The Millennial Question

I have yet to give a speech or have a meeting where somebody doesn't ask me the Millenial question what's the millennial question apparently Millennials as a generation which is a group of people who were born approximately 1984 and after are tough to manage and they're accused of being entitled and narcissistic self-interested unfocused lazy but entitled is the big one and and because they confound leadership so much what's happening as leaders are asking the Millennials what do you want and Millennials are saying we want to work in a place with purpose love that we want to make an impact you know whatever that means we want free food and bean bags and so somebody articulates some sort of purpose there's lots of free food and there's bean bags and yet for some reason they're still not happy and that's because you that they're missing there's a there's a missing piece what I've learned is that there I can break it down into four pieces right there are four four things four characteristics one is parenting the other one is technology third is impatience and the fourth is environment the generation that we call the Millennials too many of them grew up subject to not my words failed parenting strategies you know where for example they were told that they were special all the time they were told that they have anything they want in life just cuz they want it right they were told some of them got into honors classes not because they deserved it but because their parents complained and some of them got a is not because they earned them but because the teachers didn't want to deal with the parents some kids got participation medals they got a medal for coming in last right which the science we know is pretty clear which is it devalues the metal and the reward for those who actually work hard and that actually makes the person who comes in last feel embarrassed because they know they didn't deserve it so that makes me feel worse right so you take this group of people in the graduate school and they get a job and the thrust into an it into the real world and in an instant they find out they're not special their moms can't get them a promotion that you get nothing for coming in last and by the way you can't just have it because you want it right and in an instant their entire self image is shattered and so you have an entire generation that's growing up with lower self esteem than previous generations the other problem to compound it is we're growing up in a facebook Instagram world in other words we're good at putting filters on things we're good at showing people that life is amazing even though I'm depressed right and so everybody sounds tough and everybody sounds like they got it we'll figure it out and the reality is there's very little toughness and most people don't have it figured out and so when the more senior people say what we do they sound like this is what you got at it and they have no clue so you have an entire generation growing up with lower self-esteem than previous generations right through no fault of their own through no fault of their own right they were dealt a bad hand right now let's add in technology we know that engagement with social media and our cell phones releases a chemical called dopamine that's why when you get a text feels good right so you know we've all had it we you're feeling a little bit down or feeling a bit lonely and so you send out ten texts to ten friends you know high high high high high because it feels good when you get a response right right it's why we count the likes it's why we go back ten times to see if and if it's going if our my instagram is growing slower I would do something wrong do they not like me anymore right the trauma for young kids to be unfriended right because we know when you get it you get a hit of dopamine which feels good why we like it it's why we keep going back to it dopamine is the exact same chemical that makes us feel good when we smoke when we drink and when we gamble in other words it's highly highly addictive right we have age restrictions on smoking gambling and alcohol and we have no age restrictions and social media and cell phones which is the equivalent of opening up the liquor cabinet and saying to our teenagers hey by the way this adolescence thing if it gets you down but that's basically what's happening that's basically what's happening right that's basically what happened you have an entire generation that has access to an addictive numbing to chemical called dopamine through social media and cellphones as they're going through the high stress of adolescence why is this important almost every alcoholic discovered alcohol when they were teenagers when we're very very young the only approval we need is the approval of our parents and as we go through adolescence we make this transition where we now need the approval of our peers very frustrating for our parents very important for us that allows us to acculturate outside of our immediate families into the broader tribe right it's a highly highly stressful and anxious period of our lives and we're supposed to learn to rely on our friends some people quite by accident discover alcohol and numbing effects of dopamine to help them cope with the stresses and anxieties of adolescence unfortunately that becomes hardwired in their brains and for the rest of their lives when they suffer significant stress they will not turn to a person they will turn to the bottle social stress financial stress career