Just a thought.

I disagree that generalization is a positive, though. You can have universal experiences but unique responses. Putting things into context can help adjust expectations, of course….

It just seems lazy to paint everyone with the same wide brush. I've talked to many annoying Gen Y'ers with an overgrown sense of entitlement and an inability to put down their Crackberry (or Crackbook), but I've also met and talked to young, focused, humble people who put my talents and ideas to shame.

Saying all Gen Y'ers are reward-addicted simpletons is like saying all boomers are tech-resistent albatrosses. Easy to generalize if you've had a bad experience with one, but not applicable to everyone in that demographic.

Salary Transparency: Not too sure of your thoughts on this as I did not get to a blog entry on the subject.

I think it is fair to say that the prime reasons for the astronomical, completely unjustified increase in CEO salary is that publicly traded companies have had to publish salaries of the their top people for, what, 30 or so years. I have read that compensation consultants hired by boards looking to replace their CEO research the salaries paid in that industry. They come back with examples from similarly sized companies and suggest that, to get a good person, they will want to offer salary and benefits in the top 25% of this range. It does not take a mathematical genius to see that the net result will be spiralling compensation.

I work[ed] in a small financial planning shop. There are the two principals, me and two assistants. It is true, that by not quantifying quality (which I have inferred is required in a system of transparent compensation), the bosses were held hostage by one of the assistants who continually asked for a raise. They acquiesced until they were required to let her go because they could no longer afford her.

I think transparency can (and will) result in equal pay over similar job responsibilities which will inhibit hard work and initiative. In many small offices, advancement is difficult if not impossible – there is no greater position to aspire to. If the pay scale is the same over similar positions, there is nothing to gain by working harder or smarter. You can give greater award to those who are deemed to be more productive. But, this can be a very hard thing to explain to someone in a similar position who has an unrealistic view of their worth. So, the harried executive who does not want to deal with whining employees will, when salaries are known, tend to pay everyone the same – i.e. you have a union type shop; there is no incentive to work harder.

Generations: I was born in 1949 and the Generation Placement Test put me in Generation Jones. Very interesting as I always thought of myself as a late B[l]oomer. I never really felt that I belonged with the Boomers, did not have the ambition that many developed after living in that hippy commune. I did not relate to The Big Chill, but loved the Return of the Secaucus Seven.

I had never heard of Generation Jones until today, but did run into some from that group. In 1975, I was teaching a practicum to a grade nine class. When I mentioned my age, one of them lit up, saying that 1949 was the very best year to have been born. He then rhymed off my age at the time of some of the great cultural/historical events of the modern era – advent of rock and roll, assassination of JFK, the Beatles, Haight Asbury, Woodstock. I thought: how sad that he believes he has missed all of these, that, it appeared, the best times were over and he had nothing to look forward to.

Publishing a Book: I am not exactly sure why I would like to publish a book. Perhaps it would be to show how wrong my first year English prof was to fail me. Perhaps it would validate me in someway… of course I thought that I would be elated and proud the first time I was paid for my writing and it turned out to be anticlimactic… I have no great ideas and cannot write fiction. I have been, over many years, creating micro stories from my life. Most of them are between 800 and 1,000 words; the longest, about 4,000.

I tried a blog, uploaded one of my better stories, went through the process of registering at Google and waited. No visitors, but me. There was nothing when I Googled words from the blog. The crawler had not registered the site. So much for that. Perhaps it had to do with my low score on the Generation Placement Test,

Job Hopping: I cannot find it now, but somewhere you had a piece about not being concerned about slow starting offspring. You mention twentysomethings who job hop and often end up back at home. You reassure parents that this is normal and nothing to worry about.

You accurately describe my 20s….OK and part of my 30s (hence, perhaps, my lack of affinity to the Boomers). At age 46, I had just left the longest job I had ever had. I had been there four years. Longest before that was 3 yrs 8 months full time followed by 4 months of part time. Before that, it was 20 months and before that, I did not remain at a job for more than a year and several were for only a few months (this during my wandering phase when I would take high paying labour jobs in work camps to make money to travel or to return to school).

At, oh say, 53, I was describing myself as boringly content. Family life was great and my work life was both professionally and financially rewarding. A year or so later, I realised that I was just plain bored and for several years now, I have been in a Peggy Lee funk (“Is that all there is?”). At times, I long to start over at 25 with the wisdom that I have now and see what life would have been like if I had chosen a career and stuck to it. Don’t get me wrong, I have had some great experiences and more careers than some people have had cars, but I just wonder what it would have been like to develop a true expertise, a recognised talent.

You: When I was reading your bio, I was reminded of colleague/friend who thinks a lot like me, but is very different. She attacks life, sets goals and goes after them. She works hard, but has accomplished many things. I am the complete opposite. I have, more or less, let the river of life take me where it is going. This sounds very passive and I am in many respects, but I feel the river is taking me where I am supposed to go. Attacking life never seems to have worked for me. I love Springsteen’s line “like a river that don’t know where it is flowing, I took a wrong turn and just kept on going” Well, I am not sure that I took a wrong turn, but I have been going with the flow pretty well all of my life.

I have not read enough to determine if you are in the group of pop gurus that I have had to suffer at various conferences, the ones who are going to tell me how to lead my life, how to reach true happiness. So far, I like what you say about a number of things. Like your bio and, well, from your photo, I would judge that you are a babe… of course ugly people do not have speaking careers and popular blogs. I may get your book and hope not to be disappointed. I suspect that you do not have much to say to me about life, career and such (I am more or less semi-retired and spending most of my time on volunteer boards), but I think I may like reading your stuff.

I have a sense, though, of yo-yo-ing back and forth between the generalizations and the individuality: I am a grain of sand on a vast beach, and yo-yo-bingo! I am alone, an individual, sometimes lonely and isolated.

But rising from the sometimes lonely individuality comes a spark of creativity, sometimes. Personally, I don't experience the spark of creative problem-solving when I am feeling a part of a generation–only when I am feeling individual and alone.

So, swinging back and forth from the general to the particular is my experience. Each has its rewards.

CAK

You say: "But we believe that we (individually) can win one. We think we have a pretty damn good shot."

I suppose believing one has a pretty damn good shot comes from believing in the concept of potential. In that respect I think you will like PT's post titled "Living up to your potential is BS". :-)

When you have untangled the logical quagmire between this post and that one, please do leave a comment here for me (perhaps also Maus). Thanks.

Yesterday, however I was really frustrated because I had to call someone and she didn't have a signature line with contact information at the bottom of their e-mail. I mentioned it to an older co-worker and she said, "I think signature lines are annyoing. What'd you do with her business card?" As if I knew! I think business cards are annyoing, if all you really have to do is search the person's name in your e-mail. Maybe I am a bit more Gen Y than I thought.

And I also had my own business, of sorts, when I was 14. I mowed lawns, cleaned gutters and window wells, and did other odd jobs. Not very impressive to be sure, especially to the likes of Ben, but a business nonetheless.