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The Fourth Turning Players: A summary

From a Wikipedia entry re Strauss and Howe's book, The Fourth Turning. A summary of the four generational archetypes. I'm a nomad. :)

• Prophets are values-driven, moralistic, focused on self, and willing to fight to the death for what they believe in. They grow up as the increasingly indulged children of a High, come of age as the young crusaders of an Awakening, enter midlife as moralistic leaders during an Unraveling and are the wise, elder leaders of the next Crisis. The Boomers are an example of a Prophet generation.

• Nomads are ratty, tough, unwanted, diverse, adventurous, and cynical about institutions. They grow up as the underprotected children of an Awakening, come of age as the alienated young adults of an Unraveling, become the pragmatic, midlife leaders of a Crisis and age into tough, post-crisis elders during a High. Generation X and the Lost Generation are examples of Nomad generations.

• Heroes are conventional, powerful, and institutionally driven, with a profound trust in authority. They grow up as the increasingly protected children of an Unraveling, come of age as the Heroic, team-working youth of a Crisis, become energetic and hubristic mid-lifers during a High and become the powerful elders who are attacked in the next Awakening. The G.I. Generation that fought World War II is an example of a Hero generation. Millennials are expected to emerge as the next generation of this example.

• Artists are subtle, indecisive, emotional and compromising, often having to deal with feelings of repression and inner conflict. They grow up as the over-protected children of a Crisis, come of age as the sensitive young adults of a High, rebel as indecisive midlife leaders during an Awakening, and become the empathic elders of an Unraveling. The Silent Generation is an example of an Artist generation.

Homeland Babes: The newest generation

The newest generation is here ... and they're just entering kindergarten and first grade now, so the assumption goes.

Meet The Homeland Generation. Though they're beginning birth years have yet to be conclusively decided, I suspect their generation will start in 2001 or 2002, when things, um, shifted a bit here in America.

The cycle this generation will follow is the "artist" generation: they're all about social justice, fairness. They perfect things. They grow to become great administrators.  And they are really, really different than their next-elders, the Millennials.

Wanna be a superhero and build a great society? Aim to create institutions, policies, programs, businesses, products and services that ping to the coming artist / adaptive generation (as found in Strauss & Howe's' book, Generations). You'll find there a map of cultural geography that will put you on the right track with ease.

Boomers, Prophets and Generational Markers

I'm reviewing the four extant generations, one at a time. Here's some insight on Boomers, now and throughout history. Text from The Fourth Turning, by intellectual powerhouses William Strauss and Neil Howe. My lightly edited version is here:

We remember Prophets (today's Boomers) best for their coming-of-age passion (the excited pitch of Jonathan Edwards, William Lloyd Garrison, William Jennings Bryan) and for their principled elder stewardship (the sober pitch of Samuel Langdon at Bunker Hill, President Lincoln at Gettysburg, or FDR with his “fireside chats”). Prophets are today's Boomers, born 1943-1960, and a generation also known as "idealist generation."  Increasingly indulged as children, they become increasingly protective as parents. Their principal endowments are in the domain of vision, values, and religion.

Their best-known leaders include: John Winthrop and William Berkeley; Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin; James Polk and Abraham Lincoln; and Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt. These have been principled moralists, summoners of human sacrifice, wagers of righteous wars. Early in life, none saw combat in uniform; late in life, most came to be revered more for their inspiring words than for their grand deeds.

A lifecycle outline:

• In childhood, they are nurtured with increasing indulgence by optimistic adults in a secure environment.
• As self-absorbed young adults, they challenge the moral failure of elder-built institutions, sparking a society-wide spiritual awakening.
• As judgmental midlifers, they preach a downbeat, values-fixated ethic of moral conviction.
• As visionary elders, they push to resolve ever-deepening moral choices, setting the stage for the secular goals of the young.

Our Silent Elders ...

