People complain about millennials. “They won’t look away from their screens!” “They don’t know how to have a conversation!” “They want things immediately!” “Their attention span is four seconds!”
Part of me gets defensive. In terms of my birth year, I’m almost a millennial myself. And while screens are a significant part of my life, they truly connect me with people and opportunities that enrich, empower, and inspire me.
Another part of me wants to join the whine fest. I recently attended a social gathering where the twenty-something table was entirely still, silent, and downcast. The only real movement was the flying of thumbs across glowing devices. It made me sad.
If you find yourself surrounded by people (of any age) who seem distracted, diffident, downcast, and dull, what should you do?
Simon Sinek thinks empathy and mentoring is a better response than whining. “Have a little empathy for the millennials around you, they were dealt a bad hand.”
I’m not sure what Sinek means by “bad hand.” But I like the direction of his thought experiment: What if non-millennials started helping millennials find their confidence? Grow their patience? Boost their social skills? Improve their focus? What if the response was active care instead of judgy annoyance?
Leadership means taking responsibility for seeing and developing the potential in people. It means investing in the promise of another’s greater happiness and success. This takes courage, time, and tons of heart.
Who is underneath the device-tethered, impatient, unfocused, insecure, unmotivated, and socially awkward person in your life (millennial or not)? Is it a human being who could be one step closer to thriving? Well, then. Maybe you are just the one to help show them the way.
