Geeks, Geezers, and Googlization Show

A Baby Boomer walks into a room and finds 3 smart, hard-working Millennials sitting at a table. That's it. There is no joke. Sparks didn't fly. Attitudes didn't clash. The Millennials didn't ask to be CEO tomorrow. Ironically, these 3 twenty-something start-up entrepreneurs "hired" Baby Boomer Jon Carson, more than 3 ½ decades older and 2 generations removed, to be CollegeVine's first chief executive officer. Scenes like this - Baby Boomers and Millennials getting along - happen every day and are repeated thousands of times. We just don't read much about collaboration and cooperation between generations because as they used to say in the newspaper business, "if it bleeds, it reads." Millennial bashing makes a much better headline. So how does it work? What does CEO Jon Carson do differently that so many other managers and executives don't? What does it take to get Millennials and Baby Boomers (as well as other generations) to work side-by-side as partners, colleagues, and co-workers? Listen and learn!

In these VUCA (Volatile-Uncertain-Complex-Ambiguous) times, what's next seems to be top of everyone's mind these days from the coffee shop to the board room. So it seemed pretty obvious that when Dr. Liz Alexander and Geeks Geezers and Googlization host and TEDx Speaker Ira S Wolfe got together to discuss the future of work that what's next in leadership would kick off the conversation. Here are 3 take-aways from this podcast. The Ambiguity of Leadership Did you ever wonder why most descriptions of leadership begin with an adjective – authentic, visionary, transformational, or spiritual? Dr. Liz shared a recent situation where someone on LinkedIn posted a question to describe leadership in one word…and over 20,000 responses were recorded! The diversity of answers amplified the ambiguity of leadership. Therefore any discussion of what's next must start with a universal agreement about what leadership means to individuals and organization. She paraphrases Joel Barker's definition of leadership as one example – someone that you might choose to follow to reach a desired future you may not reach by yourself. The Future Demands a Different Resume Too often people conflate a title of leadership with the role. Many people with the title of let's say Vice-President may fill the box on an organizational chart but lack the ability to lead the business function. The problem with leadership today, says Dr. Liz, is that too many people are bound up by past notions of who is next in line rather than who is best qualified to lead. One example she offered was past leadership focused on the ability to solve problems. Today leadership requires the ability to decode dilemmas where there are no clear cut choices. Solving problems requires speed, analysis, and elimination of uncertainty. Dilemmas demand patience, sense-making, and an engagement with uncertainty. Leadership in the vision requires more than a mission to correct the wrongs of the past. It requires a vision of the future. 21st Century Critical Skills off Leadership Because a dilemma reached beyond the capability of any one individual or group, solutions require collaboration between co-workers, colleagues, and even the competition. That is just one of 6 leadership skills required to excel in a VUCA world. Jeff Hoffman, co-founder of Priceline, shared another which he calls info-sponging, a habit borne from curiosity. Other essential leadership skills for the 21st century include conscientiousness, creativity, critical thinking, and agility. What's the single most important single "nugget" you will learn? Listen now.

Purpose, vision, and mission often get bantered about in board rooms as if the words held magical powers. They don't. It's the passion and action behind those words that matter. During this podcast, my friend and colleague John Dame didn't waste any time tackling one of the biggest concerns we hear from executives and small business owners when we ask "what is the purpose of your business." The reaction we get suggests we are asking some sort of trick question like who's buried in Grant's tomb? Of course the purpose of business is to make money. Isn't it? Unfortunately for companies today that philosophy doesn't help attract enthusiastic customers or acquire and retain talent. "Few if any employees," John explained, "want to come to work for you to help you make money." When studying many of the most successful and sustainable companies, the one thing they have in common is that making a lot of money is the outcome of a great vision, purpose, focus, and clarity for what the future looks like. "If you just want people to come to work to make money," it will be more difficult to grow your business and attract and retain talent going forward. Has it always been this way? Does purpose seem to be more important today than it was just a few years ago? Are the Millennials responsible for this greater emphasis on purpose? For those answers you'll just have to listen! And to learn more about why finding and living your purpose will be more important than ever in an Age of Acceleration, download my free book preview and white paper When the Shift Hits Your Plan: What Happens When the Wired, Tired, and Technology Converge.

