'Thinkfluencer' Simon Sinek Rants About Whiny Millennials In The Workplace
Millennials, it seems, are a prime target for anyone to take a shot at, whether they're being blamed for being entitled, selfish and narcissistic, whiny, spoiled, or just lazy. Any derogatory thought you want to throw their way appears to be fair game.
If you're a millennial this will no doubt, and rightfully, cause you to feel infuriated and unfairly blamed for the world's problems. After all, isn't it the baby boomers' fault anyway for buying up all the housing stock and taking all the good jobs? Or maybe its generation X who are a bunch of slackers and so didn't fulfil their role as a generation?
Of course all of this is highly subjective and a somewhat futile blame game that gets us all nowhere. But that matters not to Simon Sinek. Sinek calls himself a "thinkfluencer" and in this episode of Inside Quest takes generation Y to task. For many of the reasons stated above and more.
He begins by posing the questions of “Why are Millennials tough to manage?" in the workplace. He then breaks down what he thinks has gone wrong into four categories, which he calls parenting, technology, impatience, and environment.
To begin with, he says, too many millennials grew up with failed parenting strategies, which seems to find its epitome in the so-called "participation medals." Medals given not for winning but just for taking part. This, Sinek claims, along with similar ways of rewarding for doing nothing extraordinary, has caused low self esteem, because when these people go out into the real world and realise that you don't always get something just for taking part, their confidence is shattered.
Couple this with the demands and neediness of social media, and it causes even greater loss of confidence, and so millennials feel deflated and defeated.
Sinek says this all in the opening three minutes, the whole thing is 15 minutes long so Sinek has plenty more to rant about.
It's intriguing but also a belittling and rather sweeping way to think of an entire generation—and it all sounds a bit like he isn't offering any solutions just more criticism.
What do you think, is he right or wrong?
