“Guysssss can you pay attention please?!”” This is the request, verging on begging, which is so typical of a High School teacher. Capturing the attention of young people has never been easy, not even when the world was slow, and there was no technology to dream along with.

If it wasn’t simple in the past, imagine the difficult task today, trying to get Gen Y, in all its anxiety and impatience to focus.

Whether it’s technology’s fault, or the way in which we were raided, with intense velocity, we have a difficulty even in staying focused in front of the TV. Proof of this is that most child TV shows today don’t last more than 10 minutes.

There’s a legend about HR professionals stating that they spend hours, racking their brains, trying to find the best way to motivate, engage, retain, and get generation Y to focus on relevant topics (or not so relevant topics sometimes.) Whether its in lectures, in the classroom, or in businesses, “paying attention” is the topic of many articles, reports, books, and debates.

So I suggest this: use music, lights, the latest technology, electronic artifices, and 3D movement. This is valid. Always. People often forget that we are the “technological generation.” We will only be happy and focused if technology is present.

We value creativity and most everything which isn’t the norm or commonplace.

In order to illustrate this, I’m going to tell a story. The department of Grupo Foco which outsources its services to Avon, has most of its consultants spread out all over Brazil, and the travel constantly. Communication takes place mostly through e-mail or telephone, or whatever alternative there is to the physical.

Recently we decided to have motivational training, to create stronger relationships between our consultants, who barely knew each other, and discuss new ways of working and developing projects. This training had to take place in one day with a restricted budget.

So we came up with the idea to meet in the countryside, close to Sao Paulo. The dress code was relaxed, people wore whatever they felt like. Participants shopped at the supermarket (where they had a certain amount of money they could spend and a certain amount of time to shop, just like a game.) They had to choose the food they would cook. They split up the tasks and responsibilities based on their abilities, and the fun began. Some were responsible for the food, the music, and setting up the space. Barefoot and having savored the menu they had created, new work strategies began to emerge, as they started to imagine the possibilities to make their work even more efficient.

The results could not have been better. The stress of the office, and of running from place to place, were gone. This allowed them to get to know each other in a deeper way, as they tackled important work questions. Of course, they were very concentrated. Out in the countryside, cell phones didn’t have reception. It was that simply. Mission accomplished through a bit of imagination and “thinking outside of the box.” These are the other things Gen Y loves. We crave everything that’s different and new. Of course, this doesn’t always mean “hi-ultra-tech.” Got it?!

Por Eline Kullock

I ask myself if what the virtual world calls “communities” are in fact communities. Communities, at least in the way I understand them, are groups in which members help each other, protect each other, and establish limits and norms. Communities are founded around a common cause, which holds them together.

Thinking of the communities I’m familiar with, like AA, a community in which members have the common objective of combating their addictions to alcohol.

What communities based on this concept have you been a part of? In school? Even if you aren’t still a part of these communities, are you nostalgic for them? Do you miss them?

I want to talk about communities in the 2.0 world. Are you part of a facebook group or a community on Orkut? Do these groups or communities really mean something to you? If you leave them will it truly make a difference in your life?

And is this truly a community? Even if you belong to a virtual community, it doesn’t really interact with you, and you don’t interact with the community.

You may be wondering what all this have to do with life? Everything.

I believe that this concept of “crowd sourcing” which I’ve talked about many times, shows how communities impact our lives. The power of groups in discipline, order, research, in working together, and in sharing, actually happens slower than I thought. We need to be less idealistic. These pseudo communities aren’t really the communities that make a difference.

Sometimes communities are created for a destructive motive Yet, because of the so-called “power of the consumer” the masses end up analyzing what’s being discussed, sold, or expressed, in a very superficial and often inaccurate way. This exposes individuals and institutions in a very negative way, when in fact they deserve more respect.

Now I’m going to give a very provocative example to illustrate my point.

The Trainee Brasil, community on Orkut conducted a survey to find out what the worst HR company in Brazil is. So a lot of people vote without really knowing anything about these companies, as if this whole survey was no big deal.

What I’m trying to say is that many times these pseudo-groups unite in a perverse, simplistic, destructive way.

Hitler rose to power in a moment of extreme chaos, a time when things where out of control. This is usually how humanity makes its biggest mistakes.

Are these communities in fact fighting for something? Defending something interesting? Defending businesses? Are they doing it with the consistency and concrete proof that it takes to really evaluate something or someone?

