By Flávia Vianna
It’s incredible how a tool used to send messages through 140 characters can be used to update us, convey emotion, encourage thinking, reflection, and laughter, or “all of the above.”
A few weeks ago, I got a post through Twitter talking about a mom who went into an electronics store and asked the salesperson if he carried Twitter. She said she needed to buy Twitter for her son.
After this I went on a trip. Streaming velocity, downloading images and insights in my mind. I was thinking about Generation X and Generation Y.
It’s funny. No mother on earth is required (or even stimulated) to know about online social networks. But this mother was trying to understand this new generation. As my trip ended, I thought to myself: “what many big businesses need to do, hasn’t actually begun yet.”
When businesses are disconnected from technology, it’s sad. If this attitude comes from a big business, it’s completely unacceptable and embarrassing.
This week I got some comments, in regards to my last post. The comments were mostly from individuals belonging to Gen Y who work in businesses that are very set in their traditional ways, and haven’t realized that there’s a digital conversion to be made. Reading some of the comments, I couldn’t believe that there are still businesses that block access to social networks, on the grounds of “productivity.”
Employees born from the 1980’s onwards are at the epicenter of businesses and will be for years and years to come. Businesses that aren’t in tune today are going to become junk like in Wall-E, if they don’t adapt fast.
If you want to hire and tap into the competencies of these Gen Y creatures, please update your corporate world. Old concepts must be re-examined. There’s no point in listening to Pity on your iPod, if the machine that plays music at the office is still a record player with an LP by Trio Irakitan. Proof that this generation is hungry for information, is that I’m sure that at this exact moment, the gen y readers have already opened Youtube and are searching for “Trio Irakitan.
I’m not saying that Gen X readers aren’t interested in knowing more or researching things. It’s the way in which they research and function that’s different, and that sometimes causes conflict.
My interpretation is that the multi-functionality of Gen Y is what creates corporate conflict. And yet this conflict is a pure waste. A waste of time, a waste of energy, and a waste of money. Managers, leaders, and bosses, should try and take advantage of these Gen Y characteristics to minimize conflict and guarantee sustainability in their businesses.
I’d also like to reference the blog post “What’s Age Got to do With it” by Silvana Avinami. It’s an excellent post and very well written. It shows that respect comes with admiration and not with your birth date. We need to respect our differences and compile our distinct visions of complimentary worlds.
What is necessary to build mature work relationships isn’t age. It’s behavior, ethics, professionalism, and most importantly open heads and open hearts. And if you don’t know what that is…Google it.
Flavia Vianna is from Rio, works in advertising as a co-owner of the agency Trafor Comunicação. About 2/3 of her day is spent trying to understand human behavior. During the rest of the time she sleeps. Or tries to sleep. Recently initiated in the 2.0 world, she’s discovered that she’s embarked on a path of no return. She’s Gen X, but she was born at the wrong time. She’s actually SO Gen Y. Her philosophy in life: it’s an eternal process of re-learning.
