Changing Generations, Is It Happening All-Around You?
One generation stopping and another generation starting, is this about age? Not really, it is more about a collection of values and beliefs. Changing generations is like a scene from Snowpiercer, it never stops.
Adults born around the year 2000, have something to remember. The COVID-19 pandemic. It will go down in history as a significant life changing event.
Fewer and fewer people are alive today to remember the pain of the Great Depression in the early 1930s. In fact, many old enough to have experienced it first hand have passed. There are other events, such as times of War, a moon landing, an assassinated United States President, a Space Shuttle explosion, and the day the twin towers in New York City fell.
When you talk about anything prior to 2000, it occurred in the last century. Forty-year old’s have lived one-half of their life in the 20th century and to-date, the second half of their life in the 21st century.
Your values and beliefs are shaped by life experiences. It includes everything from the music you listen to, to how you make your coffee.
Nothing will stop what many people consider progress.
Changing Generations
It isn’t always viewed as progress to everyone. Some people desire the ways of the past. Many consider the ways of the past to be simpler, not so complex, and based more on needs instead of extravagant wants.
People work each day, or at least about five days per week. Some work from home, some in an office, and others in a production facility, a hospital, on the highway, a farm, or at a school.
During their work they face challenges, serve customers, and encounter differences in personal beliefs.
Some will argue that people who have lived longer are resistant to change. At the same time, those attempting to slow down change or stop it might actually represent an instance of change.
If you believe that everything is changing, you are not alone. Acceptance of change may be required but perhaps we need to evaluate how far we’ve come.
How far have we shifted from the essentials to luxury? Too far, or not far enough?
When you think about change it may be valuable to think about your own personal contributions.
You are part of change and at some level you still have choice.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
