Manager 3.0: A Millennial's Guide to Rewriting the Rules of Management

by Brad Karsh, Courtney Templin

Overview

This guide to rewriting the rules of management is perfect for millennials looking to achieve career and professional success.

Millennials have begun moving into management positions everywhere and are shaking up the workplace as they go. The generation that was raised in an age of instant communication, and questioning authority has begun tearing down the corporate ladder, communicating on the fly, and bringing play to work. Even with all the exciting potential that lies ahead for these creative, bold thinkers, it will be pointless if they cannot effectively bridge the gap between the hierarchical management style of senior executives and the casual, collaborative approach of their peers.

Manager 3.0 is the first management guide written exclusively for the Millennial generation, where you will learn how to master crucial skills such as:

• dealing with difficult people,
• delivering constructive feedback,
• and making tough decisions

You will also gain insight into the four generations currently in the workplace and how they can successfully bring out the best in each.

Packed with company interviews and corporate examples, Manager 3.0 will help these promising new managers connect with and encourage the unique talents of the generations around them, while also developing an effective leadership style of their own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814432891
Publisher:	AMACOM
Publication date:	06/19/2013
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

BRAD KARSH is President and Founder of JB Training Solutions and JobBound, companies dedicated to helping professionals succeed. A workplace and generational expert, he has appeared on CNN, Dr. Phil, and CNBC, and been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today.

COURTNEY TEMPLIN is the Chief Operating Officer at JB Training Solutions, and a Millennial herself. She sits on the board of the Chicago Society for Human Resource Management, where she leads the Emerging Leaders Initiative.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION:

NOT BETTER, NOT WORSE— JUST DIFFERENT

“Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”

—George Orwell

I will never forget the day I came across my first leaderless team.

In my days as a Vice President/Director of Talent Acquisi-tion at Leo Burnett, I was in charge of recruiting at all levels, but my main focus was entry-level candidates. I had the pleasure of reading more than 10,000 student resumes and interviewing more than 1,000 collegians. One of the standard interview questions I asked was, “Tell me about a group pro-ject you worked on in college.” I used this question when hir-ing for the account management department because a huge part of the job was working with diverse groups within the company. We wanted to hire people who had the ability to manage projects and lead teams. a was seeking candidates who said that they took the role of leader within the group. I would then probe them about their ability to work on diverse teams, handle conflict effectively, and drive results for the group. I must have posed this question hundreds of times in my quest to find the best can-didates. a still remember the day it all changed. It was in the spring of 2001, and I was interviewing a student from Princeton. I asked my standard “group project” question and was imme-diately stunned by the response. Here’s how it went:

BRAD: Tell me about a group project you worked on recently in college.

CANDIDATE: Well, last semester we did some work on creat-ing an economic model for a fictitious company.

BRAD: What role did you play in the group?

CANDIDATE: What do you mean?

BRAD: How was the group structured, and what was your role?

CANDIDATE: I’m sorry, but I’m confused. Do you mean what part of the project was I responsible for?

BRAD (annoyed): No, I mean were you the leader of the group or a team member?

CANDIDATE: We didn’t have a leader.

BRAD (dumbfounded): What do you mean you didn’t have a leader? Every group needs to have a leader. How did you get everything done and stay on track?

CANDIDATE: I don’t know, we just sort of all did our part. It wasn’t really a big deal.

BRAD (thinking this person will never work at our company and moving on to a new line of questioning): Okay, now, tell me about your weak-nesses.

I shared the story with a few other recruiters, and we all had a good laugh about this fascinating candidate who worked on a leaderless team. Now here’s the funny thing. Over the next couple of weeks, it happened again—and again. I heard similar answers regarding leaderless groups from sharp candidates again, and again, and again.

At that point, I knew I was experiencing a fundamental shift, and I recognized that this new generation was not going to play by the same rules. This generation was planning to chart a brave, new course. I was witnessing the formation of the next generation of leaders—Manager 3.0.

That is our strong belief at JB Training Solutions. In fact, we consider ourselves the great defender of millennials. One of the best decisions I made for the company was to hire a real, live millennial—Courtney —my coauthor. Between working with the millennials on my team and working with thousands of millennials across the country, I know that you’re up against some tough preconceptions about your generation. The key problem is that many of your elders do assume you’re worse—a lot worse. I have conducted over 500 workshops for more than 15,000 senior leaders on the topic of working with millennials. This workshop, “Dude, What’s My Job?” Managing Millennials in Today’s Workforce, is primarily comprised of Xers and boomers who are strug-gling with “the kids these days”. Let me tell you, they are not a happy bunch. Although they leave the course with a sound understanding of your generation, they come into our work-shop practically spewing venom about your group:

“Why do I always have to hold their hand?”

