Observations about Millennial Generation

[Pastor Gary]

In the class I am taking right now, Leadership Training Models, one of the students made this observation:
"Millennials born after 1980 were especially prone to leadership that lacked basic skills one would hope to see in an emerging leader. The Millennial leadership crisis appears to be the result of a generation who all received trophies despite not all being winners and having parents do all the work while they did all the playing."

(Wikipedia) "Millennials are the first generation without mature memories of communism and a powerful Soviet Union.[citation needed] In newly rich countries such as South Korea or Greece, they have known nothing but developed world standards of living, while their grandparents often grew up in developing world conditions, causing considerable social changes and inter-generational difficulties as the young reject many traditional ways of life."

I'd love to hear the input of (a) those of you responsible for teaching and training Millennials, and (b) those of you who ARE Millennials.

[paul]

[Pastor Gary]

Well, it's not meant to open that can of worms; my interest is in helping those of us who are Baby Boomers and GenX-ers (usually the trainers) learn how better to grasp the mindset of the Millennials so we can effectively pass the torch to them in ways they can understand and accept.

(Aside: Paul, get in touch with me about how/where to send videos for broadcast.)

[rjjunior]

One thought I have is that more intense mentoring is needed with the millennial generation. Often we have to do what mom and dad should've done, like instill sound principles and values. I've found we can make no assumptions as to the foundations of this generation.

[Brandon Bowers]

I was born in 1980, so according to some, I'm a Millenial, and to others, I'm Gen-X.. When you look at the characteristics, I get a lot of both..

I'd say that for me, I didn't really grow up with any concept of leadership. Dad worked 2 jobs, so I didn't get it there. Mom worked part time and ran the house. TV didn't provide any leadership concepts, and sports coaches were more concerned with winning than developing people..

It wasn't until after high school that I began to even form a concept of leadership, and it was a hard lesson to learn. I had finished the Ministerial Internship Program through the COG, and then went back to my home church to work with my youth pastor to learn from him. My priorities were so messed up (crazy girl) that I didn't have a clue about leadership or ministry. After trying and failing at helping me in that area, my YP removed me from my volunteer position.

When I got to Lee U, one of my first classes was a Resident Assistant Training course. They used some John Maxwell stuff in there and it opened my eyes to the deficit I had in my life. From there, I read and applied all the leadership stuff I could get my hands on, and now I have a master's degree in it..

Because of my life circumstances, leadership isn't a natural talent for me, but a skill that I constantly have to work on. I try to learn everything I can from books and other successful leaders.

I would guess that many in my generation could speak to similar upbringings.. What they've done about it is up to them..

[pastorables]

"Millennials born after 1980 were especially prone to leadership that lacked basic skills one would hope to see in an emerging leader.

Is this the same category as a Baby Buster? Categorizing people groups can be tricky.

Is your question mainly relating to spiritual issues, or leadership issues in general?

I just preached Sunday on King Josiah who began his reign at 8 years old, at 15 began to fervently seek after the God of David, and at age 19 began reform to destroy idol worship in the land. King Josiah served until he was 39 and was noted as one of the greatest spiritual leaders until his day and heretofore.

You have raised an extremely challenging topic. I witness classic symptoms of the Millennial group daily. One interesting sidebar is that the characteristics of this group doesn't seem to be limited to socioeconomic class. Actually, the underlying deficiencies of this group do not seem to be influenced by the nuances of former groups.

pa

[pastorables]

My priorities were so messed up (crazy girl) that I didn't have a clue about leadership or ministry.

Brandon, what are you trying to say? That you were a crazy girl? or Dated a crazy girl?

pa

[Brian]

In the class I am taking right now, Leadership Training Models, one of the students made this observation:
"Millennials born after 1980 were especially prone to leadership that lacked basic skills one would hope to see in an emerging leader. The Millennial leadership crisis appears to be the result of a generation who all received trophies despite not all being winners and having parents do all the work while they did all the playing."

(Wikipedia) "Millennials are the first generation without mature memories of communism and a powerful Soviet Union.[citation needed] In newly rich countries such as South Korea or Greece, they have known nothing but developed world standards of living, while their grandparents often grew up in developing world conditions, causing considerable social changes and inter-generational difficulties as the young reject many traditional ways of life."

