both managing their own online imprint and when researching potential employers.

My experience with Gen Yers is that they want to be given goals not tasks. Don't rein in their creativity and their willingness to find a technology solution to problems. Encourage it.

Just remember when you joined the workforce and your boss or another higher up told you "this is the way we do things in this company", how demoralized did you feel? Did it spur you to come up with something new and ultimately more productive? Of course, it didn't.

So why should we continue to put up roadblocks for the latest entrants to the workforce? I and my company, Serena Sofware, strongly believe in the principle of "Innovation Without Permission".

Companies, managers and IT departments need to all take heed. People strive to innovate, and this is particularly prevalent among the upcoming Gen Y class of workers. So rather than lock everything down, why not find ways to support their natural inclinations?

Who knows, you might even find ways to be more productive, bring in more revenue and make work a much more enjoyable place to be. For these reasons, I don't understand why everyone doesn't just embrace the differences and the attributes that each generation brings and find the best way to use them to your (and your company's) advantage.

This post resonated with me; thanks for posting it. By some measures, I'm an X'er and by others I'm a Y (born in '79), and I feel the tug of both at times. My aversion to power structures and rules is deeply ingrained and that really made it hard to enter the corporate workforce in my early 20s. After a few professional near-catastrophes, I finally figured out how to posture myself in the workplace, feel content, and be successful. But lurking in the back of my mind and always in the fore of my daydreams was this: "How can I get out of here..."

After 3-1/2 years of night and weekend classes to finish an undergrad, it took about 2 months after I graduated to identify the next step and make my "exit plan" from Corporate America a reality. I'm getting ready to job-swap with my wife; who will start working full-time for the first time since our early 20s. I'll be in a seminary/grad-school dual degree program for the next 4 to 5 years, at which point I'd like to start a consulting firm to work with churches, ecumenical organizations, and maybe even secular orgs on conflict management/resolution.

It's a drastic U-turn from the career that I was just starting to be really successful with, but I plan to fully leverage the lessons and experience I gained in corporate world in this new, hopefully more fulfilling, venture.

Again, thanks for the post!

I certainly can identify with strains on personal life. With 2 young kids my "work-life" balance right is pretty good but I dread it will suffer if I start making the upward climb. Secondly your comment about layoffs. Most of the managers I know are all boomers and are a pretty unimpressive bunch. I asked many of them what was your big break and they all said they got promoted shortly after surviving the major layoffs during the early 90's. It wasn't like they made it on merit but rather simply stepped up in a vacuum. Perhaps when the boomers retire (still waiting...) there will be a similar vacuum and the company will make that next demographic surge upwards but it has little to do with leadership or capabilities.

I think discontent with corporation life cuts across many generations. It is not wonder - corporate life is often stifling and painful.

The early Americans were independent artisans and individualists - maybe that is the path to blaze.

There is also a lot of "Boomer Bashing" which is troubling. There's a great post about it at http://www.Vaboomer.com

I think discontent with corporation life cuts across many generations. It is not wonder - corporate life is often stifling and painful.

The early Americans were independent artisans and individualists - maybe that is the path to blaze.

There is also a lot of "Boomer Bashing" which is troubling. There's a great post about it at http://www.Vaboomer.com

Thanks very much Tammy; I believe your observations are very accurate. I’m at the tail end of Generation X and find that my professional views are a homogenized version of your Gen Y & Gen X descriptions. I’m eager to succeed at one of my entrepreneurial ventures in order to move away from the rigid corporate environment, but while I’m working for the company I recognize the importance of putting in my time to gradually accomplish promotion.

That said, my most recent project tears at the fabric of corporate culture, employee compensation. It blatantly undermines employee negotiation procedures and questions the authority and support of corporate human resource departments.

Right again Tammy.

I am a Gen Y'er (barely as I was born in '80) and have recently decided to leave my corporate job to start my own consulting firm. I believe that there are things that corporations could be doing (or doing better) to attract and retain talented Gen Y's. One of which are better corporate mentoring programs......which is why I started my consulting firm
www.danbrutonconsulting.com

Tammy, thanks for another thought provoking post. I'm a Gen-Xer with some Gen-Y tendencies. I had struggled with finding satisfaction and happiness in the workplace for 15 years. At one point I left a successful IT consulting practice to open a coffee shop. This dramatic (and eventually unsuccessful) leap into self-employment came after significant self-reflection. I couldn't think of a single job or organization that would meet my needs as a professional and person.

