Friends of Dave #151: Dear Young Co-Worker...
It's been a while, and things need to be said....
Dear Co-worker who is under the age of 35,
It's been over 5 years since I last wrote an open letter to you and your generation. I know you hate talking, but I'm feeling like we need to reconnect.
Sooo much has happened during that time. The world has LITERALLY changed since then. People got more woke. Some of you finally have your own Netflix password. Others are even moving out of your parents' house, getting married and now having kids (and not necessarily in that order). Adulting is WAAAY more harder than ever (no bueno!). You've started seeing a therapist due to your battle with tattoo regret. Sadly, I'm here to report that I still don't drink kombucha.
We've been watching you, young colleague. You are definitely cut from a different cloth -- fearless, opinionated, entitled, and relentlessly seeking ways to disrupt the status quo of everything. When it comes to traditional norms, you sort of remind your older colleagues of an old SNL skit that you might find relatable...it's one where Mike Meyers (you know, the guy from Wayne's World) runs a store called "All Things Scottish"...LOL...like if it's not Millennial, it's crap....amirite?
Here's just one simple example of this: for decades young people were taught to never get into a strange car driven by someone they didn't know. Now, in just a few years, you have gotten the ENTIRE WORLD to accept that it is okay to use our phones to summon these strangers to our exact location so we can take a late night drunken ride with them to (hopefully) where we live. What's the worst thing that could happen? Especially when star ratings are at stake!
Your impact in the workplace has been equally amazing and transformational. On your own, you have used the power of your youth and your 280 typed characters to organize, pass judgement and LITERALLY change how people are treated in society. Hashtags matter!
As a result, while we still have a long way to go, women are now being taken more seriously and are getting more respect in the workplace than ever. Dad's actually take 8 week paternity leaves -- AND KEEP THEIR JOBS (and not ridiculed when they return). Unlimited PTO, once considered an innovative, employee friendly policy, has been exposed by you as a craptastic scam. These are good things. Of course, as I am sure you have heard your whole life, before you came along none of this was possible.
And now some of you are even beginning to move into those managerial roles you expected to get during your first interview out of college. How's that working for you? You thought adulting was hard. You are now starting to manage Gen Z -- which is THE. HARDEST THING. EVER. Like adulting on steroids, right? Try parenting those ungrateful little bastards. But, of course, this struggle is offset by the fact that your title now allows you to flex on social media LITERALLY like a BOSS, sharing those super hard lessons you have learned along the way to legit build up your influencer status.
In terms of conducting business, I totally hear you: why the actual hell did it take us all so long to realize that cold calling and human interaction is so from the "stone age?" Our communication is so efficient now that it has evolved into using cartoon like pictures -- you know, those things called emojis. We are so over "words" and "speaking" and "phone conversations" in business. I know, they are boring and the older people who continue to rely on them don't get it. These dinosaurs are even more clueless than the prospects and customers that actually need to speak to someone before they buy things...it's LITERALLY 2019, like who needs to put up with that?
And who needs in person meetings when we have digital marketing and chatbots and Slack and Zoom now? Nothing can get misinterpreted or lost in the shuffle that way at all. Of course, artificial intelligence is going to revolutionize how businesses operate. All we have to do is give up our personal data to make things better....but we are already willingly doing that anyways already, so what could possibly go wrong?
You know, when you think about it, it's not right that older generations still mock you for getting participation trophies when you were younger....damn right you deserved those things. Look at everything you are doing to fix this messed up world. Every...goddam...day....It takes so much out of you that we now have DoorDash and GrubHub to deliver food to all of us....We shouldn't be teasing you. We should be showing you more gratitude and giving you promotions for that shit.
Yep, younger colleague, you got us. The world IS a messed up place on so many levels. Even though we really hate to admit it to your face, by questioning everything and fully embracing the possibilities that technology brings, you are helping drive the collective work environment to be more humane, efficient and tolerant for everyone. Truth be told, some of us secretly admire you for this.