stress that's pretty much the primary reasons why an alcoholic drinks right what's happening is because we're out allowing unfettered access to these dopamine producing devices and media basically it's becoming hardwired and what we're seeing is as they grow older they to many kids don't know how to form deep meaningful relationships their words not mine they will admit that many of their friendships are superficial they will admit that their friends that they don't count on their friends they don't rely on their friends they have fun with their friends but they also know that their friends will cancel out them that something better comes along deep meaningful relationships are not there because they never practice the skill set and worse they don't have the coping mechanisms to deal with stress so when significant stress starts to show up in their lives they're not turning to a person they're turning to a device they're turning to social media they're turning to these things which offer temporary relief we know the science is clear we know that people who spend more time on Facebook so far higher rates of depression than people who spend less time on Facebook write these things balanced alcohol is not bad too much alcohol is bad gambling is fun too much gambling is dangerous right there's nothing wrong with social media and cell phones it's the imbalance but if you're at dinner with your friends and you're texting somebody who's not there that's a problem that's an addiction if you're sitting in a meeting with people you're supposed to be listening to and speaking and you put your phone on the table face up or face down I don't care that sends the subconscious message to the room and you're not just just not that important to me right now right that's what happens and the fact that you cannot put it away it's because you are addicted right if you wake up and you check your phone before you say good morning to your girlfriend boyfriend or spouse you have an addiction and like all addiction in time it'll destroy relationships it'll cost time and it'll cost money and it'll make your life worse right so you have a generation growing up with lower self-esteem that doesn't have the coping mechanisms to do with stress stress right now you add in the sense of impatience right they've grown up in a world of instant gratification you want to buy something you go on Amazon it arrives the next day you want to watch a movie log on and watch your movie you don't check movie times you want to watch your TV show binge you don't even have to wait week to week to week right I know people who skip seasons just so they can binge at the end of the season right Instagram if occasion you want to go on a date you don't even have to learn how to be like you don't even have to learn and practice that skill you don't have to be the uncomfortable Intuit's is yes when you mean no one says no when you mean no but yes when you you have to swipe right bang I'm a stud right you don't have to learn the social coping mechanisms right everything you want you can have instantaneously everything you want instant gratification except job satisfaction and strength of relationships there ain't no app for that they are slow meandering uncomfortable messy processes and so I keep meeting these wonderful fantastic idealistic hard-working smart kids they've just graduated school they're in their entry-level job I sit down with them when I go how's it going they go I think I'm going to quit I'm like why they're like I'm not making an impact I'm like you've been here eight months it's as if they're standing at the foot of a mountain and they have this abstract concept called impact that they want to have in the world which is the summit what they don't see is the mountain I don't care if you go up the mountain quickly or slowly but there's still a mountain and so what this young generation needs to learn is patience that some things that really really matter like love or job fulfillment joy love of life self-confidence a skill set any of these things all of these things take time sometimes you can expedite pieces of it but the overall journey is arduous and long and difficult and if you don't ask for help and learn that skill set you will fall off the mountain or you will the worst case scenario the worst case scenario and we're already seeing it the worst case scenario is we're seeing increase in suicide rates we're seeing an increase in this generation we're seeing increase in accidental deaths due to drug overdoses we're seeing more and more kids drop out of school or take leaves of absence due to depression unheard of these are this is this is really bad the best case scenario the bet those are all bad cases right the best case scenario is you'll have an entire population growing up and going through life and just never really finding joy they'll never really find deep deep fulfillment in work or in life they'll just just walk through life and it'll GE just it's fine how's your job it's fine the same as yesterday how's your relationship it's fine like that's that's the best-case scenario which leads me to the fourth point which is environment which is we're taking this amazing group of young fantastic kids would just dealt a bad hand it's no fault of their own and we put them in corporate environments that care more about the numbers and they do about the kids they care more about the short-term gains than the long-term life of this young human being we care more about the year than the