[.ca] When Generations Collide (ISBN 0066621062)

Not Profound but Provocative:
Review of When Generations Collide The Book's Thesis: If you work with people from other generations, you need to understand that conflicting perspectives between the generations can generate workplace conflict. Obviously, this is an old theme. There are plenty of quotable inter-generational digs and barbs recorded in the earliest writings of antiquity. More recently, during my youth in the tumultuous late 1960s and early '70s, we spoke openly and frequently about the "generation gap." This perennial topic has been treated seriously by credible writers in other business books over the past decade. (I have penned a few articles on it in recent years as well.) Of the books on this now familiar theme, this one takes a less statistical and analytical approach in favor of a more anecdotal slant on the topic. Lancaster, a Baby Boomer, and Stillman, a Gen Xer, are business partners who write in a chatty style. They lace their broad observations about generations with illustrations derived from their own personal lives. Often, they make their point by telling stories about the conflicts between the two of them---which they blame on their age difference. And they never miss an opportunity to remind you that they speak and give seminars on this topic. While those frequent reminders border on annoying, the authors do not seem to be indulging in crass commercialism---search all you want and you won't find information in the book about contacting the author-consultants to purchase their services. Instead, speechmaking (and speech coaching to the likes of pop business pontificator Harvey Mackay, who penned the book's anemic Foreword) seems to define the authors' rather limited frame of reference in the business world. As other reviewers have noted, the authors' attention to detail, facts, and rigorous analysis have taken a back seat to their breezy narrative. In an attempt to provide statistical data on generational differences, the authors point to results from an online survey they conducted. You don't have to be a career researcher or social scientist to recognize that such surveys are comprised of small, non-random, non-representative and therefore invalid samples. That is especially true when extrapolating tiny slivers of data to reach conclusions about an entire generation representing *tens of millions* of people! Still, these flaws notwithstanding, this engaging, readable book makes some worthwhile observations about the rather amorphous and extremely broad topic of generational strife. Despite my reservations, I found myself highlighting pithy passages and dog-earring quite a few pages. If you can look past the authors' indulgent style and occasional gaffs and lapses, "When Generations Collide" serves as an approachable and palatable overview of potential generational friction in the workplace---and wherever people of varying ages interact.

Interesting observations.:
"When Generations Collide" is a book that describes the clashes of the four generations with practical solutions. The book is separated into five sections: Section I: Descriptions of the Generations The book first describes the four generations (birth years): The Traditionalists (1900-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation Xers (1965-1980) and Millennial (1981-1999). The book also mentions the "Cusper" generation, whom are born five years into or at the end of a generation. The Cuspers are the bridge builders. Section II: Putting the generations to work In this section, the authors describe the generations' focus on career. In summary, Traditionalists build a legacy, Baby boomers build a stellar career, Gen X build a portable career and Millennial build parallel careers. The book describes the generation careers with explicit detail including how to reward the generations without offending the "generational culture". This section is interesting since it gives examples from companies that have built various career paths and reward programs for the four generations. Section III: Hiring generations In this section, the authors describe in detail how to hire generations. Since the values of the generations are different, company value propositions need to be just as various. These values are established with the help of the specific generations. The proposition should be put into action and modified as time passes. If the values do not represent the various generations then the company would have issues to retain talent. Section IV: Retaining and managing the generations Once you have hired the individuals the book describes, in great detail, how to manage and retain your talent using different methods of involvement. Retaining the talent needed is not easy. The book describes that it is not only up to your company but companies should learn to use their talent to keep talent. Example, part-time alumni traditionalist are helping Xers understand the longer term growth of the firm which in turn the firm will be rewarded by Xers not leaving in 6 months. As the book notes it, job changing for Traditionalist is a stigma, for Boomers is getting behind, for Xers is necessary and for Millennials is a way of life. Section V: What's next? This section was a six page book conclusion. If you are thinking of issues that we deal with our bosses, parents, co-workers and others take into consideration their generation before taking action. Have fun reading.

Great, with reservation about millennialists:
This is one of those cant-put-it-down-until-finished books for two reasons: (1) lots of stimulating ideas how the different generations view the world of work and (2) it reads very smoothly. My main reservation is that is premature to characterize the newest generation: the so-called millennialists. They are still in their formative stage, so we dont know how they'll view the world yet. On one hand they've seen the best-of-the-best: two decades of economic boom and relative peace. But that changed with the millennium (and after this book was written). There was Columbine, 9-11, and a particuarly nasty economic recession. So this generation is both spoiled and scarred. It will interesting to see how that plays out in the future.

