In this interview Simon Sinek discusses the often misunderstood generational gap of the millennial generation as it relates to the modern day workplace.
Passion Quest Magazine and broadcast features and celebrates forward thinkers who are passionate about their mission and message to inspire change, instill hope, or make the world a better place through the fulfillment of their purpose.
We encourage you to link to these pages on your social profiles and forward them to others to inspire those you know, and those around you.
Millennials are often typecast and depicted in a negative light. Often thought of and referred to as lazy and entitled, Simon Sinek tries to convince corporate America and small business alike, that while not their fault, it is the responsibility of industry leaders and employers to empathize, teach, and support an entire generation of mismanaged youth, to acclimate them into the workplace, despite negative attitudes or employees' lack of patience relating to advancement opportunities - with no regard to the fact that they are full-grown consenting adults, many of which now have children of their own.
4 Reasons
“We want to work in a place with purpose. We want to make an impact. We want free food and bean bags.”
Sinek cites four primary reasons that he asserts are the cause for the generational results responsible for the American society's typecast perception:
Parenting
Generally speaking Millennials have bad parents, giving kids whatever they want while celebrating mediocrity which leads to a deflated self-worth and poor coping mechanisms.
Technology
To cope with stress, Millennials often turn to the addictive numbing effects of dopamine, produced by the brain by way of social media, text messaging, and the like - while disconnecting from physical real-world relationships.
Patience
In the "now" generation we live in, Millennials have grown up getting what they want instantly, including online purchases, online dating, and emotional validation -which only serves to compound a sense of entitlement and fuel the dopamine dependency.
Environment
Corporate America upper management is not helping Millennials undo their mindset and poor upbringing, nor are they teaching Millennials how to cope with their past in the present.
Assertion
Sinek's assertion is that through "no fault of their own" Millennials were "dealt a bad hand", which is the reason they've ended up the way they are - and it is the role of corporate management to solve the lazy, entitled dilemma commonly associated with the millennial generation.
Conclusion
"We now have a responsibility to make up the shortfall and to help this amazing idealistic, fantastic generation - build their confidence, learn patience, and learn social skills."
Simon Sinek refers to Millennials as "kids" despite the fact that some Millennials by now are in their 40's.
Sinek doesn't seem very interested in teaching the Millennial generation to be responsible for their own actions or hold themselves accountable for their negative world view, lack of work ethic, and sense of entitlement, but rather passes the blame to others while reassuring Millennials that their dysfunction is not their fault and is someone else's problem, and further responsibility to fix. Ironically, Sinek seems to be championed by the Millennial generation as their advocate and defender, despite the fact that he appears to make no effort to deny the stereotypical perception that Millennials are lazy and entitled. He seemingly admits that he agrees with the stereotype, but blames others for it, and seems to encourage Millennials to do the same.
Whether or not you agree with the views of Simon Sinek regarding the millennial generation, one thing is undeniable - that is his passion for a more balanced world, and hope for positive change.
Interview Transcript
Rarely do I do interviews where somebody doesn't ask the millennial question.
What's the millennial question?
Apparently millennials as a generation which is a group of people who were born approximately 1984 and after, are accused of being entitled and narcissistic, self-interested. Unfocused. Lazy. -But entitled is the big one. -And because they confound leadership so much, what's happening is, leaders are asking the Millennials, what do you want? They're saying, "We want to work in a place with purpose". Love that. "We want to make an impact", you know, whatever that means." We want free food and bean bags." -And so, somebody articulates some sort of purpose, there's lots of free food, and there's bean bags -And yet for some reason, they are still not happy and that's because they're missing - there's a - there's a missing piece.
What I've learned is that I can break it down into four pieces. Right? There are four things. Four characteristics. One is parenting. The other one is technology. Third is impatience, and the fourth is environment. The generation that we call the Millennials, too many of them grew up "entitled" - not my words.
Failed parenting strategies, where, for example, they were told that they were special all the time. They were told that they can have anything they wanted in life, just because they want it. Some of them got into honors classes, not because they deserved it, but because their parents complained and some of them got an A, not because they earned them, but because the teachers didn't want to deal with the parents. Some kids got participation medals - got a medal for coming in last, right? -which the science we know is pretty clear, which devalues the metal and the reward for those who actually work hard - and it actually makes the person who comes in last feel embarrassed because they know they didn't deserve it, so that'll make them feel worse, right?
So you take this group of people that graduate school, and they get a job, and then thrust into the real world and in an instant they find out they're not special, their moms can't get them a promotion, that you get nothing for coming in last - and by the way, you can't just have it because you want it, right? And in an instant, the entire self-image is shattered - and so you have an entire generation that's growing up with lower self-esteem than previous generations.
The other problem to compound it is we're growing up in a Facebook, Instagram world. In other words, we're good at putting filters on things. We're good at showing people that life is amazing even though I'm depressed, right? And so everybody sounds tough and everybody sounds like they got it all figured out and the reality is there's very little toughness and most people don't have it figured out - and so when the more senior people say, "What should we do?" They sound like, "This is what you gotta do." - and they have no clue.