lifetime right and so we are putting them in corporate environments that aren't helping them build their confidence that aren't helping them learn the skills of cooperation that aren't helping them overcome the challenges of a digital world and finding more balance that isn't helping them overcome the need to have instant gratification and teach them the joys and impact in the fulfillment you get from working hard over on something for a long time that cannot be done in a month or even in a year and so with thrusting to them them in corporate environments and the worst part about it is they think it's them they blame themselves they can't they think it's them who can't deal and so it makes it all worse it's not I'm here to tell them it's not them it's the corporation's it's the corporate environments it's the total lack of good leadership in our world today that is making them feel the way they do they were dealt a bad hand it is and I hate to say it but it's the company's responsibility sucks to be you like we have no choice right this is what we got and I wish that society and their parents did a better job they didn't so we're gonna we're getting them in our companies and we now have to pick up the slack we have to work extra hard to figure out the ways that we build their confidence we have to work extra hard to find ways to teach them social the social skills that they're missing out on there should be no cell phones in conference rooms none zero and I don't mean the kind of like sitting outside waiting to text I mean like when you're sitting and waiting for a meeting to start nobody go this is what we all do we all sit here and wait for the meeting to start meaning starting okay we start the meeting no that's not how relationships are formed remember we talked about it's the little things relationships are formed this way we're waiting for a meeting to start we go how's your dad I heard he was in hospital oh he's really good thanks for asking he's actually iHome though oh I'm really glad it was really amazing I know it was really scary for well that's how you form relationships hey did you ever get that report on oh my god no I didn't I'll help you out I totally are can I help you out with that really that's how trust forms trust doesn't form at an event in a day even bad times don't form trust immediately it's the slow steady consistency and we have to create mechanisms where we allow for those little innocuous interactions to happen but when we allow cell phones and conference rooms we just okay I have the meeting and then my favorite is like when there's a cell phone there and you go like that you go it rings and go I'm not going to answer that mr. magnanimous you know when you're out for dinner with your friends like I do this with my friends when we're going out for dinner and we're leaving together we'll leave our cell phones at home who we calling maybe one of us will bring a phone in case we need to call an uber or take a picture of our meal there's the Fang come on I'm not I'm an idealist but I'm not insane I keep them I mean it looked really good we'll take one phone and so it's like an alcoholic the reason you take the alcohol out of the house this week is because we cannot trust our willpower we're just not strong enough but when you remove the temptation it actually makes it a lot easier and so when you just say don't check your phone people literally will go like this and somebody will go to the bathroom and what's the first thing we do because I wouldn't want to look around the restaurant for a minute and a half you know but if you don't have the phone you just kind of enjoy the world and that's where ideas happen the constant constant constant gage Minh is not where you have innovation and ideas ideas happen when our minds wander and we go and you see something uh I bet they could do that that's called innovation right but we're taking away all those little moments right you should not end none of us none of us should charge our phones by our beds we should be charging our phones in the living rooms right remove the temptation you wake up in the middle of night because you can't sleep you won't check your phone which makes it worse but if it's in the living room it's relaxed it's fine hiya but it's my alarm clock by an alarm clock they cost eight dollars I'll buy you in a while right but the point is the point is as we now in industry whether we like it or not we don't get a choice we now have a responsibility to make up the shortfall and to help this amazing idealistic fantastic generation build their confidence learn patience learn the social skills find a better balance between life and technology because quite frankly it's it's the right thing to do

Channel: Simon Sinek

Views: 1,203,163

Rating: 4.9095626 out of 5

Keywords: start with why, simon sinek, sinek, purpose, inspire, to inspire, inspiration, passion, career, fulfillment, personal development, professional development, marketing, leader, leadership, together is better, cell phones, technology, social media, addiction, mental health, education, millennial, millennials, employee engagement, thought leader, thought leadership, ted, ted talk, society, child, children

Id: vudaAYx2IcE

Length: 15min 25sec (925 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 30 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

This is one of the most profound videos I've ever watched. It really hit home for me. Thanks a lot for sharing; I need to go make some changes now.