This will be my last blog post on the Coaching Millennial site, but have no fear! I will be posting my new blogs on the Second Wave Learning website.
The big new is, of course, the release of my new book, Second Wave Millennials: Tapping the Potential of America’s Youth. It is out and it is available on Amazon. Amazon makes it so easy to buy… if you are a Prime member, the book is 1-click away from your doorstep.
If you have been reading my blogs, you will recognize some of the material in the book. The book is really a "best of" material that has been crafted in a coherent way with an easy-to-read narrative and plenty of ideas for you on successfully engaging Millennials to peak performance.
This book is 10-years in the making. During this time, I have been on the front line in companies, gaining a greater appreciation of the generational dynamic and the challenges therein. So, the ideas in the book are "road-tested."
Because I value high quality research, I’ve spent the time sorting through the best research on the subject of generations. In fact, there are over six pages of endnotes representing almost 60 different sources. All that said, it is not a research book, per se. It is a story about the challenges that different generations face in the workplace, and ways to overcome them.
The new kid on the block is, of course, the Second-Wave Millennial. Media seems to be picking up the “Gen Z” label, but I am old school, and sticking with the actual definition of a length of a generation being 20 to 25 years, thus marking all Millennials between 1982-2004. If anything, generations are getting longer because people are having children in their late 20s, 30s and even 40s.
This does not mean there are no differences between the older cohort (first-wave), and younger cohort (second-wave). There are big differences, and this is why there is pressure to identify a new name for a new generation. First-Wave Millennials (older) are more like GenXers–they are more street smart, focused on their goals, and gravitate toward leadership positions more readily. They were mostly raised by Boomer parents. Second-Wave Millennials, however, are more cautious, risk-averse, book smart, stressed out, and need detailed guidance in the workplace. They were mostly raised by GenXer parents, who used an even more hands-on parenting style than Boomers parents.
And all you crazy Xers like myself–you will find more written in my book about us than any other book on generations. So… check out the book and let me know what you think. In the meantime, look out for more blogs from Second-Wave Learning!