This is a classic case of impatient Generation Y meets pay your dues Generation X.

Similar scenarios are being played out in many workplaces as Gen Yers, with their great
and sometimes unrealistic expectations, clash with older workers. Josh Lewis is in a
hurry to see his ideas implemented and get into a more senior position at Rising
Entertainment, while Sarah Bennett believes in putting in your time before expecting
recognition and promotions. Its telling that she wasnt even sure CEO Sam Smithstone
knew who she was, despite her role as marketing chief for the movie division.
Such generational conflicts are inevitable but certainly manageable when members of
the various generations are willing to listen to one another and make accommodations.
How to heal the relationship between Josh and Sarah? For starters, Sarah must
reprimand Josh for blindsiding her by going over her head and presenting his marketing
tactics directly to Sam. Like many Gen Yers, Josh doesnt respect the corporate pecking
order. His generation has little tolerance for lines of authority and proper protocol. Some
corporate managers even call college-age job applicants student stalkers because
they fire off e-mails to everyone from the CEO on down to try to get the inside track to a
job. But such brash behavior wont fly at most companies. Josh needs to respect Sarahs
authority and try to work with her, not bypass her.
Sarah should firmly tell Josh to air his future grievances with her rather than go directly
to her boss, but she also must take steps to deal with the frustrations that motivated
him to be so headstrong. Like many Gen Yers, he wants to know that his work is
meaningful and have input into big decisions. He also needs constructive feedback
about his suggestions. Too often, it seems, Sarah has dismissed his ideas as impractical
and considered him too inexperienced to participate in important strategic meetings.
She has failed to appreciate his valuable knowledge about new media and social
networking and his creativity in dreaming up fresh marketing ploys that will appeal to
his generation, the prime movie-going audience.
Todays bosses may sometimes feel like babysitters, but theyll have to get used to
spending more time with their young workers. The investment should pay off in
improved morale, productivity, teamwork, and innovation. Clearly, Sarah has been
struggling to balance her time at the office with her family responsibilities. But that
doesnt excuse her failure to encourage more communication with Josh. She needs to
find opportunities to explain how his contributions matter and affect the success of the
companys marketing programs. Josh and Sarah should plan regular sessions to hash
out their differences. While Josh might prefer text messaging and e-mail, it is critical
that he and Sarah meet face-to-face for more substantive conversations about
workplace attitudes and expectations.
Todays bosses may sometimes feel like babysitters, but theyll have to get used to
spending time with young workers.
Managers like Sarah also are finding that they need to show respect for Gen Yers and
encourage them even if they cant give Gen Yers what they want as fast as they want it.
It doesnt mean we can be as indulgent as managers as we are as parents; we have to
slap them back a little, a managing director at Merrill Lynch once told me. But as
parents of young people just like them, we can treat them with respect. Maybe they
cant sit in and listen to the presentation they helped put together for senior
management. But we can tell them, If not this time, maybe next time.

Pamela Nicholson is the president and COO of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, based in St.
Louis.
Sarah doesnt have time to get angry. She needs to familiarize herself with Joshs idea
and make sure all the supporting data are there. Given the CEOs enthusiasm for Joshs
marketing proposal, I think Sarah should actually commend, rather than criticize, her
young report for taking initiative. She should invite Josh to accompany her to the
meeting. But she should remind him that he needs to keep her informed so she can
manage the details of the project and the expectations of the CEO.
The generational differences between Sarah and Josh contribute to the
miscommunication theyre experiencing. Both of them have failed to clearly convey
what they expect from one another, and Sarah hasnt given Josh the feedback that he,
like many Generation Y employees, needs to stay engaged and perform effectively. The
two also have different approaches to balancing work and life. Sarah keeps them more
separate than Josh, who seems comfortable using technology to work from anywhere.
Sarah hasnt given Josh the feedback that he, like many Generation Y employees, needs
to stay engaged.
As a large employer of college graduates, Enterprise has taken steps to address these
kinds of issues, in two important ways:

Training.
One of our regional operations in central Pennsylvania has even set up a coaching
regimen for entry-level workers deliberately based on the Gen Y mantra of I want it all,
and I want it now. Senior managers there asked employees what was important to
them and how the company could help them achieve their personal and professional
goals. The employees requested coaching in four areas of their lives: financial stability
and success, relationships, health and fitness, and career. The senior team at this
operation addresses each of these topics in a management training program it calls
The Juggling Act. The idea is that having it all requires having a plan and executing
it with equal discipline at home and at work. Employees receive coaching in practical
skills, such as scheduling time for friends and family; planning healthful brown-bag
meals rather than being a slave to fast-food options; preparing a personal budget and
bill-payment strategy; and using their benefits package for retirement planning and
other services.

