Some businesses have been frustrated with the attitude of the recent college grads they hired. It has been said these “millennial” young adults seemed to demand special treatment and expected to be made executives within the first month of being hired. More than that, they also expected that their personal time would not be impacted by work. Managers observed that they worked only to fill the time between the weekends when they could pursue their personal agendas. They simply did not view their job as anything more than a way to pay for their weekends.
That may be a little over the top for most employees today. But the principle underlying their philosophy is a principle business executives need to think about for themselves. Millennials have their priorities, and work is not at the top. Yet most of us who have been in business leadership roles for a while have more traditional priorities. Usually the business needs come out on top a high percentage of the time.
The “constantly connected” aspect of our business lives is a good example. Some of us feel we must respond to emails from business associates no matter what day or time they show up. The ubiquitous Blackberry is as much at home on the beach or ski slope as it is in the office. Texting in the midst of meetings, talking on the cell phone in restaurants and permitting other kinds of electronic intrusions are pervasive. And they are wrong!
It always incenses me to see a person shopping in a retail store loudly talking on the phone while perusing stock or filling a shopping cart. What or who is so important that they need to multi-task? In fact tests show multi-tasking doesn’t work very well. Serial task performance is much more accurate and takes less elapsed time overall.
Those of us who are not millennials need to think about how this electronic intrusion into our lives will ultimately play out. Will the next big advance in technology further tie us to the company? Or will we draw a line in the sand with our Blackberry and say “Enough is enough!”
Here’s why it’s critical to cut back. First, your family is more important. Your kids will grow up well before you expect. And then you will wonder what happened. Remember “The Cat’s In the Cradle?” Second, it has been my experience that when the CEO takes off for a few days, even in the smallest companies, things don’t fall apart. Imagine that! Fellow employees can pick up the slack, make reasonable decisions, and carry on without you present, whether you’re the CEO, a top executive, or a manager.
The Millennials have grabbed onto a principle that the rest of us should consider. More thought about the weekend and keeping business in perspective makes a lot of sense. It also may make you more efficient at your job if you really do kick back regularly.
If you are the owner of a business, or have P&L responsibility for a portion of a business so that you are free to set the goals to drive the business in the direction you want, then here’s something you should do today. Document your personal vision. What do you want the business to do for you and your family? How much do you want to work? What kind of income are you looking for? What is your longer term exit strategy? The answers to these, and other similar questions, become the basis for your personal vision—a statement of what you see the business providing for you over the next 5 years. Once that is down on paper, the goals and action plans for the business can be made to synch with your personal vision.
Why carry the burden of business ownership or executive leadership if you do not use that responsibility to shape the business to perform as you want it to? When you do this, the business is working for you; you are no longer working for the business. This is an extension of the millennial philosophy that can make all the difference in your outlook, and will “authorize” you to turn your Blackberry off between 5:00 pm on Friday and 8:00 am on Monday. Give it a try and see how it works. And find out how much happier you will be!
