Our poisoned DNA

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Bill Sheridan has written a polemic about the generational differences and attitudes of baby boomers and Millennials.

There they were, more than 100 Boomers and Gen Xers, rattling off every stereotype in the Millennial Handbook as if they were definitive characteristics of our youngest co-workers. And none of them were terribly flattering.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. What really bugged me was the tone in the room, which suggested the millennials had better get smart and fall into line pronto if they want to taste professional success.

In other words, they are the ones who need to change. Not us.

What a crock.

Bill then goes on to explain that things are changing and makes the statement:

We don’t communicate and connect with people the way we use to. We don’t get our information in the same ways, either. Heck, we don’t work the way we used to. A lot of our younger colleagues get that. If we don’t start changing, too, we’re quickly going to find ourselves irrelevant.

This is a topic I have visited in the past. It is dangerous to ignore our young people and attempt to smash them into line. The recession provides the perfect cover for doing that as RIF’s become more commonplace and uncertainty leads to societal problems.

However, in the three plus years I have been writing this blog it has been apparent that ingrained practices and ideas about how the profession is organized and structured have remained remarkably resilient to radical debate. Jeremy Newman’s phrase ‘I am cautious’ keeps ringing in my ears. Even with the worst recession in living memory upon us, it seems that as a profession we are in some way incapable of standing back, reflecting upon what we’re doing and figuring out new ways of moving forward. It’s that whole ‘tone from the top’ thing. So regardless of how distasteful Gen X’ers attitudes may be, we’re going to be stuck with them for some time to come. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that I am starting to see people like Bill and his colleague Tom Hood shake some of those old oak trees and bring into question whether we’re doing the right thing. Elsewhere, Francine is continuing her battle to expose the practices of the Big Four and how they undermine the profession for all of us. Check the number of comments she receives when discussing these issues. She has become the place where people feel safe to air their grievances and add to the dirty laundry.

I’ll predict that in less than 2 years we’ll hear a lot more voices asking hard questions about what the heck we’re doing. These will be the smart ones who understand the need for change and will be baking it into the way they do business.

In practice, I am seeing a small but growing number of firms recognize that if they don’t get with the new forms of communication that their competitors will come along and snatch clients at the speed of a mouse click. It won’t be a price war but service differentiation that kills your practice.

As Bill says: ‘we can learn much’ but if instead we continue to deny the value of youthful endeavor then we risk continuing to poison ourselves, infecting the next generation with DNA that was useful at another time but which no longer serves us well. At risk is our ability to survive as a meaningful and valuable part of the business community.

There are lots of ways we can innovate and here I write a lot about the technical aspects of how that plays out. But equally we must innovate from within and that means watching our young people for the good things they can bring to the table. That’s how I got into communities and many of the things you see me write about today. Via my then 15 year old son. He continues to help and inspire me. The pic I’ve used as a thumbnail for this post comes from his latest  collection as he’s learning how to use his new camera. Rock on.

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