Yesterday I came across this brilliant article Why Millennials Keep Dumping You. (Thank you Elizabeth McLeod daughter of @LisaEarleMcLeod for the insights. I loved it!) With well over 70,000 likes, 6000 comments and 22,000 shares and counting, it’s clearly struck a chord with many.
It seems that Millennials commonly quit within six months because their employers;
- tolerate poor performance in their peers
- are driven by the stock-price not how the company makes a difference
- offer gimmicks such as free food in an attempt to motivate them instead of creating a truly purposeful culture
- treat them like a number rather than a human-being.
As I read the article, I was thinking of all the Millennials I know and work with, and the list seemed to ring true. By the end of it however, I found myself quite agitated.
You see, I’m a 55-year-old Baby Boomer with a 21-year-old GenZ son and an 80-year-old Silent Generation father (who only retired this year). I have family, friends, business colleagues and clients of all ages and generations. I’ve had 20 years as an employee and 17 years as a business owner with 8 of those studying Purpose.
And here’s what I’ve learnt over the years; that Purpose is ageless.
I’ve learnt that the need to do meaningful work is universal. I’ve learnt that people of all ages and stages in life, want to work for companies driven by a higher Purpose than profit (or run their own Purpose-driven businesses). I’ve learnt that we all want to be treated as human-beings rather than a number.
It seems worthy of pointing out that there are now many Millennials (mostly in the tech world) who are clearly demonstrating the exact same ‘Profit before Purpose’ mindset as their Baby Boomer predecessors. So, it seems, that no generation is perfect.
Thank you again Elizabeth and Lisa for this insightful article. Imagine a work world that is both ageless and purposeful. Now, wouldn’t that be something?
With love and Purpose
Carolyn
#purpose #thepurposeproject #purposeisageless
