GATHERING MINDS

Gathering Minds for the month of June was nothing short of insightful! Once a month we review various media with interesting content that sparks conversation. Why do we do this? One of Meetingmax’s core values is Thirst for Learning and is the key reason why we get together to explore, share, and learn more about the world around us.

This month’s conversation starter was a video of Simon Sinek discussing Millennials in the Workplace.

Millennials or Gen Y, defined as those born between 1980 to 1994 and who have come of age in the new millennium, will make up 75% of the international workforce by 2025. As a group, we touched on how each of us related to the topic in different ways; either feeling like we are true millennials ourselves or how we are dealing with this stereotype within our own families.

Simon says that millennials are able to state what they want in the workplace, specifically they want a purpose-filled and impactful position, yet they are not finding true happiness. He attributes this to four missing pieces;
Parenting
Technology
Impatience
Environment

There were a few stories shared of how we experienced the parenting related issues with their peers during their school years. Parents of these peers were very involved in and influenced their ‘success’ in ways that left them believing they could certainly have anything they desired at any point.

We agree that we are living in an age where we expect instant gratification, largely thanks to the technology we are surrounded by. But, we also agree that this is not something that is exclusive to millennials. Technology offers temporary relief as a stress coping mechanism and some of us are guilty of this. However, one area we cannot get that instant satisfaction is in the workplace and strength in meaningful relationships. Sadly there is no app that solves this issue!

Simon references how corporate environments are not ideal in supporting millennials to grow their confidence, nurture their careers, learn the skills of cooperation, or teach the joy that can be felt after working really hard at something for many years. The bigger question is – how much responsibility does an organization have to “look after” millennials and nurture their careers? We came to the conclusion that it is not 100% of the company’s responsibility to nurture the millennial generation. There needs to be a happy balance between the leaders at work and the individuals’ desire to change and grow.

We all had a good chuckle over the different scores we achieved on BuzzFeed’s millennial quiz. The mere fact that we all completed a BuzzFeed quiz gave us all at least an automatic 10%.

What % Millennial Stereotype Are You?