The greatest generation was the last great generations. Baby boomers started the decline, my generation continued it. Y, is just going to shit on it. Hopefully the one after that gets tired of the BS and sacrifices something to correct the problems.

What I have found interesting is how they relate in business.

Baby Boomers - Their strength is their work ethic and being dynamic communicators. Nobody could string endless 12+ hour work days together like them. Gen X saw this, Gen Y not so much. Let's face it, they are old and crusty now and have other obligations. They also spent their entire career face to face so they truly are the masters of communication. Their weakness their inability to use technology and seeing others as being unworthy as they never had the same work ethic.
Gen X - Their strength is their flexibility. They can relate to baby boomers as easily as the Gen Y. They have good work ethic and understand technology. They also tend to be decent communicators as many of them have not spent their whole life behind a screen. I think their only real weakness is a huge defiance and distrust of authority. Lots of black marks on those baby boomers resumes.
Gen Y -Multi-tasking giants that are more intelligent whether anyone wants to admit it or not. The way they process information and produce never ceases to amaze me. Lack of communication and refusal to conform in that area is their weakness. They see BBers as dinosaurs and that may be true but the old man holds the keys to the kingdom in many cases and can make them made men early on in life and help them with their communication skills if they were not so set in proving they are right and wanting to reinvent the wheel all the time.

My 2 cents.

Funny

I'm Gen XY Cusp, by the way. Gen Y gets a bad rep, but the truth is the workplace has slowly evolved to their needs. They don't want to stay in the same job their entire life, which is a good and bad thing (I think it's a very good thing, but that's my bias). Second, people think they have a bad work ethic because they don't want to be in the office. Gen Y understands that good business can get done remotely, that you can work 8 to 5 in the office then crank out a few hours at night versus staying 8 to 8. And Gen Y is open to using new tech in ways that BBs are too slow to adopt. Gen X and Y come from a more open age where leadership skills are taught as equally important to soft skills. They also have to be frustrated because the world is going digital, and BBs are getting in the way in many cases to real progress being made to shift companies there. In some cases, they openly resist.

Their blind spots (other than already mentioned) are that they'll be harder and more needy to retain in your work force. They multitask, so they have very short attention spans. They seem a lot less prepared for basic life and social skills, and they grew up in a world where it's common to talk to people over the computer instead of hearing a voice or seeing a face.

I think the big ten difference is clearly technology. The world has changed extremely fast with the adoption of mobile and internet. So drastic that the gap between BBs and Gen Ys is so stark. I bet you see a difference mentality from Gen Ys as leadership gets younger.

Said every generation ever.

yep latchkey kid in the second grade because my single-mom working mother could swing the bill.

Baby boomers destroyed our country.

IT's perception, not reality.

People haven't changed. The world has changed around them.

I think it's ****ed that generation Y has been fighting and dying in foreign wars for the past 12 years and then listen to morons tell them how they're ruining it.

The whole generational breakdown is ****ing stupid anyway. A person born in 1978 has a helluva lot more in common with someone born in 1982 than they do someone born in 1965.

This whole conversation is based on a false premise and is simpy a means to yell 'get those kids offa my lawn!"

What about Generation Jones? Its the generation between the Boomers and the Xers

Did she hook?

Anyone bitching about generation x or y needs to look in the mirror. We were raised by baby boomers. We'll spend the vast majority of our lives & careers fixing your **** ups.

Yup. For every one of those premises, Gen Y can throw a few back. Why are we moving at a snail's pace to get our company digital, social, and mobile? Why do we continue to insist on an 8 to 8 office culture when you can knock several of those remote? Why do we have leaders who continue to pump money into typical sales tactics and not embracing sales enabled by technology? Why does my company not embrace moving around to different roles and jobs?

Gen Y has plenty of blind spots. They're too easily distracted, have short attention spans, and lack basic life and social skills for most generations at that age. But they also have a frustratingly lack of power to change companies that refuse to adopt to a new environment.

wait... I thought we were the G-Funk era, turned down with a gangsta twist?

if you smoke like I smoke, then you're high like every day.

I couldn't love a man who didn't know that song. But that song never would have happened without nwa. ;)

What happens when we run out of letters?