Today in the blog “O Cappuccino” I read about the power of social media in regards to products. I question how consistent and thorough these analyses are.

This is my cry. This is my protest. The protest of someone who has been defamed by Mr. Pedro Ethos for no reason at all. If he was part of a community, I’m sure he would have been capable of raising masses. This mass may not understand the importance or force a group can have, the damage they can do. Sometimes the damage is irreversible. It’s essential for this generation to ask itself if they are participating in a community or group without a conscious, and to truly understand what they are getting into.

Are we groupings? Are we groups? What’s the difference? Do we want to be part of a community? Or do we prefer the more anonymous nature of a group? I ask this question because I am part of various groups that from my point of view, make a difference. They build things.

I ask Gen Y: What communities do you want to belong to? Which ones do you really belong to and why? And if you are part of a group, why are you there?

Groups and communities: where can we really make a difference?

Por Eline Kullock

It is with great pride that I think of my team.  The people who work hard and work with me.  Above all when I look back, I see how my business, Grupo Foco, started out.  And today on Oct 28th Grupo Foco celebrates its seventeenth birthday.

I don’t want to talk about the 17th birthday in itself.  However, I do want to raise the question of how we can build things, even in the midst of various obstacles, if we are in fact determined and dedicated enough.

We started out small, with 5 people, and one computer.  Today we’ve come a long way. A lot of people have been part of this history, each person adding a special something to the mix.  Every single person believed that they could build a wall.  And these are the walls that cathedrals are made of.
I look at the size we’ve grown to today, and I think of our capacity and of the people who believed in a dream and really ran after it, doing everything possible to make it come true.  That’s beautiful.  I love the sentence in which an anonymous author declared “Without knowing that it was possible, he went there and did it.”

It takes a lot of teamwork to build a cathedral.  Often we don’t even know that we are capable of something so grandiose.  But with hard work we create something even larger than our imagination.

One thing that I never compromised on is finding a team of people who knew what mattered.  A team with solid values, strong work ethic, and friendship, creating a pleasant and challenging work environment, that demands a lot from each member of the team, and from the team as a whole.  We all know that you need to break down paradigms to be a success.  You need to experiment and make mistakes.  And of course, you need to get it right!

Everybody talks about teamwork, but I can honestly say that my team really knows what the word means.  Building in their own way, in a special and successful way.   Of course in the middle we faced people who did everything wrong.  People who actually slowed us down, rather than adding value to the company.  These individuals were skeptical of new ideas, especially the really innovative ones.  We encountered a lot of this during our 17 years.  Yet, luckily, the majority continued to work really hard, building something, tile by tile, lifting up heavy walls.  In the end, not just building one, but many cathedrals!

Congrats to all who work in this way, building not only businesses, but the best world possible.

Cheers!

By Eline Kullock
In a country with serious corruption issues, like Brazil, it’s essential to talk about ethics. I remember reading a book by the journalist Cláudio Abramo titled “A Regra do Jogo” (“The Rule of the Game”) which really speaks to the point I’d like to convey through this post.

Often we say that we know what ethics are. We proclaim this proudly, and yet we do things that go completely against the principle.

The first thing that the book talks about is how, if you are an ethical person, you will exercise this attitude, no matter the circumstances. It doesn’t matter if you are a Politician or a factory worker.

Last week something intriguing happened here at my company, Grupo Foco. An individual who masked his true identity by calling himself “Pedro Ethos” declared that my business was unethical. Do you know how Pedro Ethos protested this? By sending e-mails to several of my clients saying this, without having any proof of what he was talking about.

In his opinion, the fact that we offer courses, in a separate branch of the company called “Foco Futuro,” which attempt to prepare young candidates as they enter intern and trainee programs, makes us unethical. He says this is unethical because another branch of our company helps select young people for diverse intern and trainee programs in Brazil.

He expresses the view that Grupo Foco creates a “market for job positions” because these young people pay for classes that are intended to help them as they embark on selective processes. Perhaps what he doesn’t know is that these young people are selected by the businesses themselves, and not by Grupo Foco. The courses we offer are focused on helping young people understand how the selective processes work, and help them not to fail due to small things like nervousness for instance.

I founded this business 17 years ago, and little by little I’ve built its reputation. Would I really put my entire image on the line like this? We are proud of being innovators. That bothers a lot of people. Launching new products, and doing things differently is difficult.

