Bridging the Gap

I’m a black millennial businessman.

In today’s time, sadly there is a huge gap of knowledge, respect, morals and values between these three generations: Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers. Together these three generations make up the bulk of today’s workforce/society. 

During a business meeting with a peer and his mother, the topic of why it’s so hard for Millennials to come together, network and support each other arose. This was very shocking to say the least for “mom.” While we were discussing coming up with a business plan and contemplating which individuals we knew from college, growing up, or work that could help with different aspects of the business plan, my peer and I had to explain why reaching out for help would be a difficult task. 

Millennials have grown up in a technological era, a time which is mostly spent on social media outlets, television, video games, computers etc. to name a few. Therefore, millennials tend to be short term focused, with a short attention span. Also, Millennials have been shielded from a lot of what Generation X and Baby Boomers had to go through and overcome in order to provide a better life and future for generations to come. We, “Millennials,” didn’t grow up helping each other with work, when we were sick, food when times were hard, building relationships, or community events. Millennials are a generation of “benefits.” Meaning, if you need my help or expertise what’s in it for me mentality. It has to be profitable or a Millennial will not help. There’s no such thing as a favor, scratch my back I’ll scratch yours, or building something together from the ground up. 

These different perspectives create potential risks to productive work environments and relationships amongst each other or just building with one another. The values and morals of Generation X and Baby Boomers needs to be bridged with Millennials in order to break the mindset that could possibly hinder or continue to cause backwards movement. These three generations need one another more than most believe. This is a reason why Millennials aren’t getting married nor having children as much as Generation X and Baby Boomers as well. Generations to come will only digress if our generations don’t take the time to teach and learn from one another.

Without knowledge, there is no power.