After re-entering the corporate workforce I've moved jobs three times. I'm currently with an employer that I believe has got most of it right. The first thing I was asked to do was to complete my StrengthFinders. After that, my goals were aligned with my strengths and opportunities identified to reach those goals. There is respect for maintaining my work-life blend. The company also encourages lateral movement across job families which satisfies my desire to continually learn and grow.

This isn't nirvana, but I feel a sense of relief in finding an organization that is trying and takes action to show that its employees are valued.

The challenge I see is that the firm has not been able to attract Gen-Yers. With the possibility of over 50% of our workforce being eligible to retire in the next 10 years this will quickly climax to create critical business impact.

I was born in '68 and have always worked in large multi national organisations. It is certainly true that my focus has shifted away from my career as I have got older and more onto focusing on other things in my life that may have suffered in the past - family, leisure, health etc.

For me it is being able to take control over things. The interesting point though is that since I started doing this my career has developed even more than ever!!!

Chris
http://learn2develop.blogspot.com

Tammy,
Great piece and one which completely resonates for me. In fact, I just recently wrote a piece on my own blog about employee satisfaction levels and how most employees, not limited to Gen Xers, are living in "comfortable misery". You can see my entry here:
http://ninasimosko.com/blog/2008/05/13/comfortable-misery/
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this piece.
Regards,
Nina

'I belong to the blank generation
and I can take it
or leave it each time...'
Richard Hell & the Voidoids

I think the things the X-geners learned are extremely valuable in times of great socio-economic and political chaos.You are doing a great thing by turning the focus back to this generation after we stealthed our way through our short and inglorious legacy within the corporate rank and file. WoW! I had almost forgotten we existed.

Caught in between two worlds and native of neither. If it hadn't been for the hardcore ethos of our early formation we would not even rate a nod from the new breed. Let's face it, WE freaked the Boomers out and they have always been ready and willing to 'throw us under the bus'. Too much attitude, I guess.

Thnx again for your article

Tammy,

I found your post interesting. I agree with some, but not all. As a 31 year old Associate Vice President at a mid tier information technology company, one of the things I find most disheartening is the lack of mentoring opportunities, or willingness to mentor, on the part of the older Boomer generation. As I have grown up in my career, I used to be able to call on my Grandfater (Builder Generation) and others at his age for advice and guidance. My Grandfather and many of his peers have all passed away now, so there is a major void. What I find more consistant with Boomers is a sort of "eat poop and die" type mentality as they grow increasingly concerned about holding onto their own positions while the next generation moves up the chain. I think being mentored, and mentoring are lost arts. My perception is that many Boomers look at mentoring as if it's a charity event and all they are really doing is training some kid to take thier job. Of course, I may be wrong.

Matt

I was born in 1950, and so by all counts, I have little to add. Maybe. But as a supervisor of two generation Y's and two X's, perhaps I can field the comparison from a different perspective. The X's seem to have 'gotten it,' or at least they are able to hum the tune; that is, they understand the rules of the game, while the Y's seem to be hoping that that the game will either go away, that the rules will change, or that everyone will come to their senses soon and start to play fair.

Thanks

Tammy was spot on with her points. I especially related to #4 and #10. It was difficult to land the "right" job in a time where the economy was souring, and when I felt I had found that right fit, the dot com bubble burst, and I was laid off along with countless others. Having gained good experiences in various positions, I am now in a dream job, but find a new challenge in parenting three young kids. I want to provide the best leadership in the workplace, but I want to give my kids equal billing. It feels like Gen X has always been a struggle. That is not to say I'm discontent. It just reveals that our generation has had unique issues to overcome.

Last year I wrote a poem that pretty much sums up my feelings on this matter:

Boom, Retire
http://www.raymondpirouz.com/2007/11/22/boom-retire/

I really understand this as someone on the tail end of the Baby Boom and early entry of the Gen X - a 'tweener - who often has characteristics of both. The problem I am having is less competent upper management who is self-satisfied, complacent, and has no real skills to contribute. Two levels of management above are Boomers who are unable to get out of their current thought processes to go out and find work for the company. Meanwhile, the employees who are being threatened with half-time and so their jobs are ready to try new things. Results: we are polishing our resumes and looking for new jobs; our manager and her boss are securely full time, won't be fired, and completely ignorant.