I'd love to hear the input of (a) those of you responsible for teaching and training Millennials, and (b) those of you who ARE Millennials.

This is pretty interesting to look at. I guess I would be a gen-x'er (dob 1973) and our daughter would undoubtedly by a Millennial (born 1993) and despite our constant teachings and trying to build strong positive characteristic traits there is an underlying sense of entitlement within her value system that I can't figure out where it comes from.
Now to be honest, I don't raise her quite the same way that my father raised me. Things are much easier now and don't/haven't required the need for certain types of developemental skills that I learned. I grew up in the country, we cut firewood for heat and had a garden that accounted for large amounts of our food supply, which undoubtedly instilled strong responsabilty and work ethics. Both of which my daughter lacks severly. That isn't to blame her entirely. We raise her and could be doing things that require her to be more independant and self reliant. But I am a softy. It's easier to let some things slide to keep the peace and tranquility than to demand her to do. But alas, this leads to many of the shortcomings that she may have. I know that.

Don't get me wrong, she has a few chores. Unload the dishwasher, which she thinks is the worst possible thing we could ask her to do, and when we clean house she has certain things she does along side of her mother and I. So she does do some stuff around the house. But there is no doubt that she is seriously lacking in some of the basics in life which would lead her to suffer in any type of leadership compacity.

Which leads me to think that the part where you quoted that said,
"The Millennial leadership crisis appears to be the result of a generation who all received trophies despite not all being winners and having parents do all the work while they did all the playing." Is in large part the fault of the generation before them. Its the parents (me and her mother) who have given the trophies, so to speak. We don't reward mediocraty, but I can't help but wonder how much more damage we have cause than we have fixed.

There is a definate sence of entitlement with this generation. They feel they deserve the high positions of leadership without having laid the foundation and work which gives them the substance of what being a leader is all about.

(of course I love my daughter and think she is the coolest thing ever.....but she can barely hold her own head above water. LOL )

[paul]

PG, I hope you know that the can of worms was in humor. Your question does not come with a simple answer. Becasue we work with many young men ( mostly men) in developing countries as well as here in the states. Without question there is a huge gap that I see. But, again this might be biased by my age and the time in which I grew up and the circumstances.

Areas I see as differences in young leadership here and in developing countries are

1. discipline
2. committment
3. the ability to deny ones self for the benifit of others (time and pleasure)
3. sacrifice ( different from #3) hardship
4. Instant gratification
5. An apathy of education ( so much available compared to areas where it is almost impossible to get)
6.An older generation that has virtualy given up on them, so they are tossed a bone. And not made to perform to their inate ability.

I also sent your observation to two of my sons. Ray who hold a masters in Education and has been teaching in the Milwaukee High School for the Art and talented for 17 years.

Also Paul E. who has just been accepted as a Doctoral Canidate at University of California. He has two years graduate past his Masters. He also teaches anthropology at a local Junior College and has on line courses in anthropology.

I have asked their oponion as they are in touch daily with the Millennial Generation.

Possibly some of the teachers here on this forum who interact with this generation might have some imput.

[paul]

Pastor Gary

Here is a reply from my son Raymond who has taught for 17 years at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts.

Dad:
The observations you sent are sentiments that I have heard repeated in various forms quite a bit the past 6-8 years. I see students today who do tend to want everything handed to them. They do not want to do the heavy thinking (or lifting, for that matter). Their parents most likely set everything up for them and really haven't expected them to show any initiative. I have even heard of parents trying to set up meetings with their (adult)child's new employer to lay "ground rules" for employment. And, some parents are actually moving with their adult children to a new city where they may be newly employed.

The second part of the observation makes sense, too. I see it more in the Asian community here. The parents and grandparents left Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia as refugees. The kids here sometimes use their English language skills as a powerful chip in leveraging favors that they would not normally receive. An example would be that the child would threaten to tell the authorities that they were being abused by their parents if they didn't let them go to a house party. The parents, or grandparents, not being able to speak English, would then acquiesce to the threat.

The observations, I think, are generally fair assessments of the Millennial.

RR

Raymond Roberts
Music Department Chair
Milwaukee High School of the Arts
2300 West Highland Avenue
Milwaukee WI 53233
414.934.7141