USC Marshall School Students
Ever wonder what Millennials would tell CEOs if they had the chance? Well, at our most recent CEO Connection Forum in LA we asked a group of students from USC’s Marshall School of Business to do just that.
This is the summary report we sent to our full membership of mid-market CEOs:
SUMMARY
In most respects, Millennials are similar to other generational cohorts of the same age. The huge difference is that they are children of the information revolution. Information is so available, raw, and incomplete that they need to be inspired with meaning and enabled to work in different ways than previous generations.
FINDINGS
What we heard was:
Information is more readily available.
Millennials simply see more than previous generations. They feel more connected. They are more concerned about the world, about being green, about sustainability. They find and digest information incredibly quickly. Access to massive amounts of information in the Web makes real and anecdotal knowledge accessible 24/7, and heightens awareness of opportunities and different ways of doing things. Given this, they:
- Expect decisions to be made quickly.
- Expect free access to information. No “need to know” limitations most of us grew up adhering to.
- Do not see the work life divisions on which previous generations built careers. Work and “real” life blend in terms of hours and relationships. As one student remarked, “What I do is incredibly convergent with who I am.”
- Live and work in a global context.
- Expect companies to have and live appealing values (giving back, green …). Having strong, good values is a requirement, not a plus. Not having strong, appealing values is definitely a negative.
Information is raw.
Millennials (and the rest of us) are inundated with a “big pipe” of both good and bad information. Given this, Millennials may need help filtering the information coming their way and developing the discipline to deliver results. They also may need guidance to stick with less enchanting, expertise building job experiences.
Information is incomplete.
The headline-driven information pipeline puts emphasis on ideas over precise execution. Thus it’s no surprise that Millennials have relatively short attention spans. They want jobs that build their resumes and further their careers quickly. They do not expect to stay with companies for a long time. However, if presented with an explicit, attractive “opportunity contract” that is a fair give/get proposition, they want to commit.
IMPLICATIONS
The implications for those leading Millennials are to:
- Inspire with meaning – explain how their jobs fit into the organization’s purpose, which in turn is bettering the world.
- Enable them to work in their way – the main reward is respect. Give them structure, leadership, guidance. Leverage their bias to work in networked teams, supported by the electronic tools they are so familiar with as they multi-task and blur the lines of work and personal life.
Does this resonate with your personal experiences? Please share in the comments!
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15 Response Comments
Lisa – Great post. It put some numbers to things I feel when I work with millenial clients, but I had not put words around my experience. The two points around speed of decisions and access to information is very apparent when on a team with millenials. I have found simple sharing tools like DropBox to be great ways to appeal to those needs – and things move along quickly because this is a generation that is open to continuous flow of info (both ways) and making decisions to keep things moving. The one addition I would offer to your implications list leaders willing to use open sharing tools like DropBox/Google Docs or social media to engage them in a more free flow conversation. This can be a challenge to anyone who firmly believes in meetings = debates/decisions. Thanks for sharing what you are hearing.
Thanks so much, Scott, and your additions are very valuable and salient. I appreciate you letting me know the areas that resonated most with you. I think it’s so critical for executives to understand that these are really the Millennials’ expectations rather than the “trophy” myths that are out there and are a disservice to Millennials and those they work with. Thanks for your insights and for taking the time to comment – I sincerely appreciate it!
wonderful post.
What I experience is a lack continued effort to sustain excellence. Information all -access seems to pull at the very core of team building focus which would result in a great project. That will be the crossroad for this up and coming all seeing generation. Keep all the passion in one direction to create excellence, that will be the leaders primary task in creating vision for the team.
Dave, This is a truly brilliant insight. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your personal experience here – I sincerely appreciate it! As someone who fully agrees with you on the critical importance of vision, I can certainly see how applying the passion to it with this generation will be key!
This is really key information for approaching and keeping happy employees. Personally I need to see more positives and the positive influence that this generation can bring. I’m not that far off (in my 30’s) and yet, find it frustrating with what I see as a lack humility, willingness to work (especially at ‘icky’ jobs), and stick-to-it-iveness. This brings to light the positives of all that creative energy, out-of-the-box thinking, and global acknowledgement. Thanks so much, Lisa. Inspiring!
Cathy,
I appreciate your kind words and your honesty about what you’re seeing in your experience. It’s important to understand this side of the coin – and we didn’t address that in this particular CEO Connection Forum. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts here!
Today, companies need their employees to be agile when addressing new and novel situations. My takeaway is that millennials need organizations to give them the tools (like @Scott’s Dropbox suggestion) and structure to make it easier to improvise and reward them for going the extra mile. It is deflating when you go into a job and management seems disconnected from what is really happening on the street. Companies like Zara, P&G and Zappos are using simple tools to monitor how people really do things and use those insights to create a genuine sense of urgency about things that really need to get done. They preach there is no “one right way” to do things anymore.
“Tools to monitor how people really do things…” What kinds of tools?
For example, Zara provides sales associates with personal digital assistants to gather customer input. Their staff regularly chats up customers to gain feedback on what they’d like to see more of. A Zara manager might casually ask, “What if this skirt were in a longer length?” “Would you like it in a different color?” “What if this V-neck blouse were available in a round neck?” Managers are motivated because they have skin in the game. The firm is keen to reward success—as much as 70 percent of salaries can come from commissions. Information is aggregated and then correlated with POS data.
P&G does something similar, using Bayesian analysis to filter high-value information to create SMS alerts to time-sensitive issues and periodic pulse reports that summarize key metrics.
Brian,
This is tremendous feedback and insight plus rich specifics – I can’t thank you enough! Have a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for sharing all of this here – and taking the time to do so. It means so much to me!
That is truly putting their money where their mouth is. Thanks for providing the specifics – they seem like a wonderful example for the rest of us to follow!!
Great post for two reasons. Firstly, the insight from millennials. Secondly, a good reminder for CEOs that they are in their job to “learn” as well as to “teach”. Sometimes, (especially after several years on the throne), it is easy to forget that responsibility.
Thank you, John!