Born in 1970, I resent the misfortunes which seem to have compromised Gen X at key moments: Recessions, Debt, Aids, Boomer Divorcees.
Boomers continue to throw their money at Y's, who dazzle them with the elixir of youth.
However, the most positive attributes of X-ers to emerge from this experience include Flexibility, Articulation, Vision, Resilience. X-ers can mix it with both Boomers and Ys.
Unlike Boomers and Y's, X-ers are not blinded by their own preoccupations.
I think X-ers make perfect management material right now, capable of better medium and long term decisions that will protect all 3 generations.
Y's know less about technology than they think. Social networking is not the internet.
Get a Y idea, Boomer money, and give it to an X - empowered to make disruptive change. Result = huge success.

In Singapore, the boomers (likely parents who are rich and loaded from the boom period) are so in love with the Gen Y that they are moving the Gen Y into management position ahead and making them manage Gen X folks (who faced all the bad luck and will perpetuate it to their next generation as well). Seriously, you can see the amount of resentment over here. The Gen Y think the world revolve around them and unlike this site, many snub the gen X and do not think they have any thing of value to learn from. So frankly, I have a stronger dislike for Gen Y than technology.

I am a W generation, born in 1947. I have managed X and Y generation people and find the Y more stimulating but also more frustrating than X. However having worked in many countries organisations and industries I believe that categorising groups of people as X or Y this is not helpful. It’s a bit like racism or sexism with a small r and s. To clarify my position I am ok with technology having use electric calculators since 1964, mainframes 1970 and desk tops 1980 and built and managed in high tech automated manufacturing plants using mini robots before robots existed. I have also worked in Universities in Scotland and the South Pacific. I carried out research into Human Activity Systems that focus on peoples Weltanschauung (world view). The premise being that a persons perceptions and attitudes are a result of their life experiences – as X and Y generally have the sets of experiences as stated in the article one can generally agree with the conclusions but in practice there is a whole range of experiences. Accountants generally but not always behave in a similar way, as do engineers etc. However as an individual's experience is broadened (not deepened) and if that person learns from doing etc their perceptions and attitudes will change. As far as corporate rules are concerned any organisation must have some rules and these will depend on the type of industry, the attitude of the corporation and the people employed. Generally the fewer rules the better but there is a bottom line. By the way we have our own export business that has struggled for the last ten years, being adversely affected by Foot & Mouth, September 11, Bali Bombing and China joining the WTO. Now it is picking up but it will most likely be affected by the coming recession but that’s life – life is not supposed to be easy. I am just grateful that I was not born at a time when I would be called up for the great wars or current wars. Sure I would do it but I would rather not. And what about our and your children and global warming etc. Do you think that will be a picnic for them - no but they ill have to deal with it. Business and work are part of life but not life itself. Do your best in life, enjoy it and your families – you don’t get another one..

Jim O’Hara, Indonesia

Agree 100%. upon entering the work force after college I was disillusioned with corporation structures after working for a few of them. Moved to a smaller town, found a job that fit without much structure and stayed there until it too became a corporate monstrosity of rules and regulations (15 years).
Ultimately the realization that I was making money for someone else while struggling to pay bills annoyed me to such a point that work suffered and I left (or was asked to leave by my boomer boss depending on your point of view).
So, I did what I always dreamed of and took a much needed road trip of 50 days and 6000 miles in a RV (with 4 kids and a wife).

Though still unemployed, I am much happier, more free and much more wise. I will find my own way, on my own terms.

As a side note:
I too have experienced the "screw you" attitude of the boomer generation. Mentoring for me amounted to "you are dirt and you shall remain dirt". Trust corporations? I think not.

The boomer didn't just sell out to the man, they became the man...

After viewing and pondering everyone’s comments. I wonder if we might need to add "ungrateful" to the profile of Gen X’ers. When did we all become so cynical? Perhaps I am an X outlier, but I know I wouldn't be anywhere without the multiple boomer mentors who guided me. Yes, I don’t like hard and fast rules; they all weren’t a piece of cake to deal with, but they taught me something - how to survive and thrive in corporate culture, to be patient and preserve to move up, to work hard, and eventually be creative and develop my own ideas about the corporate culture for the future.

W, X, Y, and boomer alike need to concentrate on the ways we complement on another and fill gaps to build America into the world class nation it once was. It was creative and innovative thinking that gave us this country in the first place. To form party lines about our qualities as workers limits our ability to be global and world class once again.

