4 Reasons Millennials Will Change Us for the Better

Millennials have a tendency to get a bad rap as a collective group.  There’s a lot of people who write articles on the Millennial generation, often times I find the information within those articles to be a bit brash, at times lacking hands-on experience, as the information comes from a survey or a study.  It seems as though there are a fair amount of people who came before the Millennial generation who have a hard time understanding and interacting with Millennials in general.

As a result, they label an entire generation as ‘difficult to manage’, ‘entitled’, ‘impatient’ and ‘socially incompetent if it wasn’t for their smart phones’.  Ouch!  Back in the day them be fighting words.  I may not be a Millennial but I do believe there’s a lot more to this group of people than meets the eye.

By the by, older generations have been throwing haymakers at younger generations for decades, so perhaps the Millennials getting a bad rap is nothing new.  Each time a new generation becomes of adult age and starts entering the workforce, the generations that have to deal with them always have the same song and dance. 

Perfect example is what happened with The Beatles.  When The Beatles hit the US for the first time in 1964 the Silent Generation (parents at this time) almost keeled over thinking their kids (Baby Boomer generation) were going off the deep end. Why? Because the kids of that day were listening to the musical sounds of long haired, sex-centric, young men who wore weird flashy military clothes and sang of love and peace.  Last time I checked The Beatles are about as bad for you as the broccoli I reluctantly ate last night.

I have a different outtake on our Millennial cohorts. After the better part of a decade of leading and working side by side with them, I believe, and have experienced firsthand, that the Millennial generation stands to make one of the biggest positive contributions to society we’ve seen in several generations. 

Big words, I know, but allow me to share with you why I believe this.

#1 Fearlessness
Millennial are fearless.  They grew up in a world where dear ole Mom and Dad told their young techies that they could do and accomplish anything.  They were born winners. (regardless if that was true or not)  As a result, the Millennial are fearless and act accordingly in the workplace.  They would rather up and leave a stale job to start something new, even if that meant completely starting over. They’re built to be entrepreneurs.  Perhaps some of that can lead to entitlement, but I believe it gives them an edge that allows them to overcome barriers to entry that would otherwise keep out those of us that are less optimistic or daring. 

There are some great case studies out there right now which highlight the fearlessness within the Millennial generation.  Learn about anyone of these people and you’ll see what I’m talking about: Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Evan Spiegel/ Bobby Murphy (Snap Chat), Palmer Luckey (VR Oculus), Adam D’Angelo (Quora) and John & Patrick Collison (Stripe).

#2 Expectations of Grandeur
Unlike delusions of grandeur, Millennials are used to things working well and improving consistently.  Back in the day people settled for mediocre technology and products, because well that’s all we had.  Millennials are quite different.  They expect companies to produce great results.  When they don’t, the companies hear about it before the products even hit the shelves through a barrage of tech talks, social media outpouring, etc.  This cause and effect keeps companies, especially consumer electronics manufacturers on their feet, which is good for everyone.

Millennials are also used to change, even expect it. Unlike The Silent generation who would be with the same company for their entire career, Millennials don’t have a problem switching things up if they don’t like something. Again, this causes employers and managers to have to be on their toes providing quality places to work.  If they don’t, Millennials just won’t work there, or for long.  Change is part of life, some deal with it well, others not so much. Millennials embrace it and encourage it. There are three things in life that are certain…death, taxes and change.  Millennials have at least a leg up on us on the third one.

#3 Technology Whizzes
This number tends to be all over the place, however most signs point to a Millennial being someone who was born between 1983 – 2004.  It’s the technology generation.  Internet not only changed the world at large but it changed this generation.  By the time Millennials where in high school they had internet access to assist with research papers, fact finding, even websites providing information on their teachers sharing who was worthy and who not. (I would have loved information like that when I was in school as I felt like some of my teachers were Mrs. Krabappel from the Simpsons).

Obviously the internet has made a huge impact on society at large.  So too has the iPod with music, the personal computer, social media and gaming, to name a few.  All of these have revolutionized the way we live and interact with others, yet these things are second nature to those in the Millennial generation.  They were born with a joystick in their hand or a TV on in the background and it’s become a central part of their life. As a result their ability to use and create technology often surpasses other generations. 

Lastly, they enjoy having technology at the forefront of their daily life, which definitely isn’t the same with other generations.  Call it a dependency, call it whatever you want, however the outcome is that Millennials are superior as it relates to their understanding and use of technology which in turn gives them an edge for the future when we’ll all be living like the Jetsons.

#4 Creative Expression
More and more Millennials are venturing outside the norm and creating their own path as it relates to the workplace and social interactions.  Why is this?  Well, because they have too.  In a world where so much has already been done, the Millennial generation has to be creative in order to compete.  Millennials also make up for the largest group of people in the world who write blogs, build websites and upload audio & video files for information sharing.  They also have a keen eye for design and art as they were born and brought up with products where form & fit was just as important as function.  Don’t believe me?  The proof is in the pudding with the fact that websites like Deviant Art are in the top 50 most trafficked sites on the net.

By now my hope is that some of you reading this have given some new thought to the Millennial generation.  Sure, there may be some bad apples out there that rep the Millennial generation, as there are with all generations, but the larger number of people have a lot to offer.
When you take the attributes of the Millennial generation and place them side by side one another (fearless, high expectations, technology experts, creative) you’ve got a recipe for a group of people who can and WILL do great things in their lifetime.  They have all the ingredients necessary to lead us into the next frontier.  It just might take some time as they’ve barely been in the workplace a full decade. So let’s be patient and see what happens.

As a token of my appreciation to the Millennials I’ve had the chance to partner with, learn from and lead, I am forever thankful to you for the opportunity to work side-by-side with you all.  Your fearlessness has become my driving force in all I do.

---

Looking for more support?
If you have questions about this topic or want to explore how our team can help with your MedTech project, contact us here.
Want to see what we do?
Visit our Services page or contact us directly to talk through your project and see if we’re the right fit.