This blog post is one segment of a quick review of the four primary generations alive today. Text by William Strauss and Neil Howe. Edited by me to lighten the archetypal language. Here it is:

We remember Artists (the current Silent Gen elders, born 1924 – 1942) best for their quiet years of rising adulthood (the log-cabin settlers of 1800, the plains farmers of 1880, the new suburbanites of 1960) and during their midlife years of flexible, consensus-building leadership (the “Compromises” of the Whig era, the “good government” reforms of the Progressive era, the budget and peace processes of the current era). Overprotected as children, they become under-protective parents. Their principal endowment activities are in the domain of pluralism, expertise, and due process.

Their best-known leaders include: William Shirley and Cadwallader Colden; John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson; Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson; Walter Mondale, and Colin Powell. These have been sensitive and complex social technicians, advocates of fair play and the politics of inclusion. With the single exception of Andrew Jackson, they rank as the most expert and credentialed of American political leaders.

A lifecycle outline:

• In childhood, they are overprotected at a time of political convulsion and adult self-sacrifice.
• As conformist young adults, they become sensitive helpmates, lending their expertise and cooperation to an era of growing social calm.
• As indecisive midlifers, they apply expertise and process to improve society while calming the passions of the young.
• As empathic elders, they quicken the pace of social change, shunning the old order in favor of complexity and sensitivity.

Millennials ... the cycle continues

Snagged data, slightly edited. Go to the powerhouse source by Strauss and Howe to read the archetypal language and original text. Here are my gentle edits.

Within the four generational archetypes, the Heroes (today's Millennials, born 1982 - 2001/2/3?, and also known as a "civic generation") are best remembered for their collective coming-of-age triumphs (Glorious Revolution, Yorktown, D-Day) and for their hubristic elder achievements (the Peace of Utrecht and slave codes, the Louisiana Purchase and steamboats, the Apollo moon launches and interstate highways). Increasingly protected as children, they become increasingly indulgent as parents. Their principal endowment activities are in the domain of community, affluence, and technology.

Their best-known leaders include Gurdon Saltonstall and “King” Carter; Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. They have been vigorous and rational institution builders. All have been aggressive advocates of economic prosperity and public optimism in midlife; and all have maintained a reputation for civic energy and competence even deep into old age.

A lifecycle outline:

• In childhood, they are nurtured with increasing protection by pessimistic adults in an insecure environment.
• As teamworking young adults, they challenge the political failure of elder-led crusades, fueling a society-wide secular crisis.
• As powerful midlifers, they establish an upbeat, constructive ethic of social discipline.
• As expansive elders, they orchestrate ever-grander secular constructions, setting the stage for the spiritual goals of the young.

The GenX Lifecourse, Over the Centuries

I utterly snagged and slighted edited this text from academic superstars Strauss and Howe. This info outlines the lifecourse of the generational archetype that we currently know as Gen Xers, or as The 13th Gen (born 1961 - 1981). This generation is called a Nomad Generation, and is also sometimes referred to as a "reactive generation." Here are my  edits to lighten the archetypal nomenclature.

In the ongoing cycle of the four generational archetypes, we remember Nomads best for their rising-adult years of hell-raising (Paxton Boys, Missouri Raiders, rum runners) and for their midlife years of hands-on, get-it-done leadership (Francis Marion, Stonewall Jackson, George Patton). Under-protected as children, they become overprotective parents. Their principal endowments are in the domain of liberty, survival, and honor.

Their best-known leaders include: Nathaniel Bacon and William Stoughton; George Washington and John Adams; Ulysses Grant and Grover Cleveland; Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. These have been cunning, hard-to-fool realists—taciturn warriors who prefer to meet problems and adversaries one-on-one. They include the only two Presidents who had earlier hanged a man (Washington and Cleveland), one governor who hanged witches (Stoughton), and several leaders who had earlier led troops into battle (Bacon, Washington, Grant, Truman, and Eisenhower).

A lifecycle outline:

• Childhood: they are left under-protected at a time of social convulsion and adult self-discovery.
• As alienated young adults, they become brazen free agents, lending their pragmatism and independence to an era of growing social turmoil.
• As pragmatic midlifers, they apply toughness and resolution to defend society while safeguarding the interests of the young.
• As exhausted elders, they slow the pace of social change, shunning the old crusades in favor of simplicity and survivalism.

The "L" word

Trend alert:
Expect to see the "L" word popping up all over the place.

