WHO the heck is Simon Sinek? I know some friends who have shared his insights on timely topics like challenges of teamwork and such in the workplace setting and actually, he’s really quite good. If you’re in it for inspiration, I guess.
For one, he has totally debunked the old school maxim of ‘the customer is always right’, insisting that that is not the case today. Or other old beliefs like, it is better to hire a skilled person in favor of an unskilled but train-able one. Those kinds of things. At least, try to check this guy out when you can.
Some of his lectures however, are not for the faint-hearted, as he can be brutally direct at times. On some topics for example, he has made it clear that he does not sugarcoat his dislike of the new generation’s attitude, especially when in the context of work.
I have taken a keen interest in this Gen subject of his because in the first place, we have a millennial in the house, and I was hoping to get a little insight from the ‘out there’, so to speak.
Not to jump the gun however, I for one, believe that his observations may have taken the shorter route toward the latter generalizations that he had stated in so many related lectures.
For their shock value, consider a few of his observations on millennials:
- Brought up in gadgets and technology, they have generally become ill-equipped to handle face-to-face office encounters or even just plainly talking to people or strangers who knock at the door.
- They have become easily convenienced by online shopping and the like, as compared to older gens who had undergone longer processes. Ergo, self-gratification at their fingertips.
- Their limited interpersonal skill sets are further compounded by other factors such as flawed and devalued reward systems in both school education and home parenting, where they have been treated as special. On the whole, it does not prepare them for the shock of the real world where generally, no one is pampered, and it is dog eat dog.
Because of all the above, they are thus emotionally weak at handling rejections and confrontations, required sets needed in future leadership roles.
As one of Sinek’s assumptions that the new gen got low marks when facing adversity, he has added that instead of choosing confrontation, they would rather ignore antagonists completely, thereby ghosting them. All I could say is that this choice of action had also been present in all the gens prior, except maybe during the primitive society where it was to eat or be eaten, and killed or be killed.
It is therefore not singularly of millennials’ doing. As such, perhaps Sinek’s other observations could be of the same nature as well. The gadgets of our time could have either been Ipods or walkmans, transistor radios, and the like, and the results, such as reactions and behaviors to the new technology, would have been the same or at least identifiable.
With regard to unpleasantries surrounding relationships, along with confrontation and other realities, each generation had also reaped a fair share of these. As this is so, I have to say so sorry Simon, each generation merely deals with whatever is thrown their way as best as they can. Kitchen sink, ghosts and all.
