CGK President Jason Dorsey was quoted throughout a CNN feature story for his surprising perspective on Millennials turning 40 years old! This was an engaging, vulnerable story because of the journalist’s personal narrative, including loss, and how she interweaved both insights from experts and generational myth-busting. We hope you’ll give the great story a read by clicking on one of the story links below. We’ve included a few of our favorite parts for fast reference and insight…
Now that Millennials are entering the key life phase of middle age—and the many layers of it emotionally, career-wise, physically, family, and more—we at CGK believe this is an important and timely conversation to have.
Below are some of Jason’s favorite quotes from the CNN story. Which ones most resonate with your own journey or the Millennials in your family, community, or on your team?
The CNN story opening by Catherine Soichet, “For years I believed a lot of what I heard about millennials – those avocado-toast eating, latte-guzzling, selfie-taking narcissists who still live in their parents’ basements and can’t get their lives together.
Then I realized something that surprised me: I’m a millennial, as are many of the people I know and love…”
I was born in 1982. And this year, I turned 40. So did millions of other millennials in the United States.
The generation long portrayed as young and naïve is entering middle age.
It’s a notable milestone, and a good opportunity to point out something important: the Myth of the Millennial is very different from the reality many of us are living….
But for me and many others, what it really means to be a millennial these days is something quite different. We are the newest sandwich generation, feeling growing pressure between raising young children and caring for aging family members – or at least wanting to care for them, given all they’ve done to care for us, but struggling to know what to do….
Jason Dorsey tells me he often asks a question when he’s invited to visit companies and speak with their employees: “How many of you are millennials?”
Generally, he says, just a few hands timidly go up.
“They’re expecting it to be negative, because that’s unfortunately what we’ve been framed as for the last 15 years,” Dorsey says.
That’s around when Dorsey says he saw anti-millennial hype intensifying. Back in 2007, he appeared on a “60 Minutes” segment ominously titled, “The Millennials Are Coming.”
Reporter Morley Safer didn’t pull any punches in the piece’s introduction: “A new breed of American worker is about to attack everything you hold sacred: from giving orders, to your starched white shirt and tie.”
He went on to warn that “the workplace has become a psychological battlefield and the millennials have the upper hand,” describing a generation that can “multitask, talk, walk, listen and type, and text.”
“They talked about us like we were space aliens,” Dorsey recalls….
Dorsey says that during his presentations, details about millennials often surface that surprise many people in the room.
“It turns out they’re the largest generation in that company’s workforce,” he says.
He finds that many employees had bought into the stereotype and assumed millennials were slackers or flakes. But actually, he says, millennials are often among a company’s most successful workers and managers. And by the end of his presentation, all of them are raising their hands.”
Here are the Five Myths Catherine wrote about in her great Millennials entering middle age story:
Myth 1: We only think about ourselves
Myth 2: We all share the same experiences
Myth 3: We don’t want to own homes
Myth 4: We don’t take our jobs seriously and don’t stay in them very long
Myth 5: We’re forever young
Jason would enjoy hearing your thoughts on these generational myths and the fact that millions of Millennials turning 40+ each year. It’s an exciting time to focus on the positive in every generation and how we navigate different life stages. Please share your thoughts as Comments on Jason’s LinkedIn post here. Thank YOU for being on this journey with Jason and the CGK research and speaking team.
