| Generation X"--the 40 million or so people born | | | | demographics.As a result, Xers also are:- More stable |
| between 1965 and 1976--understands it is living in a | | | | when they do marry, Xers are about nesting and |
| world of uncertainty where neither the | | | | making a house a home. Today's newlyweds are |
| govern¬ment nor private employers offer lifetime | | | | typically more mature, well-established and have higher |
| financial security. This is, however, the next generation | | | | incomes than in the past.- Better savers than their |
| of responsible adults, bright young people with families | | | | Boomer parents. In this they are more like their |
| to protect and educate...and nearly 40 years until | | | | grandparents. The average Gen-X Moms and Dads |
| retirement.Generation X was the backbone of | | | | start putting money away for college when their kids |
| Operation Iraqi Freedom and continues serving the US | | | | are 2½, while most Boomers waited until theirs |
| effort to bring peace to the Middle East. None had to | | | | were 7.- Rediscovering traditional family values. |
| be there. They chose to be there by becoming | | | | Appalled by the moral relativism and situational ethics |
| Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen or Coast Guardsmen. | | | | of their parents' generation--the Clintons were the last |
| For example, our son, Bill, 32, was finishing a four-year | | | | straw for many young Americans (Al Gore and John |
| Marine Corps enlistment when September 11 changed | | | | Kerry amusing poseurs) Xers similarly don't buy the |
| his life plan. Completing Officer Candidate School and | | | | notion that the government-as-nanny-state knows |
| The Basic School would mean another four-year | | | | best. Their message: It doesn't take a village, stupid, it |
| commitment-but one he gladly made. After receiving | | | | takes parents!- Redefining the family-career challenge. |
| his commission, Bill was assigned to Okinawa, and | | | | Boomer women may have opened the door to the |
| recently returned from an 8-month deployment to | | | | workplace, but their daughters are facing the |
| Iraq.So don't mistake Gen-Xers for Baby Boomers. | | | | family-career challenge in their own ways. "I have |
| Generation X detests labels--including the "Gen-X" tag | | | | talked to women of all ages about balancing work and |
| it's had to live with--and unlike their Boomer parents, | | | | family life. What has surprised me the most is the |
| has no illusions about the future.Gen-Xers are...- Less | | | | difference in outlook between women my age, 27, and |
| status-conscious than their parents, Gen-Xers are not | | | | women just 10 years older," says Elizabeth McGuire, a |
| into show, they want re¬sults. Many Xers no | | | | graduate student at John Hopkins School of |
| longer view college as the only way to prepare for | | | | International Studies: "But most women I know who |
| vocations lead¬ing to rewarding careers. These | | | | are in their 20's are dissatisfied with [family-career] |
| sharp young people are becoming a significant | | | | alternatives. Concerned about infertility, many of us |
| economic and social force.- Boldly putting their own | | | | want to have children while we're young. And though |
| stamp on business. Launching hi-tech and other types | | | | many of the dual-career couples I know who have |
| of companies at a record clip, Gen-Xers are less tied | | | | nannies are wonderful parents and have successful |
| down by old notions of bureaucracy, and they're ready | | | | careers, it seems their relationships with each other |
| to try out their own management styles. Yet, they | | | | have suffered. While others debate whether day care |
| view financial prosperity as a by-product of a | | | | is harmful to children, we are more worried about |
| well-rounded life, not the main event.- Risk-takers. | | | | avoiding the frenetic pace these families seem to |
| Surveys find adversity, challenges, and the high risk of | | | | keep."In a word: Gen-Xers are unique. They don't do |
| failure, far from discouraging Gen-Xers, have produced | | | | things or look at the world the way their parents did, |
| a tough, even ruthless edge. Resilience, the willingness | | | | and they have to be approached and worked with |
| to abandon a losing project and try again, is | | | | accordingly.What This Means To YouMarketing and |
| fundamental.- Motivated to make a difference. | | | | selling to Generation X is a work in progress. That |
| Gen-Xers are attracted to careers that compel | | | | means you can take what you do best and creatively |
| interest and provide the challenge of competition. Thirty | | | | wing it based on what you know about this unique |
| years ago, Peter Drucker in The Ef¬fective | | | | mar¬ketplace. Declares motivational speaker and |
| Executive, wrote: "Doing the right thing is more | | | | author, Sue A. Hershkowitz, CSP, "Look for ways to |
| important than doing things right." Judging by the wave | | | | twist the familiar and success will beat a path to your |
| of successful Whiz Kids with neither formal business | | | | door."We say: Gen-Xers may not beat a path to your |
| edu¬cation nor conventional management training, | | | | door, but you can show them the way.Want More? |
| Drucker's message resonates.- Interested in good | | | | Send questions and comments to w..Bill Willard has |
| personal relationships. Embracing racial and cultural | | | | been writing high-impact marketing and sales training |
| diversity more genuinely and less self-consciously than | | | | for over 30 years-but as Will Rogers put it: "Even if |
| any generation before them, Xers are also more likely | | | | you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just |
| to be tuned-in to personal relationships and do business | | | | sit there." Through interactive, Web-based |
| with someone they like and believe to be competent | | | | "Do-While-Learning (TM) " programs, e-Newsletters |
| than with someone claim¬ing to be an "expert."- | | | | and straight-talking articles, Bill helps small-business |
| Delaying marriage and starting families. Maybe it's | | | | owners and independent professionals get the job |
| because they've seen so many Boomers end up in | | | | done: profitably improving performance, helping grow |
| divorce court, the so-called challenge of being single in | | | | your business, skipping expensive mistakes, making the |
| a couples-oriented world no longer squares with the | | | | journey to success faster, smoother, easier. And fun! |