So you have an entire generation growing up with lower self-esteem than previous generations, right? Through no fault of their own though - no fault of their own, right? They were dealt a bad hand, right? Now let's add in technology. We know that engagement with social media and our cell phones releases a chemical called dopamine. That's why when you get a text it feels good, right? So, you know, we've all had it when you're feeling a little down. I'm feeling a bit lonely. And so you send out 10 texts to 10 friends, you know, Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi - because it feels good when you get a response, right? Right. It's why we count the likes. That's why we go back 10 times to see how it's going. If my Instagram is growing slower did I do something wrong? Do they not like me anymore? Right? The trauma for young kids to be unfriended, right? Because we know when you get it, you get a hit of dopamine, which feels good. It's why we like it. It's why we keep going back to it.
Dopamine is the exact same chemical that makes us feel good when we smoke - when we drink. In other words, it's highly highly addictive. Right? We have age restrictions on smoking, gambling, and alcohol, and we have no age restrictions on social media and cell phones, which is the equivalent of opening up the liquor cabinet and saying to our teenagers, "Hey, by the way, if this adolescence thing ever gets you down. . ." But that's basically what's happening. That's basically what's happening. Right? That's basically what happened. You've an entire generation that has access to an addictive, humming chemical called dopamine through social media and cell phones, as they're going through the high stress of adolescence.
Why is this important? Almost every alcoholic discovered alcohol when they were teenagers. When we're very, very young. the only approval we need is the approval of our parents. And as we go through adolescence, we make this transition where we now need the approval of our peers. Very frustrating for a parent, very important for us. That allows us to acculturate outside of our immediate families into the broader tribe, right? It's a very highly stressful and anxious period of our lives. And we're supposed to learn to rely on our friends. Some people, quite by accident, discover alcohol and numbing effects of dopamine to help them cope with the stresses and anxieties of adolescence. Unfortunately, that becomes hardwired in their brains and for the rest of their lives. When they suffer significant stress, they will not turn to a person. They will turn to the bottle, social stress, financial stress, career stress. That's pretty much the primary reason why an alcoholic drinks, right?
What's happening is, because we're allowing unfettered access to these dopamine producing devices and media, basically it's becoming hardwired. And what we're seeing is, as they grow older, too many kids don't know how to form deep meaningful relationships, their words, not mine. They will admit that many of their friendships are superficial. They will admit to their friends that they don't count on their friends. They don't rely on their friends. They have fun with their friends, but they also know that their friends will cancel them if something better comes along. Deep meaningful relationship is not there because they never practiced the skill set and worse, they don't have the coping mechanisms to deal with stress. So, when significant stress starts to show up in their lives, they're not turning to a person. They're turning to a device. They're turning to social media. They're turning to these things which offer temporary relief. We know the science is clear. We know that people who spend more time on Facebook have higher rates of depression than people who spend less time on Facebook, right? These things need balance. Alcohol is not bad, too much alcohol is bad. Gambling is fun, too much gambling is dangerous, right?
There's nothing wrong with social media and cell phones. It's the imbalance. But if you're sitting at dinner with your friends and you're texting somebody who's not there, that's a problem. That's an addiction. If you're sitting in a meeting with people, you're supposed to be listening to and speaking and you put your phone on the table face up or face down. I don't care that it sends a subconscious message to the room that you're not. Just, you just are not that important to me right now, right? That's what happens. And the fact that you cannot put it away is because you are addicted, right? If you wake up, and you check your phone before you say good morning to your girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse, you have an addiction and, like all addiction, in time it'll destroy relationships. It will cost time and it will cost money and will make your life worse, right?
So you have a generation growing up with lower self-esteem. That doesn't have the coping mechanisms to deal with stress and stress right. Now. You add in the sense of impatience, right? They've grown up in a world of instant gratification. You want to buy something, you go on Amazon. It arrives the next day. You want to watch a movie, log on and watch a movie. You don't check movie times. You want to watch a TV show, binge. You don't even have to wait a week to week. Right. I know people who skip seasons just so they can binge at the end of the season, right?
You want to go on a date? You don't even have to learn how to be like them. You don't even have to learn and practice that skill. You don't have to be uncomfortable and would sisters. Yes. When you mean? No, it's no one. You may know me. Yes, when you have to swipe right thing. I'm a stud, right? You don't have to learn the social coping mechanisms, right? Everything you want. You can have instantaneously everything you want, instant gratification. Except job satisfaction and strengthen relationships. There ain't no app for that. They are slow meandering, uncomfortable, messy processes. And so I keep meeting these wonderful, fantastic, idealistic, hard-working smart kids that just graduated school there in their entry level job. I sit down with them when I go. How's it going to go? I think I'm going to quit. I'm like, why? They're like, I'm not making an impact. I like you've been here eight months. It's as if they're standing on the mountain and they have this abstract concept called the impact that they want to have in the world, which is the summit, but they don't see it as the mountain. I don't care if you go up the mountain quickly or slowly but there's still a male. And so what this young generation needs to learn is patience, that some things that really, really matter like love, or job fulfillment, joy, love of life, self-confidence, a skill set, any of these things, all of these things take time. Sometimes you can expedite pieces of it, but the overall journey is arduous and long and difficult and if you don't ask for help and learn that skill set, you will fall off the mountain. Well, you will the worst case scenario, the worst case scenario, and we're already seeing it. The worst-case scenario is we're seeing increase in suicide rates.
