Even very recently, the elders could say [to the youths]: “You know, I have been young and you never have been old.” But today’s young people can reply: “You never have been young in the world I am young in, and you never can be.” . . . This break between generations is wholly new: it is planetary and universal.
— Margaret Mead
The myth: Millennials are materialistically brand-conscious.
Yeah, well, who made them aware of brands but their brand-loyal Boomer parents who were coming of age as consumers in the early 80s when designer jeans and labels were retail game-changers? And so what if this is true? Millennials were cultivated from a young age to recognize brands and to stay loyal to those companies that stand behind their products. Brand names also provide social code for peer recognition, and this is a generation that grew up on divorced parents and blended families. Identifying and having one's own tribe outside the family home is important to these folks.
The myth: Millennials aren't very driven or hardworking.
Wrong again. They simply approach work differently, often without a lot of fanfare. They don't just go to libraries; they research online. Laptop keyboards don't make as much noise as Smith-Corona typewriters. During my daughter's adolescence I learned that she did indeed get lots of work done but I just wouldn't see most of it being done. Millennial brains are wired for complexity and they have rich internal lives of imagination and creativity. If Boomers lived in an external world of social change and civil rights upheaval, Millennials live in a digital world with a virtual wire to their brains—downloading music, surfing the Web for viral videos (which they then post on Facebook), social networking, online group events, digital communications, and digital learning. They're not merely consumers, these guys want to create! so anyone who offers them a rich, multi-media Web site experience with lots of interactivity is going to win them over (hello, institutions of higher learning; not just The Gap).
The myth: Millennials are spoiled with entitled attitudes. They expect to be rich, successful, and powerful before they're 30. (And its geezer corollary: In my day, we worked the grunt jobs and were grateful to have them!...We paid our dues, dammit).
But wouldn't you have this expectation as well, if the big hitters of your generation were Mark Zuckerberg (born 1984) and the two guys who invented YouTube (Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, both born in the late 70s)? Millennials have been shown the road to epic success at an early age, and it didn't necessarily involve a band (such as what inspired Boomers). Instead they could conceive of creating a killer app, selling it to Google for millions, and thus become a social networking legend by age 40, like that "old guy" Joi Ito (born 1966).
A final myth: Millennials care only about themselves. They won't volunteer for the environment, for civil rights, or for socio-political change.
Think again. It's just a difference in style and approach. Maybe their Boomer parents protested at peace rallies, handed out pro-choice flyers, and stuck flowers into the barrels of National Guard rifles. Millennials are seeking social solutions that will also work as a lifestyle—ie, do good and get paid for it; don't just volunteer once a week for it, make a life out of it. One example of this is Blake Mycoskie (born in the late 70s) who calls himself CEO and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS Shoes, which he started on the premise that for every pair the consumer purchases, one pair will be given to a child growing up barefoot in places like the mean streets of Argentina.
Are there slacker Millennials? Of course: after all, there were bogus Boomers who rode the zeitgeist for self-gain (most egregiously, Charlie Manson, who is 81, or Ira Einhorn, 71). But just as Millennials detest traditional media experiences, they're also creating their lives—and refashioning our world—through means we don't yet recognize. But that doesn't mean it's poorly conceived or ill-fated.
Do you really care if your CEO arrives by Rolls Royce or skateboard?
