Concurrents: Refuse to Act Your Age

Bill Wittland

It appears there is no shortage of consultants and/or organizations ready to profile for you the distinctive needs of Gen Z, the most current generational profile to come into focus, and then to extrapolate those needs into suggestions for how to cater to Gen Z or market to Gen Z or impress Gen Z. And this is just the latest focus. 

There was a time when the primary target was the Baby Boomers, then came the Gen X category, then the Millennials. Use your favorite AI application to get a version of a breakdown of the traits and attributes of each of these generational categories. ChatGPT can even suggest some less-than-funny, dad-like jokes about each one. Some would say that today the U. S. is composed of up to eight co-existing generations, an increase from the five that were identified for many decades. Japan, China, and Europe, according to some who study these phenomena, have as many as nine. All of this results from a sequential model of life, the idea that everyone moves through a series of distinct life stages that determine their outlooks, preferences, behaviors, and lifestyle choices. Therein lies the problem. 

These generational profiles are largely stereotypes, loosely based on trend observations and generalized conclusions. It is an easy task to locate the exceptions and outliers to each generational category, and sometimes those outliers represent a large enough group to render the generational stereotypes themselves relatively useless. For example, there are plenty of people in their 60s whose outlooks and preferences reflect Millennials. There are also not a few Gen Z folks who resemble far more closely a late-stage Baby Boomer. You get the idea. It becomes relatively dangerous to rely too heavily on generational stereotypes. 

This sequential model of life is itself, however, coming into serious question. Along comes Gina Pell and her focus on the Perennial Mindset. From a piece she authored for Forbes magazine in 2017, Ms. Pell suggests that we should think more in terms of mindsets rather than age or generational categories. Perennials are people who embrace lifelong learning, are deeply curious about the world, and who refuse to be defined by traditional generational categories like age. Perennials are seen as a diverse group of people who value personal and interpersonal growth, are tech-savvy with an appetite for what’s new, and who engage with culture in a way that defies all those generational stereotypes. They challenge the conventional marketing practice of categorizing people primarily by their age or generation (e.g., Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z) and instead suggest that shared values, common interests, and core preferred behaviors should be the basis for understanding groupings of people. Makes sense, right? 

This shift toward mindsets may be creating what Mauro GuillĂ©n calls a “post-generational revolution.” GuillĂ©n has just published The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating A Post Generational Society, and he advocates for abandoning a dependence on generational categories and stereotypes and instead embracing multi-generational activities such as continuous learning, the unrestricted pursuit of new ideas, and the exploration of broader horizons for our interactions and our lives. 

GuillĂ©n calls for intergenerational mindsets and structures that blend people not by age or generation, but instead by diverse outlooks, varied skillsets, and different visions. He even sites companies who have intentionally blended generations within the workplace to leverage the value of their collective and varying attributes and worldviews. There are some great stories about the factory floor at the BMW manufacturing plant in Bavaria and their success with integrating generations of workers. Being a perennial and embracing an intergenerational mindset certainly seems a more accurate way of thinking about and assessing our current population composition, and GuillĂ©n’s book thoughtfully and approachably uncovers the multiple and powerful forces that have driven these changes we are experiencing. 

What might all this mean for the design of our workplaces? There may be at least four general guiding principles. 

First, it is likely a good idea to move away from a heavy reliance on generational profiling. There have been enough books, workshops, and consultant practices about the latest insights into Gen Z or Millennials or whichever. Designing workplaces primarily to support the specific traits and personality profiles of generational categories seems the surest way to create soon-to-be dysfunctional and inadequate spaces. 

Second, in place of generational distinctions, workplace design should focus on the traits and attributes of the actual people who will occupy and use those spaces. Transcend the categories of age and the corresponding stereotypes and instead focus on the issues embodied by the actual users… their outlooks on tools and comfort, their preferences for communication media, their aesthetic sensibilities, their needs for blending concentrated work with collaborative activities, and the list goes on. Get to know real users, not supposed generations. These focal points would seem a far more useful set of design criteria, far less prone to creating workplaces based on failing stereotypes. 

Third, deliberately design the workplace to be home to intergenerational combinations and cultures. The diversity sought by so many corporations and organizations should start with creating spaces that welcome a variety of generational mindsets; not age groups, mind you, but mindsets. A workplace that is designed to accommodate a diversity of mindsets will be a stronger starting point for welcoming a truly intergenerational work force, one that will represent a broader and deeper cross-section of the best and most creative thinking and work outcomes. 

Finally, the designers of the most high-performance and humanly pleasant workplaces will be quick to ignore any outlook that paints the work force with an excessively large brush. Be skeptical of any stereotypical profiles that narrow and confine. An intergenerational and expansive mindset will power the strongest work. 

A Disclaimer: All these observations emerge from a person with a body and mind that are seven decades old, but a persistent and inescapable conviction that we are all still discovering new insights into who we are and how we can best be together and flourish in our work.