To that point though, there's a lot of things that need fixing and improvement. And in a swipe left/swipe left world, lasting, sustainable change won't happen over night. Hell, WeWork practically came and went in that last 5 years.
Despite all of your special, worldly talents, you can't do it all alone. You also have to admit you are lacking one key thing: the experience in knowing how things got done the old way -- the hard way. Thinking through and understanding those details is the ticket to helping get rid of all the dumbass shit that annoys you about work once and for all, and, just like that tattoo you are now regretting, not creating unnecessary pain and discomfort in the future when it has to be undone.
So, young colleague, it looks like we need each other. You have the balls to think you can change the world. We have the knowledge, sensibility and experience to make sure it's done right. Let's work together, respect one another for what we bring to the table and not dismiss each other for our shortcomings. Because soon enough the robots will LITERALLY be taking ALL of our jobs. And that is going to SUUUUCK.
XOXO
Dave
Think on This...
The Illusion of Transparency: Your Poker Face is Better Than You Think
We tend to think that people can easily tell what we’re thinking and feeling. They can’t. Understanding the "illusion of transparency bias" can improve relationships, job performance, and more. Always good stuff from Farnam Street.
To Control Your Life, Control What You Pay Attention To
But here’s an overlooked truth: Our productivity suffers not just because we are distracted by outside interruptions, but also because our own brains, frazzled by today’s frantic workplaces, become a source of distraction in and of themselves.
One more in the name of mindfulness....and understanding the impact that good attention management can have of on your productivity.
For Your Day Job...
The Most Frequent Mishire in Startups
Though the startup may have achieved product market fit, the company may not understand the fit. Who is using the product and why? How does the buyer journey evolve with time? How do buyers describe the product amongst each other? Few early stage companies can answer those questions accurately.
I ran in to this exact issue in a discussion this week. A salesperson at an early stage startup was insisting to me that the most important priority to them and their company was lead generation. The problem was, no one knows why their product matters. As this article states, solve that problem first and then worry about lead gen.
Why Workers Are Leaving Jobs for Companies They Used to Work for
Coming back to an old team no longer is a sign of weakness or lack of direction. The "boomerang" effect is real, and something all companies should consider as an asset to their culture.
5 Sales Coaching Myths That Need To Be Busted
In a lot of ways, the title of “sales manager” is a misnomer. Sure, they own the team's number. But they really own a lot more than that -- they are a leader, a coach, an revenue generator, a therapist, and the level setter for everyone on the team. Good insights here for everyone, not just the sales folks.
Can That SaaS Business Evolve Into a Marketplace?
A lot of companies think about transitioning from SaaS-like businesses to marketplaces over time. It can be a hard thing to pull off. If you are interested in understanding different types of business models, this is a great read -- a little involved and in the weeds, but interesting nonetheless.
Your Weekly Dose of Randomness...
Millennials Will Get Sick and Die Faster Than the Previous Generation
Awww....but then what will we do with all of the trophies?
The Surprising Science Behind Bananas, the World's Most Popular Fruit
It's not easy being green...and then turning yellow....
59% of adults prefer snacking to meals
30% of respondents said they would be willing to forgo social media and 20% would give up their cell phones in order to have a moment with their favorite snack every day.
Put another way, social media and cell phones mean more to us than nourishment....
Motorola’s RAZR is back as an all-screen folding smartphone
I already know which of you will be clicking on this story....and guaranteed there is at least one of you who will order it...
And The Last Word....
Gen Z Is Calling Gen X The "Karen Generation" — www.buzzfeednews.com
"Gen X are just out here yelling at fast food and retail employees," said one person.
In an unexpected continuation of a story included last week, now Generation X is getting picked on by kids in middle school and high school...All I know is someone needs to have their screen time cut waaaay back after this!
Worth clicking on the embedded TikTok video in the article by the way.....not only to say that you "clicked on a TikTok" but it is kind of funny (and true).