Millenial Generation

As I sit at my night job, I explore texts my manager is reading. 1501 Ways To Reward Employees By Bob Nelson. The focus? The Millennial Generation and how to motivate "us" to be more productive.

While I am not even one chapter in, I have already begun to think about causation behind why our generation needs to be praised to continue to be productive (rather than the opposite). My parents raised me as if I was a "baby-boomer" child, so I feel that much of this does not apply to me. Nevertheless, it has much validity.

I think back to when I was a child, and every student needed to be praised for their good work and share in a sports team's overall success. This praise as a child has snowballed with us into adulthood, constantly needing to be reminded how good we are, instead of earning respect.

We demand respect, feeling that we are entitled to it. While the days of working hard and earning our living are not over, we demand to be recognized, or else we feel left out and discouraged.

I think it is important to break out of this habit. With the evolution of technology (e.g. social media, cell phones) it only further enables this factor. I think old values and lessons should be brought back from the baby-boomer generation to lessen the effect of our feeling of entitlement.