“Why are they so entitled?”

“Don’t they understand that they have to pay their dues?”

Those are some of the tamer responses. I’ve also heard:

“The worst generation ever!”

“I. Cannot. Stand. Them.”

“Can’t we just get rid of them?”

I begin by asking the participants what they think of mil-lennials, and I receive the standard responses like, “You mean those skateboard-riding, Mountain-Dew-drinking, Fa-cebook-posting, Google-searching, YouTube-watching slackers?” I knowingly chuckle, and then I read direct quotes from Time magazine to bring a little light to the situation.

The article in Time states that this generation truly strug-gles to make decisions and that they “would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder.”1 The article goes on to say that when they should be starting a career and a family of their own, “the twenty-something crowd is balking at those rights of passage.”2

At this point, one of the Xers in the workshop jumps in and says, “You got it, Brad, you understand our pain.” a read on and share how companies feel like they “must cater to a young workforce that is considered overly sensitive at best, and lazy at worse.”3

“That totally describes Caitlyn!” screams a delighted boomer.

There is more. The article continues to describe a gener-ation of whiners that doesn’t want to pay its dues. It really drives it home when I read that this generation has “a reluc-tance to embrace the dying work ethic of the former genera-tion.”4

A warm chuckle circulates through the room as boomers and Xers rejoice in my recounting of their daily struggles. a ask if anyone remembers reading that issue of Time magazine. A few hands usually go up. I mention that it’s from July, and then I show the cover. The young people on the cover have big bangs, large hoop earrings, and black leather jackets.

It’s July alright. July of 1990! My audience is dumbfound-ed. Jaws drop to the floor. “But how could it be?” they ask. “That totally describes millennials,” they protest.

Then I break the obvious news that the article was de-scribing many of them—generation X. I tell them that as they get older, they tend to forget what it’s like to be twenty-two or twenty-four and starting a first job or launching a career. This Time magazine sting operation really drives the insight home. a firmly believe that half of the issues that other genera-tions have with millennials is rooted in the fact that they are just getting old. Professionals gain experience—and hopefully wisdom—and they forget about how difficult the transition from school to work can be. They also tend to forget that mil-lennials were raised very differently and were brought up in a changed world. Before they learn these insights, older gener-ations just don’t get it. As they discover more about millenni-als, they have several “aha” and “oohhh” moments.

George Orwell hit the nail on the head when he said, “Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” Every generation likes to complain about those who have followed. Traditionalists railed on about hippie boomers. Boomers decried the horrifying generation Xers, and now all have joined forces to lament the sorry state of the millennials. Likewise, my younger brother isn’t as cool as I am. It’s a time-honored tradition. I’m sure, like me, you have heard the stories about how your parents trekked five miles to school, uphill both ways, in a driving snowstorm—barefoot, no less!

The fact is that every generation loves to complain about those after them and all the advantages they were afforded. There’s bound to be a little tension. The real triumph comes when each individual embraces the idea that no generation is better or worse—just different.

Think back to the candidate at Princeton that I interviewed in the spring of 2001. That millennial is now a 32-year-old. Chances are—like you—she’s entered the ranks of management and is now leading teams. What is she going to be like? How is she going to manage? How will she show her leadership skills and take her company to the next level? What might she be lacking and where will she be strong? Based on the fact that she is a millennial, how will she (and you) rewrite the rules of management?

You will learn just that.

This book is your essential toolkit for being an effective and inspiring manager. There will be big ideas, small ideas, and everything in between. Groupon, Southwest Airlines, Winston Churchill, your parents, and the Backstreet Boys will all make an appearance at some point, and Sacagawea and another great captain will help show you the way. You will hear extraordinary examples grounded by tangible manage-ment strategies that you can put into practice today. There will be reflective exercises, telltale tweets, and some downright hairy ideas. By learning more about each of the generations, you can reach out, bridge the gap, and shatter all of those negative, preconceived notions about millennials. You will gain the insights and skills to bring out the best in each generation, rewrite the rules that aren’t working, and forge a path toward a newer and more compelling version of leader-ship—Manager 3.0.

