"Why should I change how the office operates and feels just to accommodate generation ‘Y’? Why should we bend over backwards for this arrogant, self-centered, A.D.D. generation? When I got out of school I had to learn how to work in the environment already established.”
So many leaders of our current corporate world think like this. And, while yes, they did have to adjust to the work place created by their elders, I would argue that very little adjustment had to take place on their part. The work place didn’t need to change for Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers. Their upbringing was not vastly different then the generations that came before. There historically has been very little change in the learning environment in almost all of history until the last 10 to 15 years.
I think the pictures below speak for themselves.
1910s
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| One Room Schoolhouse |
1930s
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| School building filled with lots of one room schoolhouses |
1950s
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| Ditto 1970s |
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| Don't let the color image trick you into thinking something has changed 1990s |
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| Same desks....Same rows....cooler clothes 2010s |
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| OMG! |
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| WTF! |
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| ANFSCD! (look it up Boomers and Gen X'ers) |
Do you really think young adults growing up in these environments will excel at work in the same environment as Boomers and Gen X'ers?
Signed: A Gen X'er often called Boomer but extremely supportive of the Y's
