Once and for All, Millennials Are NOT All Alike

My friend John Graham, who runs the American Society for Association Executives (ASAE)---yes the association for associations—likes to say, “If you’ve seen one association, you’ve seen one association.” By that he means no two trade associations are the same. And that’s how we feel about Millennials.

It’s tempting to lump all the young people in today’s workforce as all the same—smart, tech savvy, but somewhat narcissistic, entitled, apathetic and addicted to their devices and social media. Sure that may apply to some members of NextGen, but it’s dangerous to stereotype an entire cohort, just like it is for young people to pigeonhole all Boomers as tech-challenged, materialistic workaholics.

Spencer Stuart’s James Citrin, author of The Career Playbook, makes the common mistake of lumping all Millennials into the same bucket, although we give him props for advising parents of Millennials not to relive their own career dreams (and mistakes) through their kids.

Our Take: If you’re hiring young adults or trying to land them as clients, you won’t be very successful if you take a one-size-fits-all approach to understanding them. You need to treat them as unique individuals—just as you do with members of older generations—and recognize that each young person , has unique strengths, weaknesses, aspirations and skills—just like any of your other candidates and client.

As Farhad Manjoo recently noted in the New York Times, “If your management or marketing theories involve collapsing all millennials into a catchall anthropological category — as if you’re dealing with space aliens or some newly discovered aboriginal tribe that’s suddenly invaded modernity — you’re doing it wrong.”

According to Laszlo Bock, Google’s director of human resources interviewed by Manjoo, “What we’ve seen is that every single generation enters the work force and feels like they’re a unique generation, and the generation that’s one or two ahead of them looks back and says, ‘Who are these weird, strange kids coming into the work force with their attitudes of entitlement and not wanting to fit in?’” Bock said. “It’s a cycle that’s been repeated every 10 to 15 years for the last 50 years.”

I recently interviewed Patrick Leclerc, head of the Canadian Urban Transit Association who frequently appears on 40-Under-40 lists.  “Every time I go to a conference I hear about Millennials—no offense—from Boomers citing studies done about the Millennials by other Boomers about what Millennials want in the workplace, what drives them and what their aspirations in life are,” said Leclerc. “We don’t very often give the microphone to Millennials ask them directly, what’s important to you in life? What do you expect in the workplace from an employer?  That’s what we’re doing at CUTA.”

Our blog and website have more about this and related topics.

Conclusion

Borrow a page from Leclerc and Mahatma Gandhi, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”

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TAGS: Millennials not all the same, James Citrin, Farhad Manjoo, Laszlo Bock, John Graham, NextGen in the workplace

TV Not Going Away, but Viewers Multi-Tasking

TV Not Going Away, but Viewers Multi-Tasking
Don’t be fooled by rosy stock market and economic indicators  

Sixty percent of U.S. consumers still want to watch their shows on TV, but these same consumers also want their smartphones and tablets by their side, according to a new report from KPMG International. Sunday’s Super Bowl telecast/advertising fest will likely bear that out.

Researchers said that 42 percent of U.S. consumers say they watch TV and access the Internet via a laptop or PC, while one in six (17%) watch TV and access the Web via a smartphone. The study also found that more than one in five (22%) watch TV and use a social networking site at the same time.

In a prepared statement, Paul Wissmann, national leader of KPMG's U.S. Media & Telecommunications practice, said: "The introduction of smart TVs is an indication of how the digital transition is accelerating to coincide with the demand of today's consumers to access anything, anywhere and at any time. The smart TV is beginning to reveal itself as the next disruptor."

The study said that one in seven (14%) U.S. consumers polled prefer to watch TV via their mobile or tablet for greater flexibility--mostly coming from what the report called "mobile-centric consumers" 25-34 years old.

Our Take: What may surprise many B2B marketers is that urban consumers in China, Brazil and Singapore are proving to be bigger consumers of digital/mobile media than in the U.S. and they also tend to have higher rates of smartphone/mobile device ownership.

Whether you use conventional TV, mobile or video as part of your marketing arsenal there is no one-size fits all solution. Just like consumers, your clients and prospects have more choices than ever for consuming, engaging and sharing their information. Whether they’re 25-34 or 55-64, you need to take a holistic approach to reaching them.

As our good friend John Graham, president of the American Society of Association Executives is fond of saying, “They want it when they want it in the format they want.”

And if you don’t give it to them “how they want it” they’ll go somewhere else who can.

Macro View

The major stock indices are at or near their highest levels since 2007 and coming off their longest consecutive daily winning streaks since 2004. Initial jobless claims hit a 5-year low last week and spending on residential construction is growing at a faster rate than at any time since 1994.

Today’s meeting of the Fed policy-making committee indicated that the Fed will likely continue buying bonds to hold down borrowing costs since the economy remains weak.

So we’re all good right?

Sorry to make your champagne go flat, but recent surveys of investor sentiment have shown a big uptick. Come again? The American Association of Individual Investors reported that half (46%) of its members felt bullish, up nearly eight percentage points from a week earlier—and well above the long-term average of 39 percent. By contrast, only one in four (27%) felt bearish as of Jan. 9, a nine-point improvement from the previous week. As the Wall Street Journal reported recently, that ain’t good for investors who are historically poor readers of peer sentiment.

Here’s why. In the past, increasing ebullience has portended poor future returns. For example, in the 12 months leading up to October 2007, when the market hit its peak, investors put $207 billion into U.S. stock mutual funds and ETFs, according to investment-research firm Morningstar. On the other hand, in the year before the market bottom in March 2009, they took out $44 billion.

So despite the firm economic indicators we pointed out above—which should be good news for your clients’ and prospects’ businesses—they’re most likely investors in the financial markets. If we have the correction that many pundits expect, they’ll be feeling less likely to spend on their businesses when they’re feeling less flush about their portfolios, retirement accounts and college savings plans.
In other words, things are looking promising, but no one’s ready to exhale.

Conclusion


The stars are never going to be in perfect alignment to make completely worry free decisions about investments, capital expenditures, advertising and hiring. If you’re a marketer, you’ve got to keep the lead pipeline full at all times.

Rob Ingraham, EVP of Global Exchange Events told us today he started his company in 2010 when the trade association business was in the depths of the recession. His firm, which facilitates meetings between vendors and suppliers has been doubling every year, and is on pace to do so again. “A downturn not when you take and hide; it’s when you have a great opportunity to go after market share.”

You don’t need to spend recklessly, but you do need to spend. Trying to time the demand cycle is about as easy as timing the financial markets—or buying gas for your car one gallon at a time when you feel the price is right. Sooner or later you’ll run dry—usually at a very bad time in a very bad place.

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