The Care and Feeding of Your Millennial Leader
| Publication year | 2023 |
| Pages | 04 |
January, 2023
President's Message
BY J. RYANN PEYTON
If you were wondering, yes, I do screen your phone calls. It's not that I don't want to talk to you; I'd really love to connect. It's just that I would rather you text or email me first if you want to get in touch. I'm a millennial. In addition to my aversion to phone calls, I exhibit other expected millennial qualities, such as disdain for meetings that could have been emails, preference for virtual meetings, and a lack of patience for change.
While I fully accept and embody my millennial persona, I also recognize that a "millennial or bust" mentality isn't necessarily the best approach to leading a multigenerational bar association like the CBA. Still, we millennials aren't going anywhere. As more of us begin to lead organizations, we all need to be prepared to navigate the cross-generational pain points that are sure to arise. So, let's get to know millennials?how we lead and how we want to be led?to drive success in Colorado's multigenerational bar association.
Generational Divides
There are five generations currently "at work" in the United States today. While there's no official demarcation for generational boundaries, the Pew Research Center defines them as follows:[1]
• the silent generation (78 to 95 years old)
• baby boomers (59 to 77 years old)
• Generation X (43 to 58 years old)
Silent Generation 1928-1945
Baby Boomers 1946-1964
Gen X 1965-1980
Millennials 1981-1996
Gen Z 1997-2012
Gen Alpha 2013-Present
• millennials (27 to 42 years old)
• Generation Z (11 to 26 years old).
Millennials became the largest generation in the US labor force in 2016 and will remain so for quite some time.[2] Today, they account for about 35-40% of the workforce, followed by Gen Xers (about 30-35%) and boomers (about 20-25%).[3]
Perhaps the most profound distinction between all these generations is technology. The amount of technological development that has happened between the silent generation and Gen Z is so extensive that it has essentially created two entirely different life experiences. When baby boomers began work, for example, a computer at each desk wasn't commonplace. But millennials have never known a world without computers and Gen Z has never known a world without smart phones. It's not surprising...
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