What intrigues me in the messages sent by Pedro Ethos is that it’s completely unfounded, and based on nothingness. Even his identity is empty. He even concealed his IP so that we wouldn’t be able to identify him.

The situation is so ironic, that one must ask Pedro “is he being ethical?” We’ve asked this individual to have a coffee or to come experience the course in question for himself. And guess what? With all the ethics he questions, he won’t answer. He won’t show his face. Even in his e-mail. Nothing.

And I ask myself does Brazil really need people like this? Pedro Ethos’ ethics certainly don’t fit into Claudio Abramo’s definiton of ethics, that’s to say the ethics that evaluate others in the same way one evaluates one’s self.

It’s really sad to see that certain young people (I imagine that this individual is young, perhaps an ex-trainee, especially based on the way he writes) enter the workplace with this sort of attitude.

The Internet is here for us to protest. However, it’s difficult to see that people sometimes use this resource without showing their face, precisely because they have no concrete proof of what they are trying to say.

Wouldn’t it be great if Pedro agreed to meet us for a coffee and help us better what we’re trying to do, which is give orientation to young people? It would no longer be the void face of Pedro Ethos. It would be truly ethical to complain to Foco Futuro by revealing who he is. He should sign his protest.

It’s cowardly to try and break a solid business like Grupo Foco by concealing your own identity. I’m sorry to disappoint you Pedro, but you haven’t succeeded. A business which works so hard to conquer its place in the market, won’t crumble in front of an anonymous Pedro-without-ethics.

My biggest desire is to see this generation flood into the workplace with the ethics Cláudio Abramo describes. Armed with the courage to show one’s face and to try and better the world. Must be the idealism of a baby boomer… I’d like to see a cleaner world. This generation has an extremely potent tool: freedom of expression. We didn’t have this at their age. That’s worth more than anything. We’ve conquered it together, for you. Now let’s use it responsibly.

Are we going to buy the Brazilian representation that went all the way to Copenhagen? Do you remember who the Brazilians that represented the country in Denmark were? I don’t remember them all, but I remember that the president of Comitê Rio-2016 Carlos Nuszman was there, along with secretary Carlos Roberto Osório. Lula and Marisa looked emotional. Pele, and Hortência, the eternal muse for basketball and the minister of sports were present. The governor Sérgio Cabral, the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, João Havelange, César Cielo. Of course our Olympic winning swimmer Paulo Coelho, and the president of the “Comitê Paraolímpico,” Dayane dos Santos. The sailor Isabel Swan, and many, many others. Of course we probably exaggerated our presence a bit, typical of Brazil. But what does matter is that we didn’t board a plane at the last minute, arriving two hours before, as Obama did. I’m sure he had his reasons, but he didn’t act as if he really wanted to host the Olympics.

I remember that many years ago when I was starting my company, Grupo Foco, I was told to go speak to a Belgian consultant about a possible partnership with a large multinational here in Brazil. This consultant was going to speak to three other potential partners, and then make a decision.

Of course I was nervous. I wanted the partnership. I prepared thoroughly, and went to meet the consultant, who turned out to be really intelligent. When the interview ended, I felt uncomfortable. I was better than I had managed to convey in my presentation. I knew I hadn’t done very well in the interview. I couldn’t get over it. The consultant had told me which hotel he was staying at. I didn’t have any doubts: I called the hotel, and asked to speak to him. I explained that I was better than my presentation, and that I really wanted the partnership. I asked for the chance to speak to him again. Sure, he must have thought I was a little crazy, but he agreed to meet with me again. I was thrilled! When Marnix and I met again, it was excellent! We really connected, and kept laughing. The partnership wasn’t founded on anything other than our own enthusiasm and goodwill.

What does all this have to do with the Olympics? Well, Brazil really wanted to host the Olympics. And I feel they employed the necessary creative rage to earn it. The rage that propels you, that moves you towards action.

When you really want something, you can’t arrive in the country two hours before everything starts. Obama talked about how important the Olympics were for Chicago. Brazil expressed how the Olympics would be an incredible and joyful experience in Rio.

What does all this have to do with Generation Y and businesses? It seems that generation Y needs to show just how much they want to be part of businesses (video). It’s not just businesses that need youth. Young people also need the experience gained in these organizations, even if they do end up becoming entrepreneurs later, that is if the business doesn’t manage to retain them.