What does the future of work look like was the focus of a recent interview I had with Rick Anthony on his Entrepreneurs Network Radio show. Like most of our conversations, we started off with a discussion about the multi-generational workforce. And like we do so often it led off with a discussion of the Baby Boomers and Millennials. Rick started with, "What is the major shift you see occurring right now and where is it headed?" I'm not sure Rick got the answer he was expecting. Here's an edited version of my response: We typically classify generations by date of birth. I wrote a book about it and you and I have talked about it. So have a lot of other people. And whether it's the Baby Boomer, Generation X, or Millennial Generation, these cohorts span 15 or 20 years before another cohort is defined. During each time span trends change and events happen. Each generation is indelibly stamped by them. When I wrote Geeks, Geezers and Googlization and even more so after it was published, I started to see a shift in how we describe generations. It wasn't so much an age dependent demographic as much as it was maybe a technology dependent demographic. I've begun to look across those generational time spans and talk about more about the Wired and the Tired. For more, click here. We then moved onto to other related topics such as: Why do we have such a shortage of skilled workers if the Millennials and Gen Z are so wired.? What effect will robots, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) have on the work, jobs, and future generations of workers/ How career planning is becoming an activity filled with disappointment….but a better approach is available. And what one recommendation did I have for entrepreneurs and start-ups? More Resources: Video Accelerate Work: Why Human Need Not Apply TEDs Talk: Make Change Work for You White Paper/Book Preview: When the Shift Hits Your Plan

Whether you believe that change is going to impact your business 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years from now, Ira S Wolfe has some breaking news. There is something extraordinary happening. And many of us haven't noticed. We go about our business as usual while the environment in which we operate is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Whatever time frame you believe you have to adapt… cut reduce it by half. The future is happening much faster on a greater scale than ever before. That was his message during an interview with Curt Tueffert, VP of Sales Development at DXP Enterprises. As an example of how quickly things are changing, he mentioned that he wrote and published Geeks, Geezers, and Googlization in 2009, just 7 years ago. The oldest Millennials were under 30 and the youngest just became teenagers. And Steve Jobs hadn't yet unveiled the iPad yet while smartphones were in still their infancy. Today the oldest Millennials are 36 years old and the youngest are eligible to vote. There are 2,638 smartphones are sold, 24,733 apps are downloaded from the Apple store, and 3, 437,500 videos are viewed on YouTube…every 60 seconds! Watch this short video (https://vimeo.com/179740436) about other events that happen every minute! That's just the tip of the iceberg. While many organizations are still trying to figure out how to recruit, manage, and market to Millennials, Generation Z has entered in the workforce and college. Things are changing so fast and on such as scale, the U.S. military about 25 years ago realized it needed a new game plan. It came up with a pretty funny acronym to deal with it. They called it VUCA which stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. It's a brilliant assessment of the how unpredictable and fragile our world can be at times. Apparently I'm not alone in feeling that way because many organizations and businesses have adopted VUCA as their baseline of a new normal too. So how can management as well as individuals silence all the noise and get a clear direction and understanding of the immediate and not-so-distant future? First listen to this interview and then download When The SHIFT Hits Your Plan. (http://wp.me/P4nyWz-Sz) It's free!

