It's the Millenials'​ Fault

By Wesley Middleton

​​Here we go again and I am just going to pile it on. Once again the Millennial generation is at fault. Yes, it is all on YOU! I know you are probably sick and tired of hearing how this Millennial generation is to blame, but it is so true. They did these two things, they asked for it, so pin it on them.

​Always Asking Why

First, they always ask why. Always. About everything. So now Gen Xers like myself are having to examine every part of our lives- our career, our hobbies and our families and ask ourselves, why? They have put the spotlight on purpose. Why am I doing this? Why does my company exist, and what is their purpose? Why? It has gone as far as a book (really many, at this point) about this very question! “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek. Yes, a book about nothing but WHY and purpose. And that is just one example. From books,  we move on to the Ted Talks, full of conversations and presentations about purpose and why. What have we come to in this generation? So focused on our purpose! Who ever heard of such silliness? No longer can I just show up and punch the clock, I now have to have a purpose? Geez. That’s too hard.

Seriously Millennials?

Of course the Bible does give us our purpose and commission in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” I guess there may be something to this whole purpose and why thing. I may even have to get involved in my church and my community. All because of the Millennials.

Focused on the Experience

And then the second thing. Their feelings. How they experience things. I mean, who ever heard of examining how others experience what we do or say? You are saying I should put myself in your shoes and understand what you go through? What? The experience of buying a product, the experience at church, how I experience your service and how do I experience and relate to your brand. Just one more thing for the Millennials to focus and shine the light on all because they are so concerned with the experience of things. Why can’t I just be an accountant and deliver tax returns? I have to now be concerned with how you experience that AND what my purpose is?

This is just terrible. Making us focus on client service, making us examine how the community experiences our existence and then to top it all off, making us get feedback from our employees? Why are you doing this to us? This is just too much change and too much work. I think I am just going to start talking about how entitled you are so that it takes the focus off of this purpose and experience stuff and then I can just go back to my little world and stop growing.

Keep Growing
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Of course, what I really have to say is, thank you. Thank you Millennials for bringing the WHY, PURPOSE and EXPERIENCE to the forefront. It is because of you that things are changing. Keep it up. 

Wesley Middleton is the managing partner at MRZ LLP, a Houston, Texas-based accounting firm voted Best Place to Work by the Houston Business Journal. Wesley is the author of Violent Leadership (Forbes Books, 2017) and is represented by PumpJack Speakers Bureau. To book Wesley for your event, email Wesley.Middleton@PumpJack.me or click here.