Leading Intergenerational Groups

The modern workplace is largely comprised of three generations working alongside each other, with two generations, the Baby Boomers and Gen X making being the vast majority at this point (50 percent and 39 percent respectively). [ (Gesell, 2010) ] The generation that built and shaped the modern environment in the post WWII years, ‘The Traditionalists’, have nearly entirely phased out of the workforce, but the echo of thier institutions and culture will be felt for years to come. The upcoming generation, the Millennials, have only begun to have an impact – and the impact they have as a generational cohort will increasingly dominate in the coming years. As a generation, the Millennials are 95 million strong. [ (Gesell, 2010) ] The 78 million Baby Boomers in the workforce now have long been accustomed to being the biggest generation with the most cultural clout, but they will inevitably have to cede the workplace (and society) to the Millennials, who are entering the workforce en mass now, and will be hitting their mid-career stride as the Baby Boomer generation retires. Managing the interaction and transition between the influence of these two massive generations will largely fall to Generation X, which is by size a smaller generation, but is sandwiched between the two massive groups, and is the generation to that the Baby Boomers can better relate to, and the Millennials will look to as more experienced elders. In “Generations at Work” [ (Ron Zemke, 2013) ], the guiding principle for leading intergenerational groups is The Titanium Rule. It is a variation of the Golden Rule “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” The variation is a caveat that requires reflecting on the behavioral etiquette of an entire generation. The Titanium Rule is “Do unto others, keeping their preferences in mind”.
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