Seventy-five percent of Millennials want a mentor. Not just any mentor, but those who are older, wiser and can teach us a thing or two about overcoming challenges. Believe it or not, we are interested in absorbing the wisdom of previous generations–the tricks of the trade we can’t get from Google. We want to learn the keys to success in terms of financial stability, longevity in marriage, quality of life, etc. Coincidentally, that knowledge and wisdom is found in the personal experiences of baby boomers. Who better to ask than those who have preceded us, those who have been there and done that? In seeking guidance though, we are often times heavily criticized which can discourage us from asking questions and seeking help. What drives Millennials crazy is when Baby Boomers aren’t willing to change and learn alongside of us. This problem has brewed a long list of myths commonly used by Baby Boomers to describe millennials; none of which are true.
Millennials are lazy.
Let’s kill this noise now and start of by saying Millennials are no where near lazy. We are more hungry, more well-educated and technology savvy than any generation in history. According to a recent study by Alamo Rent a Car, more than one-third of Millennials reported working every day of their vacations. Millennials are knocking at the door of people (Baby Boomers and Generation X) sitting in comfy positions in every industry and that’s where the negativity comes from—a real place of insecurity. By 2020 millennials are estimated 46% of all U.S. workers which explains the nervousness by our elders.
Millennials need to grow up.
Who really defines what it means to “grow up” besides old folk?
Despite others’ way of thinking, Millennials may be delaying adulthood, but they don’t necessarily “need” to grow up. I would argue that being grown doesn’t always make you more valuable at the work place. Liz Wiseman, author of Rookie Smarts: Why Learning Beats Knowing in the New Game of Work, believes rookies can trump veterans in today’s workplace.
Millennials are Entitled
If Millennials are entitled, then what about Generation X?
Their has to be some entitlement in tripling the national debt since the 1980s for short term economic boosts, or benefits of the lowest energy costs in the world while refusing to price-in the external costs of carbon emissions.
According to Real Clear Politics, the economic tragedy of the Millennial generation was written before many of us had even learned to read – by Baby Boomer parents and grandparents who, at once, genuinely loved and cared for us, but have also created or perpetuated institutions, policies, and economic realities that have now hobbled us.
Generation X, Baby Boomers don’t get it. We aren’t entitled, we are frustrated.