Young people need to show that they have this creative rage, this will, this desire to learn, to collaborate, to interact, and to belong. These are the skills that businesses need and want to see. This passion for life, the tenacity, overall commitment, and the crazy will to get it right, the humor of the carioca, and emotion which seeps out of one’s pores.

Gen Y needs to show that “Yes, we care.” That’s much more important than “Yes, we can.” But does Gen Y actually care?

By Tatiana Penteado*

“There’s no point in attempting to find new paths on old maps.”  This sentence says all about managing people from a different generation than your own…

I’m part of Generation X, and most of the workers I manage, are women from Gen Y.   Imagine what an explosive combination.  This generation gap translates into extremely different mentalities.  We have different habits, and opposing ways of working.

My team is composed of five people.  One of which works out of our Sao Paulo office.  The other three are spread out in various locations, throughout Brazil.

Our day-to-day is very diverse. There’s no routine, which makes my Gen Y employees very happy.  Hours aren’t rigidly structured, and we move around from office to office a lot.  In the same week, one can easily find themselves in 3 different states.

My team ends up meeting face-to-face about twice a year, which means that my managing role is via e-mail, MSN, the phone, and even through social networks.  And so that leads me to the challenge of managing Generation Y.  How could I ever imagine that work relationships would become so virtual?

But my daily battle is this:  how to integrate, develop, and evaluate this team, young professionals, full of energy, their gen Y blood excitedly pulsing through their veins. Not to mention the fact that I have to accomplish all this, from a distance.

They are eager, wanting fast results, and always hungry for new challenges.  Their knowledge of computers and technology in general, is more than I’ll ever begin to comprehend.

In the beginning, I tried to follow the blueprint I already knew.  The one with which I had been trained and educated.  If they didn’t do it right, I scolded.  If they didn’t meet the deadline, I’d yank them by the ear, if the client complained I’d punish.

From them, I received the same response that I had once given my bosses, as a young employee. They argued, contested, and complained.  Part of me understood them.  After all, Generation X is known for the way they transformed social and cultural standards.  We were experts at contesting, complaining, and reinventing.  The questioning of our elders and the desire for change is all too familiar to me.

So I decided to change my strategy.  I began to challenge them, and provide incentives.  I crafted monthly competitions with small rewards, remodeled processes, and asked for their suggestions.  We also established opportunity for frequent dialogue.  And it really worked.  Bingo!

They’re competitive, they like to participate, and need to express their ideas.  They use technology without ever reading a manual.  They organize their activities meticulously.  Some of my own employees are completely unavailable, while studying for their MBA.  So I get e-mails at the oddest, most unpredictable hours.

The bottom line is that we exchange experiences and learn together.   I’m getting fresh, new, blood. I’m also tapping into my own Gen Y side, to get the best out of them.

*Tatiana Penteado is the coordinator for Grupo Foco Projects, and is responsible for the client Avon.

Yesterday I gave a lecture in Porto Alegre. My lecture was part of a Management Seminar which included people such as Jose Tolovi Jr, the president of the “Great Place to Work Institute” and Carlos Faccina, the President of BSP and ex-Director of HR at Nestle. I tackled the issue of different generations and their relationships to each other. There were about 350 people in the audience. True to the city’s name, I found the people particularly “alegre” (the Portuguese word for happy). As we began to discuss the topic of new leadership within businesses of the future, I felt like a knot was forming inside my head…

During my lecture, I talked about how this new generation is filled with urgency and a desire for immediacy. This generation hasn’t lived through the time of letter writing, when it would often take 20 days, to receive news from a loved one. They haven’t experienced a world filled with a calmer, more tranquil, rhythm in which business people conducted large meetings in regards to “Strategic and Operational Planning.” If I proposed a strategic five-year plan to Generation Y, I think they’d look at me as if I was from another planet.

Faccina talked about leadership from a humane perspective. He stressed the importance of recognizing that people are individuals and taking care of them. At that precise moment, as these reflections bloomed in our minds, in front of that huge audience, I began to wonder…

I wondered how to make sure Generation Y would be good leaders. Did they have good role models in their schools or in their religion? What about in their households, did they find “grounding” and “inspiration” there, despite all the breaking and remaking through parents’ separations, divorces, and remarriages?

How are we going to prepare them to lead a team, in a world even more fiercely competitive than Baby Boomers faced? How will they deal with such a different and unpredictable future, where decision-making must happen at the speed of light (sometimes without sufficient information)?

