Inter-Generational Diplomacy [2007]
It’s that time of year when the demand for Windshift’s social trends presentations really takes off. For years I didn’t understand why September to December saw a sudden rise of interest in trends – I’d thought they’d be more helpful at the beginning of the year. My investigations suggest there are several reasons:-
- We are far more “visceral” than we realise. Spring is the time when thoughts turn to the future.
- In this part of year people begin to look up from the projects they set themselves and think about what next.
- As the year wears on, changes in the social and economic landscape become increasingly visible and puzzling.
- And, prosaically, a lot of budgets run from mid year or September quarter.
It’s always interesting to investigate the compounding effects of social and economic change. Especially now. A myriad of changes in the last 18 months have crystallised into a new way of seeing the world.
But it’s becoming increasingly difficult for one group of New Zealanders to interpret these changes.
That group : baby boomers. The unthinkable has happened – the young guns have got old. Now between the ages of 43 and 61, they’re becoming increasingly risk-averse and uncertain, determined to replay old scenarios, no matter what the realities. In many organisations, the belief systems of the baby boomer leadership are now seriously at odds with those of younger staff.
As a baby boomer who strives to understand the reality of younger New Zealanders, I get to be one of the diplomats that helps unify these distinctive perspectives.
You can tell BBs are starting to feel out of their depth because their level of protest about Generation Y has risen from a background grumble to a cacophony of complaint.
These people have always annoyed their parents’ generation with their princess-y behaviour and their lack of commitment to wider goals. Now they're beginning to change organisational culture and challenge fundamental baby boomer beliefs. Suddenly it's a pandemic.
The irony of hearing the original “me generation” complain about Gen Y’s self-centredness is quite rich. But it’s their self-confidence that really grates with the older generation - it’s so un-earned! So not DB!
It’s weird how some people begin to resist new ways of seeing the world – in my social trends research it’s really noticeable among people over 35.
Maybe they feel they’ve “done enough for a mallowpuff” and now they don’t have to learn anything more. That their “glory days” are behind them and there’s no point trying to keep up. Inertia sets in.
Or they have friends of their own age who all think the same way and their teenagers haven’t managed to re-shape their thinking. .
I remember seeing a brilliant comparative study in an academic marketing journal once that showed that out of three groups of 'experts' - teenagers, marketing academics and marketing professionals, the teenagers had the best grasp of consumer behaviour.
As I was just saying to a colleague the other day it’s great when things that deserve to be true are proven to be true.
Perhaps it’s just that BB’s core perceptions of life - the ones they developed in their teens and twenties – actually prevent them from taking on new perspectives.
But more often the BB blind spot is the assumption that things still mean what they used to mean.
For example, that politics is a matter of left and right. . . that the government’s role matters . . . that the elite decides what happens. . . that fluidity and uncertainty are problems rather than opportunities . . . that owning property is always a good thing. . . that debt should be paid off. . .that you should settle down when you get older. . . that the future looks scary... Add your own. .
And then there are value preferences - like the belief that committees are somehow better and more effective than networks. . . that it’s better to have things black and white than to live with complexity . . .that it’s better to be a generalist than a specialist,. . . that you can’t be an expert or a leader till you’ve paid your dues. . . that getting outside and getting practical experience is better than extensive use of video games.
All completely arguable as far as many younger people are concerned, but not for their older counterparts.Though it’s a younger generation song , My Way or the Highway is a more common sentiment among older New Zealanders than among the more relativistic young.
I mean - to give them credit - Baby Boomers have embraced technology - they realise phones aren't just for talking on, computers aren't just for typing reports on and that online auctions are better than garage sales. They like wide screen tellies and digital cameras.
And they do travel a lot so they are getting out and seeing the world. It's just that their expectations for New Zealand - and especially for New Zealand business - may be a little too narrow.
It’s interesting work, helping people upgrade their conceptual frameworks to address new realities. That’s why I focus more now on thinking tools – so the insights we generate through research and analysis get where they’re needed.
And it’s important for a country like New Zealand – so vulnerable to world economic pressures, yet able to exist well on really small scraps from the international table, that our thinking remains nimble and adventurous.
When you help firms and organisations to combine the know-how and the transformative power of Baby Boomers with the breadth and excitement of younger generation thinking you're helping them access a pretty useful combination : confidence, experience, resources and ideas.
It could work. I mean - of course it will work. Brilliantly. . No doubt about it.
Cheers
Jill
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Jill Caldwell is Director of Windshift Communications Ltd. Click Here to contact Jill directly This is a free monthly newsletter provided to direct subscribers only. No further use is made of subscriber information. [Copyright Windshift Communications Ltd 2007]
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