Profesora

To: Eileen
Date: 3/23/2012
Subject: Millennials Mean Business

The following memo provides an overview of the event “Millennials Mean Business” (Track 2) that I attended as a Business Week eventon March19, 2012, in Driscoll Hall. This professional development event featured speaker Brad Karsh, a representative from Leo Burnett advertising firm. Karsh spoke about the different generationsthat currently comprise the business world, elaborated on the characteristics of millennials, and offered tips for more effective business relationships between millennials and workers of differentgenerations.
Millennials and the workplace
The term ‘millennials’ refers to about 75 million Americans that were born between the years 1981 and 2000. This generation of workers is deemed the‘internet generation’ due to the fact that those born within its timeframe grew up surrounded by digital media. Karsh explained that there are four generations currently active in the workforce, and that themillennials (the youngest generation) are the generation that are most affected by age discrimination. While much of the discrimination is a result of false stereotypes held by the older generations, alot of the intergenerational conflict is a consequence of the difficult transition from student to worker (and the other generations have forgotten the difficulty of this transition). Karsh said thatthe transition is the single biggest transition that one must make in life because entering the workforce is essentially re-learning everything that one has already learned. For example, as a student,an emphasis is placed on independence; however, in the workforce, teamwork is the key to success. Furthermore, in education, all students are considered equal, yet the workforce is characterized by adistinct hierarchy of power and status. Therefore, these differences, coupled with other generational differences like a sense of entitlement, cause older businessman to look down upon younger...