Young people chat virtually, are more egocentric, and question everything. How will they take on the complex role of leadership, all while being a positive example for their team?

The future of businesses might resemble a chaotic orchestra. What sort of conductor will harmonize such a questioning and (at times) disobedient orchestra? Harmony might be found in a “conductor” who is able to convince through his or her charisma, posture, generosity, engaging the “orchestra” in innovation, and cutting-edge projects, where dedication, concentration, resilience, and extensive planning are all indispensible to making the right decisions and achieving overall success.

Laurent Lapierre , a Ph.D in Leadership, living in Canada, spoke about what it means to be a true leader. A true leader knows their strong and weak points. A true leader knows that they are not all knowing, or omnipotent, and are conscious that they too risk falling into impotence. A true leader uses emotion to manage the team, and to make decisions. They know that a leadership-role includes having doubts and coexisting with those doubts. Being a leader also means being human and failing sometimes. Being the boss, isn’t just about getting the best chair, the most incredible office, earning a better salary, and giving orders.

At the end of the lecture, I talked to Faccina. We spoke about our role as teachers, and preparing this new generation for the difficult task of “deepening the superficial,” in a world spinning at a speed which often doesn’t allow for this deeper vision. As educators, this is, without a doubt, our biggest challenge. As managers, it’s our biggest mission. We need conductors who will make beautiful music, despite all the chaos. Leaving Porto Alegre, full of happiness, my mind was lost in reflection. I was truly impressed with the hotel and its service. Upon my arrival, I asked for an ice bucket, and found it as soon as I set foot in my room. The young man who took me up to my room (Generation Y) was grinning ear-to-ear. He was so happy to see me surprised and struck with such admiration. I could only think who his leader would be…

As I was growing up, my family always ate meals together, around a table.

Today, people may say that I’m nostalgic for a time that isn’t relevant to our present moment.

After all, today our kids have classes, work, and a packed schedule.  Parents arrive late from work, and microwaves really facilitate our day-to-day.

Family dinners weren’t always fun.  That’s for sure.  As a kid, I hated vegetables!   Dinner was especially painful when I got bad grades or a bad report card.  Today, most grades are viewed through the Internet.   I know very few parents who actually get angry when their kids get bad grades.  I know even fewer parents who bring it up at the dinner table!

Fighting is hard work.  Life is so rushed.  We feel we’ve got so little time together, so we might as well make the most of it.  Of course, “making the most of it” doesn’t include fighting.

We always had dinner, when daddy got back from work.

Of course, he would return from work much earlier than parents today.  Work hours were more reasonable back then.  My father never got home much later than 7 PM.

I remember that the news would come on, promptly at 8 PM, because that’s when families would be done with dinner.

We had a rigid seating chart at the dinner table, and everybody would sit at their designated seat.  Difficult to imagine today, right?

My mother always sat to my right.  My older brother, to my left.  When my cousin, came to stay with us, he got the spot next to my mom.

Still, this rigid seating arrangement taught us about priorities and values.

We engaged in a lot of political discussion at dinner.  At that time, Brazil was going through huge problems with the dictatorship, and protestors were fighting against the regime.   I learned a lot from those discussions.

Sure, I was very young, but I benefited from hearing and participating in the debates that took place.   Politics, Economics, everyday life, and art.  It seemed that our conversation knew no limits, and it was often extremely enriching.

Our dinner table provided the best “news program” because everything we didn’t understand could be translated into our “language” by our parents.

Several studies show the importance of having dinner as a family, and link this to better grades in school.

http://www.tribunadoplanalto.com.br/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5886 .

But besides better grades, did family dinners give us more?  I truly believe so.  It definitely gave us a tangible concept and definition of family, which seems so scarce these days.

The dinner table connected parents and their children.  Dinner was a ritual for those living together, and made us understand what it was to be a family.  I believe it also fed our soul, as it brought us closer together, and graced us with a true sense of belonging.

As each dish was served, we felt love, pride, indignation, and teamwork.   Without a doubt, there was a strong sense of authority exercised mostly by my father, but we still benefited from an open dialogue between parents and children.

Desert sweetened our conversation, and softened our glances.  Desert was the moment in which we digested all the new information absorbed.  We sat in silence, licking our lips, quietly devouring everything we had gained from each other.

