Gen Z @ Work

by David Stillman and Jonah Stillman
Hennepin County Library hardcover 285
genre: non-fiction, generations, future

This was interesting, but I didn't love it. Technically, I'm a "Generation X" child, but I often feel more like a Baby Boomer or even a Traditionalist. I am very proud of my own children, who are wonderful adults and *not* stereotypical Millenials. I'm not sure I see the wonders of Generation Z the way these authors (or my former employers) do.

Page 9 - The father author referring to his teenaged co-author son, "He knows that no generation is better, worse, right, or wrong . . . they are just different." I like this caveat in the intro. I'm not a huge fan of generational generalities, but I know that trends exist. This reminded me to try to keep an open mind.

The seven key traits of Gen-Z: phigital (physical / digital equivalents), hyper-custom, realistic, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), Weconomists, DIY, and driven. I don't want to elaborate on my thoughts (or their points) here . . . I just wanted to hang on to these seven traits that they explain more fully throughout the book.

Page 14 - "Like many Gen Zers, giving back is just part of my DNA." Hmmm. How much is truly typified by this generation and how much is the way in which Jonah's parents raised him? In teaching, I didn't necessarily see this trait. But then, most middle school kids are much more egocentric than giving-oriented.

Their identifiers:
Traditionalists (born pre-1946) - 75 million (they didn't indicate if the numbers were how many were born or how many are still alive . . . )
Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) 80 million
Generation X (1965-1979) 60 million
Millennials (1980-1994) 82 million
Generation Z (1995-2012) 72 million
(And what will the next generation be called???) Lindsay said she read that the Millennials were through the year 2000. Whatever . . . this is not an exact science.

Page 51 - "This could be one of the reasons that there are more Millennial stay-at-home parents than any other generation." Really? I wonder if they looked at this carefully. I'd guess that the Traditionalists had more stay-at-home moms, even though women were joining the work force more during WWII.

Page 55 - "Birth years are a starting point to help people get their minds wrapped around the different generations." So true! Delavon and I are in different generations according to this book, but we were raised in very similar times and circumstances. This is part of why I am generally not a fan of generation talk.

Page 112 - Ugh! This hyper-custom stuff makes sense, but also makes me crabby. "So if online experiences like Amazon or the colleges we attend can create these personal experiences that really make us feel that they know us, it would be only natural for my generation to expect this level of customization when we hit the workplace." As though the entire world should cater to their wishes and needs! I wonder how the military deals with these kids who expect a custom experience in every aspect of their lives!

Page 114 - "One thing I worry about is being labeled as entitled. I understand how it could be perceived that way . . . " And he goes on to explain that "This is not about a sense of entitlement but it is all about the realities of the world we have grown up in." This is one of the things I had to try really hard to understand from Jonah's point of view . . . and failed. I see it as an attitude of selfishness and entitlement.

Page 125 - Also in the hyper-custom chapter, referring to education, both father and son refer to Gen-Z driven learning. Just having left my career because of this facet of teaching, I was very tuned in and sensitive to this issue. My post-it note comment was "BUT Letting 11-year-olds learn this way means they don't choose to learn if they don't care about the topic." If they are not innately interested in math, history, biology, etc. and they can always learn what they need on YouTube, do we abdicate that role of opening their minds to bodies of knowledge that they may be completely unaware of and allow them to self-select their interests? This is a chilling thought to me.

Page 133 "Sounds exhausting . . . and probably will be, but ask teachers and they will tell you that this level of custom access and frequency is not all bad. It has taught students the value of self-monitoring." Umm . . . are they thinking only of high school and college students? Have they spent time with middle school kids? Have they spent time with kids from dysfunctional homes? Have they spent time with kids who are not adept at self-monitoring or simply don't care? Ugh! Now I just sound like a negative nelly.

Page 135 - The Echo Chamber. "As I have studied this generation and just how hyper-customized their world is, I've come to have some big concerns as a parent and future employer." Yep. Me, too. Since things are skewing toward this demographic, it's affecting the rest of us. The things that show up in my news feed are customized to what I've clicked on in the past. Google is giving me what it things I want. This makes me crazy! I want to read widely! I want opinions from the right and the left. I want to be aware and think for myself. For kids to already be locked in to their youthful opinions is very concerning.

Page 137 - Still on the hyper-custom chapter and the Echo Chamber section (this really set me off . . . is it obvious?). "This will only lead to the other generations naturally labeling them as bad sports, poor negotiators, or just downright spoiled. We will have to look for tangible ways to help Gen Z get out of their own silos."

Page 177 - "Most important, Gen Z will have to know that investing in skill development is not being inefficient." Seriously? "A concern is that if we let Gen Z delegate all tasks that they aren't good at, they could likely plateau. Part of coming of age in the world of work is developing new skills." This makes me glad that I'm not an employer. I'm very curious to see how this plays out in the future.

Page 210 - "Of course, no one likes to be bored, but there is still a difference. Other generations have dealt with it, compared to Gen Z, who grew up believing that boredom is not something you need to ever endure." How will this generation deal with raising children?! Or caring for their elderly parents?! Life isn't always fun and it isn't always about you!

Page 217 - FOMO - "If companies do not have a robust research and development department, Gen Z will be here to start one. The upside is that they embrace what many are calling MVP - minimal viable product. They will keep teams from overthinking things and instead focus on going for it and learning from it." I can actually see the need for sometimes just jumping in versus killing something via committee.

Page 284 - "They (older generations) will need your help in pulling them along. Trust me, they will not be jumping up and odwn over the fact that once again they have to look at everything from office space to communication techniques to recruiting to rewards." Yep. I'm the older generation here. I'm not just trying to be resistant to change. I'm not sure that I agree about the changes at all.

I'm really glad I read this book. It gave me good food for thought. It is well-written and clear. It was very interesting to have both father (Gen X) and son (Gen Z) as authors. Their dialogs were my favorite part of the book. The questions from famous people and the survey results from teens were okay - they were interesting and gave little breaks to the text.