Let's not continue to divide and concour ...ourselves.

Tammy, thanks for sharing, this helps me a lot undesrtanding my current situation.
To come back on your point on the Xers being stuck in middle management, it just made me realize how the situation in my company mirror this.
In my function, we are short of the level 2 people , meaning we have level 3 people (would be the high end of middle management) and recruit level 1 people but struggle to keep them (the Yers)
As a result the Level 2 people tend to be stuck there for longer period of time (6 to 12 years) whilst 10 years ago you would spend 6 years on average.
All level 4 jobs are filled with 40 yo and above people.
Some level 3 jobs start to be available but given the level 2 is so short of people they delay promotions or restructure jobs to avoid having to deplete the level 2 (like reshuffling a level 3 role, in level 2 projects plus a small level 4 support)
In my network, people currently between 30 and 40 yo spent already 2 more years than their predecessor at their level and they still don't have any promotions coming their way.
And it looks like the Yers that stay long enough to reach level 2 are starting to get to level 3 faster than Xers. But they don't care that much about the opportunity, generating a lot of frustration from the Xers who would love to get it.

Another effect I witnessed is that, given that their management had to keep the level 2 there for a longer time than expected, they created a lot of reasons why they couldn't be promoted to the level 3 . Suddenly it looks like those reasons are not holding for the level 2 Yers.

On top of this the Yers never hesitate to use the "give it to me or I quit" pressure to get promoted. And whilst it was rarely working from Xers, that did really quit from what I saw in the end, its seems that the level 4 and 5 accept it from Yers and give them what they wanted.

On the positive side, I think there is an opportunity for the Xers coming from that situation: if people you've been managing, get promoted above you, they become very good mentors for you.

Kind Regards
Anne

This is a very interesting topic. I work for a franchisor and we are seeing a trend toward younger people (average used to be around 50 and is now headed closer to 40) getting into running their own business. I myself am a Gen Xer and work for a Boomer. It is always interesting to me to see the difference in our motivations and I am constantly talking to him about differences in what we want (in a positive way - he's a good guy!). One that seems superfluous but actually illustrates the differences well is casual Friday. He would love to do away with it - the two Xers in the office want more casual days. And yet he has never offered an extra casual day as a reward for completing a big project or something when he wants to do something to reward us! We all know in management often the small rewards are remember better than the money ones (although don't get me wrong - I'll always cash the checks) but he's always looking for those rewards he likes. Management has to take a step back and realize what do people really want to be able to retain them and keep them motivated.

I (a gen X’er) think of it as being a second string quarterback to the boomers as the job opportunities were not there. Then, just before the first string guy retires they draft a promising youth that garners all the accolades and attention.

In some respects, the Y’er are in the same wide open environment as the boomers experienced, thus explaining there similar styles. This might challenge the ego may gen X’ers. I guess it's time for a gut check.

I was born in 1961, and I am currently working part-time 24 hours per week in a senior technical position. It works perfectly for me -- intellectual stimulation and plenty of time to raise my two girls.

Sometimes there is a lot to juggle when projet deadlines and recitals both occur in the same week, but overall it is a very satisfying balance. Of course, I am not looking to move up in the management chain, just to keep having interesting work that I enjoy and interesting colleagues with whom to collaborate.

As someone who entered into the managerial track late in life in healthcare, I thought it was important obtain an MBA in case I could no longer work as a Medic or RN which can be a strenous job even when you are young. I worked for 4 years as a supervisor for a small hospital and when I tried to get a job as a nonmanagerial/nonadministrative type, I was instantly turned down by those in management who either feared that I was coming behind them to take their job or had lost my skills as a nurse because I was in a supervisory role. It was possible that I was going after their job but it simply wasn't true that I had lost my skills. I was someone who was a hands on manager who took an active interest in patient care. So I was stuck in the middle with no options to go forward or backwards. I managed to prove my capabilities through testing but I resented the fact that management was turning me down when there is a deficit in the number of available nurses. Quite frankly, I also resent management for their lack of insight and fear that many of them are not on track. Many of the newest nurses are young and I watch as management has a different set of standards in regards to rules for these nurses in order to ensure that the young ones stay. The oldest ones have all of the skills which the young ones don't so mangement gets upset when we want the same rules applied to us. For instance, the newest ones always complain that the don't have enough vacation time so management tends to bend rules and give it to them. When the rest of us ask for the same we are instantly turned down and told that our services are required. We also watch as the newest nurses get the same salary as we do which is really a slap in the face considering that so many of the older nurses have to prove our worth all of the time. This act is causing many of us to leave the field totally. We know that mangement does not respect us and there are many times that mangagement seems to think that they can run the place without us. With the increasing vacancy rate, I don't know what mangement will do. What is ironic is that I have actually finished my MBA in healthcare administration and I find that I simply don't want to use it. I am that typical x'er who has multiple backup options that can be used in times of crisis. Yet, the mba has actually given me options to escape nursing all together. I am torn at this point because I love patient care. However, I find there are other opportunities in EMS and disaster management which may be far more fufillinbg than the task of trying to convince new nurses that salary is not the most important thing in healthcare. I am not surpirsed by the fact that many of them have left given the fact that there are far more easier jobs. However, in this economy, nurses know that healthcare is probably the most stable option. I see people entering it that don't have the drive to care for patients like they should producing substandard care. Do I want to deal with these people? I don't think so. I need to go where I am needed and appreciated. I have worked hard for my degree and don't want to burn out!