Accidental death due to drug overdoses. We're seeing more and more kids drop out of school or take leaves of absence due to depression. Unheard of these are all. This is really bad. The best case scenario is the best, those are all bad cases, right? The best-case scenario is you'll have an entire population growing up and going through life and just never really finding joy, they'll never really find deep deep fulfillment in work or in life. They'll just just walk through life, a little J. Just it's fine. How was your job? It's fine. The same as yesterday as relationship, that's fine. Like, that's the best case scenario.
Which leads me to the fourth point, which is environment, which is we're taking this amazing group of young. fantastic kids, which just dealt a bad hand. It's no fault of their own and we put them in corporate environments that care more about the numbers than they do about the kids. They care more about the short term gains than the long-term life of this young human being. We care more about the year than the lifetime. right? And so, we are putting them in corporate environments that aren't helping them build their confidence that aren't helping them learn the skills of cooperation that aren't helping them overcome the challenges of a digital world and finding more balance. That isn't helping them. Overcome the need to have instant gratification and teach them. The joy is an impact and the fulfillment you get from working hard over something for a long time that cannot be done in a month or even in a year.
Living in corporate environments, the worst part about it is they think it's that they blame themselves. They can think it's them who can't deal and so it makes it all worse. It's not. I'm here to tell them, it's not them. It's the corporation's, it's the corporate environment. It's the total lack of good leadership in our world today that is making them feel the way they do. They were dealt a bad hand. It is, and I hate to say it, but it's the company's responsibility sucks to be you, like we have no choice, right? This is what we got. And I wish that society and their parents did a better job, they didn't. So we're going to get them in our companies and we now have to pick up the slack. We have to work extra hard to figure out the ways that we build their confidence. We have to work extra hard to find ways to teach them. Social skills that they're missing out on there. Should be no cell phones in conference rooms.
None zero. And I don't mean, the kind of, like, sitting outside waiting to text. I mean, like when you're sitting and waiting for a meeting to start, nobody goes. This is what we all do. We all sit here and wait for the meeting to start. Okay, we start the meeting. No, that's not how relationships are formed. Remember we talked about. It's the little things that form this way. We're waiting for me to start my journey. How's your dad already? Oh, he's really good. Thanks for asking. He's actually at home, man. I'm really glad. I was really amazed. I know it was really scary. That's how you form relationships. Oops. Hey, did you ever get that report on? All my God? No, I didn't help you out. I totally. Ah, can I help you out with that? Really? That's how trust forms trust doesn't form at an event in a day. Even bad times don't form trust immediately. It's the slow steady consistency and we have to create mechanisms where we allow for those little innocuous interactions to happen. But when we allow cell phones and conference rooms, we just
And then my favorite is like when there's a cell phone. There you go. Like this, you go. It rings and good. I'm not going to answer that Mr. Magnanimous, you know, when you're out for dinner with your friends. Like I do this with my friends when we're going out for dinner and we're leaving together. We'll leave our cellphones at home . maybe one of us will bring the phone. In case we need to call an Uber or take a picture of our meal. I mean, it looked really good. We'll take one phone. And so it's like an alcoholic. The reason you take the alcohol out of the house. So we is because we cannot trust our willpower. We're just not strong enough. But when you remove the temptation, it actually makes it a lot easier. And so when you just say, don't check your phone, people literally will go like this and somebody would go to the bathroom. And what's the first thing we do? Because I wouldn't want to look around the restaurant for a minute and a half, you know, but if you don't have the phone, You just kind of enjoy. The world, and that's where ideas happen. The constant constant, judgment is not where you have Innovation and ideas happen. When our minds wander we go and you see something they could do. That's called Innovation by the, we're taking away all those little moments, right? You should not end. None of us. None of us should charge our phones by our beds. We should be charging our phones in the living rooms. Right? Remove the temptation. You wake up in the middle of night because you can't sleep. You won't check your phone, which makes it worse. But if it's in the living room, It's relaxed. It's fine. I am but it's my alarm clock. I don't want to clog. They cost $8. I'll buy you one alright. But the point is, the point is, is we now in Industry, whether we like it or not, we don't get a choice. We now have a responsibility to make up the shortfall and to help this amazing idealistic. fantastic generation build their confidence, learn patience. Learn social skills.
Find a better balance between life and technology. Because quite frankly, it's the right thing to do.
תגובות