A trendy idea that is wrong:
In 1991, William Strauss and Neil Howe published "Generations", a book which asserted the existence of a generational personality. Since that time, theorists in the Human Resource field have attempted to apply this notion to the world of work. Authors trying to make this connection included Ron Zemke, Claire Raines and others. These books follow a typical pattern: Step 1: Generations are defined as those Americans born between two selected years. The Baby Boomer generation born between 1946 and 1964 or, by other accounts 1943 and 1960, usually is the anchor. Step 2: Major societal events occurring in the formative years of these generations are cited as forces shaping a personality of these age cohorts which stays with them throughout life. Step 3: The difference between generations is claimed to be a major diversity concern affecting American businesses. "When Generations Collide" by Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman follows this pattern. In my view, this is an awful book, flawed on these and other counts: 1. It describes as a generational cohort (sometimes as one generation, sometimes as two) Americans born between 1900 and 1945. This is a mammoth grouping, about which it is difficult to make any meaningful generalizations. To lump together these people, born over several decades, and to proceed to describe a common personality is arrogant. Some of these people came of age during World War I, others during the Cuban Missle Crisis. This large-scale approach is also contrary to the more discrete groupings made by other generational commentators. 2. Lancaster and Stillman describe generational personalities quite differently than other commentators. They describe the Americans born between 1900 and 1945 as "God-fearing, hardworking and patriotic." Aside from the obvious stereotyping, its worth noting that while the historians Strauss and Howe use terms like these to describe some of the Americans born in these years, they also describe some of them as having a declining interest in religion and as a generation coasting along on the accomplishments of others. Who is right? 3. Lancaster and Stillman need a fact checker. Even a nonspecialist notes claims like the one that the dance, the Twist, was a key cultural factor for the 1900- 1945 generation. (It was introduced in the 1960's). Other claims include one that certain modern employees long for workplace of the 1940's, when a worker would need to be at least in their 70's in 2002 to have worked in the last year of that decade. Here is an understatement: there are more such discrepancies. 4. Most significantly, as often happens with the theorists of the generational personality, the authors engage in gross stereotyping. Again, a pattern is followed, beginning with decrying others who stereotype instead of "get(ing) to know who these generations really are..." Note: the authors teach that stereotyping is avoided not in getting to know actual people, but only age cohorts. It is very tempting to read this as feigned outrage when the authors then proceed to build a book around what seems to be stereotyping. We are taught by Lancaster and Stillman that: Baby Boomers (1946-1964) resent Xers (1965-1980) for finding it easy to change jobs; that Xers resent Traditionalists (1900-1945) for being resistant to change; that Baby Boomers are competitive; that Xers are skeptical. As an aside, I reviewed descriptions of young people as reported in the popular media of the early 1970's. A common description of the young at that time was skeptical. This is suggestive that life stages rather than a generational personality are a far more important factor. Here is a common-sense question: Is it really very unusual to view young people at any time as skeptical? Why build it into a description distinguishing young people of the 1990's from the young a generation ago? 5. There is a trendy, cliche-ridden writing style. Beaver Cleaver is linked rhetorically with Eldridge Cleaver as influential people for Baby Boomers; "Mad" Magazine with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) as an example of life being complex. There is gross exageration: The so-called conflicts between generations are called "earth shattering." One of the worst examples of hyperbole is this description of the 1980's: "Children mysteriously disappeared from neighborhoods and showed up frighteningly at the breakfast table on milk cartons." O.K., but this just might be stretching things a bit. There is another problem with this whole notion of a generational personality. Besides the lack of any coherent foundation and aside from all the stereotyping, it diverts crucial resources from real diversity issues. I might speculate on why managers would find it more comfortable to talk about their diversity concerns as they pertain to Baby Boomers or what is was like to be young, but I can't understand why diversity professionals allow the concept of a generational personality to take resources away from concerns about race, gender or sexual orientation. The best clue that the idea of a generational personality may lack content comes near the end of this 352-page book, when Lancaster and Stillman summarize their advice. They tell us: flexibility is in; give people the benefit of the doubt; don't forget the little things. Thanks, we needed that information.

A Must-Read Regardless of Employment Situation:
When a friend recommended this book, I was skeptical. After all, I do freelance work and am not concerned with most workplace issues. However, I found it to be a real page-turner. It is well-written, informative, and amusing. When Generations Collide contains insights that are helpful in all aspects of life from relating to older family members to hiring the right child care provider. You would be doing yourself a disservice by not reading this book.