As a late Xer (1975) I completely understand several aspects of the angst that seems to precede me. I also believe that while we had to toe the line at work these last 10-20 years, we've also laid the seedlings that are changing how businesses set up their organizations, define culture, and establish work rules. Maybe we're so frustrated because we couldn't relish the fruits of that labor (now that we're in middle-upper management, we're blazing new work rules in those areas, where Gen-Y will skate into our old jobs with a comfy newly redesigned model). Everything I read says that Gen-X doesn't need a lot of tangible perks. Maybe we would like something in exchange for our perceived toils to 'make the world better' at work.

SAY MORE ABOUT ITEM #9: specifically: "...the Boomer parents of your Y reports are down-right over-the-top. X’ers can’t believe the frequency of Y-parent interactions and are deeply turned off by parents who make their presence felt in the workplace....."

Does this mean the kids simply communicate with their parents more? That I do believe, and frankly think it is a good thing.

However, if you mean that parents are actually getting involved in workplace issues, or inserting themselves into their offspring's professional conversations (ie: talking to their kid's bosses), I'm not buying that.

I have heard a couple of consultants mention this, but have never seen even a whiff of this in the real workplace.

In college? Absolutely, many parents are way over the top with their interventions.

But in the workplace? I believe that type of intervention is a consultant myth. It not only flies in the face of the experience that we are all having out here in the real world, but also flies in the face of many HR guidelines. The Y'ers I know would be MORTIFIED to have this type of intervention taking place, as well they should be, and the X'er's I know would think very poorly of anyone who had Boomer Daddy and Mommy do their talking. Geees.

Thoughts?

WHAT DO WE NEED IN A 21ST CENTURY LEADER?

Business leaders need people. They must hire and retain people to innovatively solve problems for new and old products so they can continue to increase profits and preserve their company's growth. The challenge of the emerging Generation X leaders is to do more with less. These leaders must inspire people that have different generational values. To be successful, these 21st century leaders must guide their smaller Generation X peers and the newly emerging Generation Y employees through difficult business challenges. They must smooth the loss of the technical knowledge and skills of the retiring “Baby-boomer” workforce. To perform this, they must have the leadership ability to align their generational peers and inspire Generation Y. Their vision for new managers must set a clear direction to maintain productivity with a workforce that has fewer skills. To further complicate these leaders successes, they must deal with the mismanagement of our government and other governments, by ill-advised policies about energy, environments, intellectual property, and trade. Future leaders must adjust to the global markets and currencies variation from the newly formed economic partnerships. With the concerns above, these leaders must preserve a global competitive edge within their industry to ensure their company's future.

Over the next ten years, most of the Baby-boomers will retire to their homes and leave their offices behind. The baby boom began in the mid-1940s and ended in the mid-1960s. Baby-boomers are sons and daughters of the Silent Generation, the Veterans, and the Builders. This Generation of men and women knew sacrifice, discipline, common value, teamwork, and strength. The Baby-boomers are the sons and daughters of veterans. As they merged into the workforce, they brought a skilled, driven, and team-orientated attitude into work that complemented their parents. The baby-boomers unprecedented work ethic and innovation drove major business growth within the Untied States. As they begin to retire, they leave a void within the workforce. This void is a large burden on the emerging Generation X leaders because we are loosing senior managers, technical workers, and knowledge keepers that built the current state of our companies. As these workers retire in large numbers, much smaller generations must replace them.

