Generalizing about Generations

An interesting little conversation has developed in the blogoclump about the Millennial generation. It started when Lisa Junker posted a letter from Brynn Grumstrup Slate, a millennial reader of Associations Now, who was commenting on the article about Millennials that Bruce Butterfield and Susan Fox wrote. Brynn suggested that the article would have been better if it had had the voice of an actual Millennial in it, giving some first-hand perspective. David Gammel also responded to that.

Although I understand her comment, I actually disagree with it for a very important reason. The article provides a few paragraphs that tell you what Millennials are like, and how you need to adapt your association in response. I interpret Brynn’s comment to say, “Yes, but if you want to know what we’re like, then a Millennial should write the article.”

Yes and no. Yes, we need more direct voices of Millennials. No, that won’t actually tell you who they are. Even after you read some of their articles and read all of the books on the topic (including mine), you STILL won’t actually know who the Millennials are.

Why? They are still young. They will change—just as the Boomers did and just as Generation X has. Trying to generalize about a generation whose oldest members haven’t hit mid-life is premature.

Now, I’m not suggesting burying your head in the sand and ignoring what the researchers are telling us about this generation—I still think it is critical to be aware of that. Just take it with a grain of salt. Recognize it will probably shift over the years.

And most of all, recognize that whatever the researchers tell you about ANY generation, you still have to engage in a conversation with your ACTUAL members, employees, stakeholders, etc. to figure out what to do. That’s why I like Brynn’s next statement:

To truly keep abreast of the evolving association workforce, Associations Now needs to feature articles not just about Millennials, but by them.

If you let their voices in, you’ll begin understand them. If you engage in meaningful conversations with them, you’ll start to learn things (about them and you). The articles that tell you who they are may be good background reading, but they are no substitute for actual conversations.