What, you don't know what it is? It's L-E-G-A-C-Y, and the Boomer generation (born 1943-1960) is attracted to it like a moth to a flame.

I just received my local community foundation's annual report and found -- no surprises here -- a page announcing "Howard Legacy Society Launched." Notice any L words there?

University of Maryland has started the Legacy Leadership Institute, which, in short, takes public and charitable dollars, creates an institution, trains boomers (specifically) in "meaningful lifelong learning and civic engagement opportunities" and then sends them out to the world as trained volunteers ... with many of them hoping, actually, to get some paid work as well.

It's cool and all. I mean, there is some value in this, of course. And each generation's take on  problems and solutions is all part of the big soup of humanity. But I'm talking about the L word, and just found this particular expression of it so patently Boomer as being worthy of note.

Rock on, Boom Generation. Your energizing idealism need not die as you age. Just watch out for that Puritanical, moral superiority, hypocrisy thing that tends to mark your generations' style in its elderhood -- um, I mean its "active adult" years. You can be sure that my generation (13ers) will hold our Cavalier irreverence close at hand, regardless of the scowling insults sent in our direction.

“No, thanks, I’ve got enough.”

Wouldn’t it be something if a slew of our elder citizens, those with more than enough money in their pockets, bank accounts and stashes, would demonstrate civic leadership and personal virtue by agreeing *not* to receive their Social Security checks. You know, to give the cash back.

Come on. We know you’re out there. You made plenty of money buying property back in the day. Perhaps you inherited some highly successful stocks your mama bought decades ago. Maybe you just lived in an era when a blue-collar job was enough income to support your family, own a home, vacation here and there, and sock away some money for retirement.

There’s a significant chunk of elder Social Security check recipients who will never have to pay for the low-cost (below-cost) natural resources they helped deplete: water, agricultural land, mineral resources and petroleum come to mind. There’s a number of SS check recipients who will never pay for the federal deficit that helped create a booming economy where they made their money in land, business or stocks. There’s a number of them that will receive pretty much endless health care when they paid a fraction into the system for what they get out of it.

And, golly, if they got enough in their pockets, wouldn’t it just be the nicest show of citizenship and good will toward their fellow (and younger) Americans to say, “No, thanks. I have enough.”

Maybe they could create a memorial wall, kinda like the stunning Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.. Maybe they could create a special fund with the money to help less-fortunate elder-folk in their generation. Maybe, bless their souls, they’d direct those extra funds to the younger generations who will – have no doubt about it – pay for their generous access to and economically unsustainable costs of national debt and natural resources.

Gee, that would be swell.

No Talent? Baloney! Here's the Secret to Finding It

This blog post is in response to the October 6-13, 2006, front cover story of The Economist: "The search for talent: Why it's getting harder to find."

"There's no talent," company execs cry.

"Oh, baloney!," says I.

The problem is that you're using vinegar and complaining about the flies. You* keep offering us jobs. Many of us don't want jobs. Regardless of the pay. Regardless of the "upward mobility" you claim to offer.

Rather than spending so much energy (and dollars) trying to attract talent to your payrolls, how about if you spend some time learning about generational differences. Here, for starters, read these books --

• 13th Gen
• Millennials Rising
• Fourth Turning**

They are all by William Strauss and Neil Howe.

See, 13ers are generally entrepreneurial, capitalist and solutions-oriented. We are VERY GOOD folk to bring in to projects. You want us. You want our talent. You want our perspectives. You want our solutions.

Where corporations gotta be doin' some new thinking is in finding ways to restructure their business operations to work with nimble nano-corps, with talented individuals or small project-specific groups that know how to get things done, and well.

No, I am not talking about hiring consultants. Nor am I talking about sub-bing out work to free-lancers. Don't be bringing us in simply to implement what you've already decided needs to be done. If you neglect to bring us in at the problem-identification and solutions-creation stage, you'll miss our core value.

See, the Lone Ranger Generation professionals balance a hybrid function of thinking-through a problem, project or task and THEN working to implement it as well. Maybe we only kick-start a project. Maybe we help you see a whole new way of doing things and then create a small team in which we are one of several players. Maybe we stick around and work with you for 10 hours a week for many years. Maybe, like the Lone Ranger, we do a good deed, leave a silver bullet, and vanish into the desert (after getting paid and handing over relevant files, of course.)