Let’s get into it.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv

INTRODUCTION: NOT BETTER, NOT WORSE—

JUST DIFFERENT 1

1 TALKIN’ ’BOUT YOUR GENERATION 7

Traditionalists (born 1928–1945) 9

Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964) 10

Generation X (born 1965–1980) 12

Millennials (born 1981–2000) 14

2 MILLENNIALS DEFINED 19

Nirvana vs. Backstreet Boys 20

Lawnmower Parents 22

Let’s Get Together 23

Looks Good on Your Resume 23

You Can Do Anything 24

3 FROM INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTOR TO MANAGER 27

Millennial Manifesto 28

Xer/Boomer Manifesto 29

Entitlement Versus Duty 30

Equality Versus Hierarchy 33

Explanation Versus Action 34

Partnership Versus Ownership 38

4 DEFINING MANAGEMENT CHARACTERISTICS:

SHAKING IT UP 41

Collaborative: We’re in Th is Together 42

Flexible: Open to How the Job Gets Done 45

Transparent: Being “in the Know” 48

Casual: Just Be Yourself 51

Balanced: Successful at Life as a Whole 54

5 REWRITING THE RULES OF MANAGEMENT 59

Tearing Down the Ladder 61

Breaking Down the Walls 62

Communicating on the Fly 64

Working Where and When You Want It 65

Playing at Work 66

6 LEADING YOUR TEAM: CONNECT 69

Your Leadership Legacy 70

Taking It Up a Notch 70

Connect: You, Your People, and the Big Picture 72

CHALANT: Pinpointing Your Principles 74

7 COMMUNICATE: JUST SAY IT 77

Establishing Your Expectations: Th e Blueprint 78

Illuminating Th eir Roles: “Show Me the Light” 79

Setting PUSH Goals: Infi ltrating Fun 84

Communication Styles: Meeting in the Middle 88

Giving Feedback: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 89

8 OWN IT: TAKING—AND GIVING—RESPONSIBILITY 105

Holding Yourself Accountable 107

Failure Is on the Road to Succeeding 111

Being Your Own CEO 113

Asking Others to Be Th eir Own CEOs 115

Orchestrating Success and Ownership 118

9 NAVIGATE: MANAGING THROUGH THE UNKNOWN 125

Mapping Out Your Time 126

Finding Your Way As a Transparent Leader 129

Taking the Helm and Instilling Hope 131

Discovering Diff erent Communication Styles 133

Adjusting Your Management Approach 136

10 NEGOTIATE: WORKING THROUGH DIFFERENT

PERSPECTIVES 141

Th e Story Behind Negotiating Woes 142

Shift ing Your Perspective from Fear to Fun 145

Listening Critically: Reading Between the Lines 147

Having an Opinion: Your Voice 149

It’s Not About Winning or Losing 151

Working Th rough Diff erent Perspectives 153

11 ENGAGE: CONNECTING TO THE BIG PICTURE 155

Getting to Know You, and You, and You 157

Recognizing and Rewarding—Customized Strategies 160

Showing Appreciation: “Th ank You” 168

Building in Fun: Work Hard, Play Hard 170

Empowering Your People: You Can Do It 172

Connecting to the Big Picture 173

12 COLLABORATE: MAKING IT HAPPEN 175

Matching the Person With the Responsibility 176

Collaborating to Take Action: Just Do It 178

Manager or BFF? Drawing the Line 180

Managing the Collaboration Zone: Team Meetings 182

Contributing to a Collaborative Company and Community 186

Making It Happen 187

13 TEACH: BEING A MENTOR—AND STUDENT 189

Providing the Skills and Insight: Training and Storytelling 190

Evaluating Performance: Never Miss a Learning Moment 195

Nurturing Creativity: Fostering Problem Solvers 197

Delegating: Teaching Th em to Fish 198

Mentoring and Coaching: A Leg Up 202

14 LEADING WHEN THINGS GET STICKY 205

Managing Your Peers: From Buddy to Boss 206

Managing Someone Older Th an You: Building Credibility 209

Managing Virtual Teams: Working Together When Apart 212

Leading When Th ings Get Sticky 214

CONCLUSION: GO FORTH 215

Millennial Manager Manifesto 218

ENDNOTES 219

REFERENCES 225

INDEX 229

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 235

Editorial Reviews

The sluggish early portion of this book by Karsh and Templin of JB Training Solutions provides a perhaps unnecessary overview of Millennials (“You have led a very sheltered life thanks to your helicopter parents.”) and compares this generation to others. Further in, the book addresses important managerial topics, providing both an outline of the issues, and strategies for success: “The sticky part about ‘owning’ your role is that you will find that there isn’t always a ‘right answer’… As a manager, you will fail here and there. Own it, earn from it, and move ahead.” Even the most basic questions are discussed: for example, whether you should tell someone that they have spinach in their teeth. Negotiating gets significant attention here, with explanations of the nature of negotiations (“Negotiation is a dialogue—a conversation”) as well as discussions of biases involved (“Assumptions are one of the biggest barriers to listening”). As long as readers can get past the slow start, useful information and advice awaits, both for Millennials and for managers in general. Agent: Matthew Carnicelli, Carnicelli Literary Management. (June)

Publishers Weekly