Me-Me-Me-Me-Me

Well, over in The Boston Globe the other day, Jake Halpern was talkin' 'bout Me Generation. Halpern's (d.o.b., 1975) take on the young folks is interesting, and definitely worth a read in full. Basically, he notes that the "entitled generation", now coming into the workforce, is viewed as - and may well be - narcissistic, entitled, and impatient with standing on protocol. He goes no to make the point that these characteristics may, in fact, be the ones that America needs to have in order to produce the one thing that appears to be left open to us in terms of work: entrepreneurship.

First up, the Me Generation

Yes, I know that the "survey says" that those born after 1970 rate pretty high on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). The reason, according to San Diego State psych professor Jean Twenge is that

...these young people were raised on a daily regimen of praise and flattery from their baby boomer parents and from teachers who embraced a self-esteem-boosting curriculum that included activities like the Magic Circle game. Never heard of it? In this game, one child a day is given a badge that says "I'm great." The other children then take turns praising the "great" child, and eventually these compliments are written up and given to the child for posterity. This constant reinforcement, argues Twenge, is largely responsible for those young co-workers who drive you nuts.

No doubt, the Baby Boomers have gone overboard in ensuring that the next generation does not just believe that, like the kids in Lake Woebegone, they're above average, but well above average. Maybe even well above that. But, God knows, I could have used a bit of Magic Circle in my childhood.

And where are all these fine young narcissists? When I run through the people I know who were born after 1970, I can't really come up with one who I would categorize as a super-entitled, narcissistic a-hole. (Well, maybe one.) Mostly, they're hard working, earnest, looking for and finding interesting work and something to do with their lives, and looking for and finding companions to share their lives with. They're going to grad school, getting jobs, not getting jobs, changing jobs, getting their hearts broken, getting married, buying condos, and having babies. In other words, they don't strike me as that altogether different than anyone else who's ever lived.

Is it possible that I only know the retro-duds of their generation? I don't think so.

And it's certainly no surprise if younger people would enter the workforce wanting to do it on their own terms. What the hell? They're aware enough to know that for most of their parents generation, having a job was no guarantee of security. That "The Man" would send your job to Bangalore as soon as look at you. Maybe sooner. That they're not going to "enjoy" a nice fat pension from anywhere.

I have to say I probably wouldn't be particularly enamored of the guy in Halpern's article quoted as saying:

"'I have no problem knocking on the door and walking into the CEO's office or the CTO's office on a whim – interrupting their schedule – and saying, 'I need to talk to you.''"

This sounds just colossally rude to me. (And just when did us Baby Boomers make the shift from bright young things to grumpy old farts? I wasn't even aware that the shift was happening, but it sure has.) But then we learn that this same guy has brought in some high ticket business, and that his company actually likes him just fine.

The Old Guard Weighs In

And then there are those who feel that

...it may be that this much-reviled generation will revitalize the economy and ensure the prosperity of America for years to come. Painful as it sounds, in the not-too-distant future, we may owe a debt of gratitude to these narcissists.

Halpern cites one Michael Maccoby,

...who argues that that businesses that rely on innovation, new technology, and globalization require far bolder leaders who can take risks, shrug off conventional wisdom, project confidence, formulate hyper-ambitious plans, and charm the pants off investors and underlings alike, so that they, too, will make a leap of faith and believe in the next cold-fusion-powered car or the iPod that pays your bills and runs your household.

MIT Sloan School of Management professor Edward Roberts reinforces Macoby's point, going way out there. "'From my perspective, we have nothing left to the US economy other than start-ups and entrepreneurship.'"

Thanks, Ed. Obviously, if all that we're going to have left is "start-ups and entrepreneurship", we're going to need people with vision, confidence, and chutzpah.

But my question is, is it possible to have an economy the size of ours in which everybody is an entrepreneur? Or are we really heading in the direction where the only avenue to success runs down "Brand Me" Lane? Where we will have the handful of Me Generation phenoms living in gated communities, and all the rest of "the kids" - the ones who didn't quite get the message that all they had was their personal brand, and if they didn't invent something that caught on they were doomed - clamoring outside the electronic moat yelling, "What about me?"