Monday, August 12, 2013

What 20-year olds don't get

I don't like generalizations, especially when it comes to leadership situations. Stereotypes and generalizations may be an OK way to say how a group at large looks, but the reality is that everyone is an individual, and as a leader you work with individuals, not groups.

That being said, there is a lot of truth in this article from Forbes, called "20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don't Get."

My three favorites were right in a row:

Pick Up the Phone – Stop hiding behind your computer. Business gets done on the phone and in person.  It should be your first instinct, not last, to talk to a real person and source business opportunities.  And when the Internet goes down… stop looking so befuddled and don’t ask to go home.  Don’t be a pansy, pick up the phone.

Be the First In & Last to Leave ­– I give this advice to everyone starting a new job or still in the formative stages of their professional career.  You have more ground to make up than everyone else around you, and you do have something to prove.  There’s only one sure-fire way to get ahead, and that’s to work harder than all of your peers.

Don’t Wait to Be Told What to Do – You can’t have a sense of entitlement without a sense of responsibility.  You’ll never get ahead by waiting for someone to tell you what to do.  Saying “nobody asked me to do this” is a guaranteed recipe for failure.  Err on the side of doing too much, not too little.