Generation X (1965-1981) and Generation Y (1982-2002) need to fill the worker and leadership gap. Generation X, most of my MBA classmates, are the leaders for the next 20-30 years. Generation X has been described as self-absorbed, suspicious, cautious, skeptical, unimpressed with authority, self-reliant, and individual survivors, which does not demonstrate our leadership potential. Therefore, we have much work to due. Generation X has the classic technical skills that most companies were built on, but are too few to meet all the needs of our future companies.

Generation Y are beginning to graduate from college with less technical skills than the Baby-boomers and Generation X. Generation Y are partly the cable and Internet generation, therefore they want life on-demand and are less willing to earn respect, the expect it. In addition, Generation Y is technology absorbed, which results in a short attention span and poor business communication skills. Unlike Generation X and the Baby-boomers, Generation Y expects life to fit into their work. They also have more self-worth than technical skills, but are in limited supply. Generation Y has no fear of change, in fact they can be expected to move to a new job if it does not fit their life needs, or if they do not stay engaged with their current employer. Emerging Generation X leaders need to gain the skills to keep the Generation Y workforce engaged and resonant.

What qualities do emerging Generation X leaders need to keep Generation Y employees engaged? Future leaders must develop their emotional intelligence and deliberately practice these skills. Emotion intelligence has four main units: self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, and relationship management. Both self-awareness and self-management will aid emerging Generation X leaders in discovering themselves and increasing their emotion intelligence. Our future leaders must carry out this self-realization to move forward into the future. In addition, to keep the Generation Y employees engaged in their current job, emerging leaders must master their social-awareness. These leaders need to sense the mood as the walk into a room and discover an individual’s “DiSC” profile quickly. These people skills are critical to minimize timelines and maximize productivity.

Generation Y's self-worth and life-work balance needs are different from the Generation X leaders. Future leaders must increase their capacity to empathize with and understand their Generation Y employees. These leaders need to actively develop Generation Y employees for two reasons. First, Generation Y employees are used to a constant flow of relevant information. Second, as these leaders actively develop their employees, they will start to build relationships with their workers. Relationship management is critical to future leaders. These leaders must coach and mentor Generation Y employees. As emerging leaders and their employees’ relationships develop, they can have a positive impact on others team members. Once they build an emotionally intelligent team, they will act like a social group. This influence will increase team building and communication. In this case, the future leader recognizes Generation Ys' wanted life-work balance and develops trust that will strengthen their group's efficacy. Generation X leaders must assess the developmental needs of their team members. Once assessed, these leaders need to use various leadership styles and influence tactics to engage their team members. Both categories of emotional intelligence, self-awareness/action and others-awareness/action, will be critical to navigate the governmental pressures and globalization changes in business in the coming decades.

Emerging Generation X leaders need to inspire their Generational peers, engage Generation Y, and get their company to continue expanding globally to lessen the domestic financial burden. In turn, this expansion will be hindered by the financial circumstances associated with the new century. In the coming century, Generation X leaders must deal with the impending decisions made by government officials today. Payroll, merit increases, and bonuses will be more limited than they are today. To further complicate the employee benefits, we will have larger debts and expenses. US based companies and employees must pay for the Baby-boomers social security, socialized health care, and the deficit, just to name a few. In addition, increased energy costs and costs associated with rising environmental concerns will have to be dealt with by future leaders. Open communication and emotional intelligence skills will pay big dividends when addressing and empathizing with employees concerns about reduced benefits from increased expenses.

The 21st century leader must lead a business world that is shrinking as the global economy expands. Competition within a given industry will be fierce for many reasons. Developing economic alliances has reduced the value of the dollar. This may benefit companies that are all ready global, but increases the expense of global expansion for US based companies and could make their global expansion difficult. Supply chains and manufacturing capacity must be geographically diverse to be responsive to wavering currencies. Outsourcing of minimal labor and medium level technical jobs may continue to shifts to the lowest biding country. However, this may slow dramatically depending on the value of the dollar and the formation of new economic alliances. In addition, sales volumes in global markets may also be reduced with the violation of accepted international intellectual property rights and piracy. These significant concerns will lead to reduce margins and slow growth. Emerging leaders must use a dynamic foray of influencing strategies to quicken employee buy-in. Emerging leaders must develop their people skills to ensure increasing profits continue growth.