My point is that if companies keep looking for more employees to be like the ones they've had in the past, they're going to come up short. Hence, the so-called talent shortage. If, instead, they find ways to bring 13ers to the work table in manner respecting and using their skills and perspectives, then things'll be lookin' real good for everyone.

Now, here's the rub. The compensation has to be different. See, we aren't consultants who are just going to come in for $300 an hour. And we're not free-lancers who are going to come in like temp workers for $30 an hour. And finding the average of these two numbers won't work either.

This is NEW TERRITORY, folks. There's going to have to be new systems for valuing contribution. Perhaps it'll start as an appropriate hourly or per-project fee PLUS an efficiency and cost-savings bonus. Or an equation that factors in happier customers and higher (and easier) sales.

Let's say one of my Lone Ranger Generation brethren works with your company and puts some something-or-other system into place, and then Ka-Zam, eight months later, the number of repeat customers has jumped 37%, profits have gone up 42%, customer complaints have fallen 26% and, well, heck, the office just has a nicer vibe about it. Does my Lone Ranger friend just get paid for her time?

Now, if you identified the problem, created the solution and told her exactly what to do, then yes, just pay her for her time. But if she came up with a whole new approach you hadn't considered before, made it happen, got a team together that implemented the new computer-people-process systems with very little disruption to your company's workflow and did it all in record time, then she should be getting paid "A Hallelujah Commission Fee."

And, this, dear corporate execs, is where you're going to have to eat some humble pie. Keep your nice company cars and expense accounts. Go for it. Enjoy your perks. But if you genuinely want to find the talent that exists in the generation of people born between 1961 and 1981, then you're going to have to start compensating on a completely different level.

The super-groovy part of all of this is that after you get over the shock of having to pay, say, a database designer or a marketing project guide $120/hour to do a project and then a $57,000 (and rising) per annum bonus because the results of the project are so multi-dimensionally and demonstrably wonderful, you'll be so happy to write this check because the value to your company, your profits, your staff, your customers, your profitability and your peace of mind will all be tremendous.

Can't think quite how to go about making this kind of change in your company? Trust me: there are plenty of talented 13ers out there who can help you do this.

* "YOU" here in this blog post is the execs who say there is no talent in the Lone Ranger Generation.

** I have yet to read Fourth Turnings; I have read -- oops, that's not true ... I read SOME of -- the book's predecessor, Generations, also by the same authors.

:-)

Dear Sir - Letter to the Economist

I wrote this "Letter to the Editor" in response to The Economist's issue with the cover headline of “The search for talent (and why it's getting harder)"

Dear Sir,

Perhaps unlocking the mystery behind finding good talent lies in looking in another direction.

Corporations might wish to ease up on their attempts to “fill jobs” and, instead, do some research and strategic thinking on the true and observable differences in generational attitudes. They might just discover that there is a well-spring of innately entrepreneurial, bright and skilled professionals available in the 13ers, the generation born between 1961-1981. These Lone Ranger Generation workers will rarely be found on a company’s payroll; rather, they are easily located as nano-corporations. They are, often, independent.

Many of us 13ers simply do not want the jobs which companies offer. Regardless of the pay. We don’t want to wait patiently for real leadership positions to open up while the older generations keep delaying their planned retirement dates. So, we stay on the periphery, nimbly coming together to accomplish a task, solve a problem or implement a new system. Then we go on to the next project. And we take our talent and our increased knowledge with us each time. 

Complaints aside, the solution requires, in my opinion, that corporations redesign how they function and how they access, incorporate and compensate the wealth of younger talent. And if corporations balk and refuse to change for this current generation and its lifestyle, worldview and professional differences, let me tell you, there are even bigger surprises and changes coming down the pike when the Millennial generation becomes a significant portion of the labor market.

Dear corporate executives, adapt. And if you don’t know how, there are a slew of talented younger professionals who can help you think through your situation, create solutions and implement them.

Jessie Newburn