Talent management is in a "state of confusion." Those were the words of Mike Haberman, a long term friend and colleague of mine. I respect Mike a lot and scheduled him for a very long overdue interview. One reason organizations struggle to attract and retain talent is that no one seems to be able to agree on the definition of talent. And if you can't identify it, how can you manage it? During this brief interview we covered a lot of territory from the current state of talent management to the biggest challenges facing HR. We probably raised more questions than answers but we did agree upon this: organizations hinge their growth and future success on talent management as the solution and yet the definition of talent is ambiguous and rarely agreed upon. Management, HR, recruiters and even employees have different descriptions and therefore different expectations. What's next for HR? What are the biggest challenges facing HR in the months and years to come? Listen now to HR expert Mike Haberman and workforce and hiring thought leader Ira S Wolfe the current state and future role of HR and talent management. You can follow Mike on Twitter @MikeHaberman and Ira Wolfe @hireauthority

DISC is one of the most popular assessment tools on the planet. Millions of people complete the assessment each year. And still it's often misunderstood and misused. Many participants in training and coaching describe their experience as "fun" and "informative" but then fail to apply its diverse and universal approach toward communicating with others. During this podcast DISC experts Ira S Wolfe and Jennifer Zamecki discuss "what is DISC" and how it can be used to build better teams, increase emotional intelligence, enhance customer service and even increase sales. A few of the topics that Ira and Jennifer discuss are: How the DISC Profile can be used to detect what "energizes" and "de-energizes" us How we can use DISC to build trust with others (or misuse it and lose credibility) Why it is one of the very best team building tools How DISC can identify people under stress and on the verge of job burnout Why DISC is not an emotional skill test but it is an essential tool to help increase emotional intelligence And much more. Don't forget to download the bonus slides about DISC and follow along as Ira and Jennifer discuss the ABC's of DISC.

Bashing Millennials has become a national pastime. Older generations watch and wonder who invaded the souls of nearly 80 million American youth...along with hundreds of millions worldwide. As Rick Anthony from The Anthony Group shares in this podcast, "{management seems to fear] the Millennials, almost like they are aliens who have come from another planet." Millennial James Goodnow, an attorney with Fennemore Craig and the youngest partner to ever be selected for its management team, takes a slightly different view…and offers some advice to managers: "There's nothing about the DNA of a Millennial that is different from a Gen Xer or Baby Boomer." Chavaz Kingman from AYF Consulting shares his opinions that resonate loud and clear with many Baby Boomers. He feels that too many Millennials expect to be rewarded for doing their job "when it's really just as basic as brushing your teeth." What may surprise you about Chavaz … well you'll just have to listen to what he has to say. So what happens when aging Baby Boomers and up-and-coming Millennials are immersed into a sea of rapidly changing technology? Well, it's time to click "play" and start listening. Enjoy! A special thank you goes out to all our special guests: Rick Anthony, The Anthony Group James Goodnow, Fennemore Craig Chavaz Kingman, AYF Consulting Steve Schulz, Business2Business Magazine Jim Shaffer from The Shaffer Group It is our hope that you'll share this podcast with your colleagues, clients, and friends as well as post your comments and experiences about living and working in a converging world of the Tired, Wired, and Technology.

Most everyone recognizes that technology is changing the way we work and the pace of change is accelerating ...except when it comes to how companies recruit and hire employees. It seems that many companies are sitting back and expecting change to stand still until they have the time and feel the urge to react. Unfortunately that's never happened...and likely never will. Many businesses are getting trampled when it comes to recruiting, especially Millennials. The disconnect between new technology and adaptation within the recruiting and HR fields is widening. In this 3 minute excerpt from an interview on Rob McKay's Tips for Hiring Podcast, Millennial Generation and hiring expert Ira S Wolfe explains how the pace of change is leaving many companies scrambling for workers. You can also watch this video, recorded during a recent presentation.

85 percent of Americans ages 18-29 (Millennials) are smartphone owners. For many of them, the recruiting pitch lobbed to Millennials is so far outside the strike zone, the candidates just step back and vanish. If your company wants to be reach Millennials, it's essential that you walk in the shoes of a young job candidate. In recruiting speak…If you want to attract young top talent, it's crucial to optimize your career site and join the Millennial world of mobile. This podcast is a 3 1/2 minute excerpt of an interview Ira S Wolfe had with Rob McKay on Tips for Hiring (New Zealand). You can also read more about recruiting and hiring Millennials here.