How can emerging leaders deliver results quickly to increase profits and sustain their company’s growth? These leaders need to heighten their ability to relate to people. In addition, their integrity must be clear and evident to everybody; otherwise, employees may not effectively buy-in to their leader’s vision of the future. Future leaders must constantly develop their emotional intelligence, situational leadership, and diversify their influencing skills. As these leaders emerge they need to interact will all levels of the organization to negotiate, delegate, and prioritize critical goals that will help fulfill their vision. To ensure a steady profit margin spurs globalization, future leaders must use cross-functional teams effectively. These leaders must lead their teams with vision, not over manage them. Once these leaders develop their organizations, the benefits will become obvious though innovation, operational efficiency, and speed. Eventually, the organizations that rapidly increase their global presence will lessen the effects of the shrinking business world and thereby continue their company’s future.

Leadership is about people. People solve problems, people innovate, people work on the floor, and leaders need people to fulfill their vision. The leaders that have the intellectual abilities and technical skills, but lack people’s skills will become middle management. As the Baby-boomers retire, Generation X and Generation Y must fill a large void. Emerging Generation X leaders will be under tremendous pressures to enlarge profits with increased expenses. These expenses will be unavoidable, since they are the results of governmental policies set in place today. Global competition from emerging markets and new economic alliances will also increase the need for rapid business decisions. Whether my predictions of need for business globalizations happens or not, tomorrow’s leaders will be facing more problems with fewer people. Emerging Generation X leaders will not have the time to learn these people skills as they need them, the must be prepared to lead people and they must lead they way.

Mary, parental involvement is a reality in the workplace at least where I am. I had one parent call an interviewing manager directly to find out why their child did not get the position. They went on to explain certain attributes and characteristics of their child that they were certain the interviewer had missed.

It's strange, but it does happen.

Older generations like to focus on whats wrong with Generation X (i.e "Why Xers Are UNHAPPY at Work") rather than what they're good at or the positive aspects of the group. Alot of Xers ARE happy and doing well at work -- thank you very much (Michael Dell, Barak Obama). The image of young people has changed from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged. The image of Generation Xers as "losers" is an old and tired stereotype that benefits someone else. Older generations need to help rather than criticize.

One thing that I've noticed, is that in my career, I've seen older Gen Y'ers (you know these, the ones who think they're Xers, but really aren't) move up the corporate path faster than Gen X'ers.

I resent the fact that these "kids" graduated from college when the economy was booming, and were able to jump on the career path immediately after college. While those of us who graduate during the tough economic times in the late 80s/early 90s and took several years to get in the workplace, seem to be left behind in middle management positions.

On a side note, I HATE it when people still refer to Gen X as the "slacker" generation. We work as hard as anyone else in the workforce (and arguably harder than Gen Yers). Just because we don't live and breathe work and want to balance our personal lives with work, doesn't mean we're slackers!

Generation Y is the last five years of Generation X. The new group are called "Millennials" born 1982 to 2000. See Strauss and Howe.

Erickson correctly observes Gen-X's relative conservatism and increased parenting pressures. She also scores hits on X'ers entering the workforce when the economy was slow and witnessing more than their fair share of layoffs. In fact, X'ers have not only seen lay-offs, but have often been laid off many times themselves.

However, Erickson, like many in her position, incorrectly misplaces her focus by examining the X'er rather than looking at the corporation.

I remember working 80+ hour work weeks. I remember 20 hour all-nighters because the company needed it. However, I do not remember being rewarded with extra responsibility or having my voice heard in decisions or freely given an increase in pay for my efforts. Like the Y'ers, had to threatened to leave to get a good paycheck. I too began to wonder what I got from my efforts when pink-slips were being distributed through the office.

I think the unhappiness of X'ers comes from having seen the corporate game from the outside for so long, we have realized that the vast majority of us will not be invited into the club. While we can be seen wearing the white shirt and tie and slacks, we are simply the working class in nicer attire. X'ers realize there is very little we can do to change anything. At least, anything that is worth something to us as human beings.

If corporations can magically transform themselves into the ethical, stable entities they once were, who are accountable to their employees as well as their stock holders, then perhaps X'ers might stick around. Otherwise, we will happily hand the torch to the Y's and go our way, like we should have done so many years ago.

Xers and GenY -- team up with Millennials. They have the momentum. Focus on where you went right!