Time was clearly defined.  There was a time to eat.  There was a time to speak.  There was a time to listen.  A time to savor, and a time to distance ourselves again, and focus in on everyday life.

Today, when I tell my granddaughter that it’s desert time, I think about those dinners in which we “summed up” the dialogue, exchanges, and found union as a family.

For the most part, I remember the sweetness.  It didn’t matter if there had been fights, disagreements, or sour arguments.  In that moment, everything turned sweet.  The sweetness, not the sourness, is what has remained, as a permanent imprint in my memory.

What about you?  Do you have family dinners?  What are they like?  Is this moment valued?

Eline Kullock

This week I gave a lecture in Cuiabá, Brazil. I have a business partner there. Lorena Lacerda, is the director of Grupo Valure Shealso organizes “Officina do Conhecimento,” an event that takes place every two months.

The trip was great. First off, I had never been toCuiabá, and I discovered a really unique place, which is so much more evolved than I imagined.

It’s not easy to get there. There aren’t many planes flying into the city. But now that Cuiabá has been chosen to host a game for the World Cup in 2014, I’m sure there will be greater investment in the city.

It’s really interesting that there isn’t a “typical look” in Cuiabá. I can honestly say that there is a huge amount of cultural diversity. The blend between those who were born there, and those who decide to live there, makes for a truly diverse people.
They are the biggest producers of soy in the country, and are considered a center for agribusiness in general.

In the morning, I was featured on a television program called “BomDiaMatoGrosso” which aired on TV globo. I also gave a live interview before going on the television show.

And guess what? During that day I met so many people who had watched the interview!

I guess I had my five minutes of fame!

Watch: Geração Y ganha espaço no mercado

The people who came tothe lecture were incredibly interested in the theme of generations.

There were more than 100 people there. I didn’t hear a single cell phone ring during the lecture. Actually my phone was the only one that rang. I had forgotten to turn it off!

The audience was composed of individuals from different generations. There were businessmen and businesswomen, HR managers, as well as managers from other areas.

The film thatcaused the most laughter was one that spoke about the constant evolution and changes in technology. The video speaks about the evolution from parchment to books.

It’s a parody in regards to the constant learning we exercise to keep up with computer technology. As the film played, I think the audience,realized how generation Y feels when we ask them to teach us things which seem so basic and intuitive to them, regarding new technologies.

It makes me think of our own Help Desk guy.Kleber takes care of all our computer worries at GrupoFoco. He always comes in with a huge smile and great attitude, when we need help. He resolves everything in less than a minute.

The dialogue between us usually goes something like this:

Me: “No Kleber! I swear I pressed the exact same buttons as you, and the computer didn’t do that before! It’s not possible, tell me how you did that!”

Kleber just smiles, a wide grin, and responds, “Is that it?”

I’m pretty sure that at that moment he must think, “I can’t believe they pay me for this!”

So watch the film about the evolution from parchment to books, and see what character you identify with!

Last week, I gave a lecture at “Volkswagen.”  I’m excited to saythat we’ve established aTrainee Program with them for the second year in a row.  My talk focused on the differences between generations.  I find this topic particularly important and relevant for a company who is just beginning its trainee program.

I strongly believe that history determines culture, and that culture determines behavior.  Managers need to understand the different lives each generation leads, to be able to understand their different mentalities.

For instance, the concept of velocity means one thing to Baby Boomers, and another thing completely different to the younger generations.  Younger generations do everything online, and experience such accelerated instantaneous speed, which Baby Boomers often can’t relate to.

Yet, interestingly enough, Baby Boomers, invented the drive-thru, and fast food.  We also invented the luxury of online payments.  In addition, we developed payments through Skype, MSN, and text messages.  So why do we find it strange that our own children have a different conception of time and speed?

When business processes are slow, generation Y is the first to complain.  As Baby Boomers, we often agree that the pace is slow.  So why do we still say generation Y is too rushed?

While we are extremely proud of our own multitasking children, we are less than thrilled when young employees use their smart phones during business meetings.   We feel disrespected and are certain that they aren’t paying attention to what we are saying.

It’s crucial that both managers and trainees become conscious of each other’s different perspectives.  We must work through these questions, to avoid unnecessary conflicts.

I had a lot of fun giving the lecture.  I am certain that the trainee program will be a great success, as it was last year.  It’s great to work with a client like Volkswagen!