Feedback.
At another Enterprise site, which has a high percentage of Gen Y employees, one of the
managers developed a feedback system that holds each employee accountable for the
branchs service quality. Once a week, coworkers publicly rank their teammates in the
office from top to bottom, based on their customer service efforts during the week.
Employees are asked to explain why they voted for the top person and to suggest how
others could improve. The resulting increase in service-quality scores has been so
significant that the program has been adopted by Enterprise operations throughout the
company.

Last, even though our management trainees value autonomy, they still seek affirmation
of their decisions. They get it by working alongside their supervisors in rental offices and
in weekly meetings to review performance goals.
If Rising Entertainment employed some of those techniques, Sarah and Josh might be
able to create a productive relationship based on mutual understanding. Its clear they
have a common objectivethe success of the next Fire Force Five film. As much as
anything, each needs to respect the others ideas for achieving that objective.
Jim Miller (jmiller@generaltool.com) is the executive vice president of sales and
marketing at General Tool & Supply, a distributor based in Portland, Oregon.
Im afraid Josh isnt doing much here to disprove the theories that some people have
about Generation Y: a life experienced through machines, no respect for whats gone
before, and a constant need for praise, entertainment, and instant gratification. Josh is
intelligent and tech-savvy, sure, but he wont get very far by trying to make a name for
himself on the backs of his boss and the members of his work group.
Like many other companies, General Tool & Supply is struggling to hire and retain more
Gen Y workers. Were a large distributor for about 1,000 manufacturers of tools,
adhesives, lifting devices, and so on. Our problem is that Gen Y workers seem to have
outsized expectations about what were going to do for them. At six months, some Y
hires have wondered why they werent getting pay raises and promotions. To my mind,
most in this generational cohort seem loath to commit to one organizationthey appear
to be looking for a paycheck more than a career. And once I hear and see that in an
interview, Im done.
Joshs behavior is wrong on so many levels. Hes been hired to do a job, not this other
thing that hed like to do. He has no respect for his boss; thats apparent in his actions.
But he is also putting his teams work in jeopardy by not completing, to the very best of
his ability, the tasks he was assigned. Thats unacceptable. Our organization, which is
made up of a bunch of self-directed work teams, is very flat, so we rely heavily on
collaboration. Each of our 60 sales associates has to contribute if were to meet our
goals. Instead of pulling his weight, Josh decided to push his own agendaduring a
deadline crunch, no less. Most important, Josh didnt recognize that it was critical for
him to do fabulous workeven when assigned the most mundane of tasksthat would
represent who he is.
For her part, Sarah could have done a much better job of validating Joshs idea; it was a
compelling one, even if it wasnt completely thought out. She could have admitted to
not knowing a lot about new media or suggested they talk off-line lateror maybe
asked Josh to spearhead some web experiments for the marketing group. Sarah also
should have taken back control of the Triple-F pitch meeting by telling the CEO at their
morning run-in that Joshs idea was still in development, not something that was ready
for discussion but something the team might add in once research on costs and other
figures had been completed. Because she didnt do that, the boss is now expecting
something Sarah is not sure she can deliver.
If Josh really needs to be a maverick, he can go off and start his own company.

To work better together, Sarah and Josh both need to recalibrate their expectations.
Sarah needs to take extra time to validate Joshs ideas and help him understand what it
means to be a team player. For so many Yers entering the workforce, the attitude is Ill
be a full-time freelancer, and work will be fun, fun, fun. Sarah needs to counteract that
by being completely transparent with Josh about the level of performance required (a
new idea needs to be fully researched) and the level of communication required (formal
presentations rather than hallway chats). For his part, Josh needs to figure out how to
pitch his good ideas through established channels, within the established team
framework. If he really needs to be a maverick, he can go off and start his own
company, where he can follow his own business rules. Or, he can go to a different firm
that has a maverick culture.
A version of this article appeared in the February 2009 issue of Harvard Business
Review.