Before I start this post let me say for the record that I love Baby Boomers. Some of my absolute favorite people in the world are Boomers. However I've been Boomer challenged lately. I've had to go and do some research to understand what the hell is going on and how to combat my current case of the Baby Boomer Blues.
In case you are not hip to the way generational demographics are broken down, let me briefly fill you in. Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. The younger Boomers, born 1954-1964, are referred to as Generation Jones as their cultural characteristics vary slightly. On the heels of the Boomers is Generation X (that's me), born 1965-1976. Following the Xers are the Millennials or Generation Y, born 1977-1998. The generation born after 1998 has not officially been named yet, but early forecasts include Generation Z (how original), the Internet Generation and Generation Now. They all suck. I hope they get a decent name before it's all said and done.
At any rate, each of the generations have characteristics that are used to describe that generation. Boomers are self centered and KNOW IT ALL (insert scream here)... Xers hate rules and will tell you... Millennials are demanding and entitled. Toss this mix into the workplace and what do you get? Crazy frustration, communication breakdowns, soliloquies and blog posts like this one.
At any given gathering where food and alcohol are present, my fellow professional Gen X friends and I often sit around on our pragmatic, diversity embracing, individualistic, friend loving, self-reliant, rule bending butts and wonder aloud when our Boomer bosses are going to retire... move on... go enjoy their golden years. After reading the COVER STORIES, watching the BOOMER TV SPECIALS and DOCUMENTARIES and knowing them as I do, the answer to our question is NEVER! Boomers will not move on. They will not retire. Will not pass go. And will die in their current positions (as our bosses) at the ripe old age of 75 or 80. (Insert another scream here). They have broken all of the rules and because they run the world... they are getting away with it. Will future anthropologists, historians and sociologists be kind to the Boomers or will they call it as they see it? That has yet to be seen.
In the meantime, what is the Gen Xer to do? We don't want to squander our most progressive professional years. We want to be free of the Boomer run regimes to be able to breathe and be on our our grind like we are anyway. We can always go and start our own thing as Boomers are quick to tell us. But since Boomers have jacked up the economy the opportunity to even get money from banks to start a business is slim to none.
Dear Baby Boomer: Is it too much for us to ask you to respect our grind and/or our serious knowledge base? We don't think we are better than you or know more than you Boomer (although we got you on the technology thing. Note: Please learn how to use email), we are simply DIFFERENT. We tick differently. We see the world differently. Different is good. Different is progressive. Different is relevant. Gen-X/Gen-Y Different, coupled with a tad bit of Boomer wisdom and experience can take us all to another level.
Okay... rant over.
Peace,
Le
1 comments:
You are so right on. And you may be interested to know that I am doing research on this topic right now. I want to interview you.
Much is made of the "leadership crisis" in the arts, but the only is crisis is the unwillingness of the previous generation to pass the torch. Epidemic at those organizations started by a group of friends around a social goal - they refuse to "business up", even after 40 years. The leadership group acts like a cabal.
In many, many cases I see baby boom-age leaders completely unable to embrace technology, even though that is the way 90% of audiences gather information about programs and events, and communicate with one another.
Maybe we can do a round table at the next Arts in Tech? Put a group of people together.
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