I would like to express my deep appreciation and affection for Rita M. Murray, Ph.D. For over 25 years, Rita has been a colleague, a friend, a co-author, and a mentor—it was she who brought me into the world of generational diversity in 2008. While not a co-author of this book, her ideas and insights underpin so much of its content, and this workbook would not exist without her. I will always respect her a colleague and an important part of OKA’s history.
All rights reserved. No portions of this publication may be reproduced in any form, except for brief reviews, without the prior written permission from OKA. For permission requests, write to OKA at admin@oka-online.com.
OKA
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Cover art and page design by Kristen McGregor
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Generational Navigation: How to take a new approach by Hile Rutledge and Whitten Rutledge
ISBN 978-1-935321-27-9
Printed in the United States of America
Mind the Gaps
Boomers wonder why these kids don’t know any better.
“Put down that cell phone and get to work.”
Millennials wonder why these old guys are so slow.
“My boomer boss sure does complain about kids and technology until he needs a PDF edited LOL”
Generation Xers wonder when their older colleagues are going to retire.
“I thought they would be gone by now.”
Understanding different generations and the gaps between them has many applications the ways we buy and sell, lead and follow, communicate, and interact with authority and technology.
Getting the most from “Generational Navigation”
We hope this workbook both opens a door to a richer understanding of yourself and others through a generational lens, and also provides helpful skills for thriving in a multi-generational world. Generational Navigation was designed to serve an individual reader’s generational curiosity as easily as it supports a large group engaged in interactive training. The topics it covers include:
Why generation impacts values and behaviors, and why these differences matter
Extensive profiles of each of the generations in the workplace today
Learning and communication guides and suggested applications
An action plan for each learner to specify lessons learned and next steps
Perfect Storm of Opportunity
Intergenerational challenges present potential pitfalls for ourselves and organizations, and we see evidence of missteps almost every day. Leadership, power and authority, work ethic, office dress and decorum, technology, what is appropriate to say and discuss and what is off-limits these are throbbing, generational issues swirling within nearly every workplace and every corner of our society.
There are five generations active in the workplace at this time a first in our history. Developing an
effective generational perspective will take time and commitment from you personally and all levels of your organization. Based on our collective experiences with our own organizations as well as many experiential workshops, keynotes and client polling, we have designed this workbook to help you embrace generational diversity by first learning about each generation and then using practical tools to navigate those challenges.
Research — backed up by life experience — tells us that the different generations each come at life, work, and relationships from a distinct angle.
Generational Cohort Theory
Generations are cohorts born during a shared period of time. It is not the amount of time or the number of years that define a generation, but what has taken place and specifically what took place in that person’s formative years that impacts an individual’s world view and creates the widely-held “generational” view or perspective.
Generational theory provides a powerful framework for creating an environment in which multiple generations interact effectively. The value of generational cohort theory to a workplace is that just by knowing someone’s approximate age and therefore “the times in which they came of age,” you have a greater chance of understanding them. The better we know our colleagues, the more we can predict important workplace behaviors, the better we can connect with them, and the better we can influence them.
Your Generation:
Consists of a group of people born at the same general time.
Identifies the importance of shared events, values, cultural shifts and other factors. For example, events that ended the Baby Boom era and gave birth to the Generation X era included double-digit inflation creating dual income households, birth control, women entering the workforce, 24/7 television and, the introduction of personal computers, to name a few shared events.
Remains constant through your life. A 20-year-old Gen Xer will be a 40-year-old Gen Xer and will turn into a 70-year-old Gen Xer and so on.
Drives certain behaviors as they are engaged to meet core values and needs.
Governs many of your employment expectations, creating generational employment needs.
Provides unique insights, perspectives and views on how to deal with recruitment and retention challenges.
Talking about our generations
Generational groups are defined and presented by the years we are born, but generational cohort theory is more concerned, actually, about our most formative, developmental years the time between age 10 and age 20. It tends to be within this age band that we each shift from a child’s eye-view to seeing and imprinting on the world that we will each contend with and act within as an adult. Within these formative years, we are the most alert and the most porous open to seeing and experiencing the world as it is at that time. We each in a way set or connect to this time and its values and “truths” as somewhat of a home base.
Our families, friends, music, media, technology and the communities to which we are connected these forces all have outsized influence on us in these formative years of 10 to 20 years old. And these forces in concert day to day, month to month, and year to year create a backdrop in front of which we each stand up into adulthood, a time in which values and impressions are formed, and adult attitudes and approaches solidify. This is what gives us each an identifiable and somewhat static generational perspective. As we age, we each grow, learn, change and adapt, but we never fully shift away from or lose sight of this foundational, generational view. It is a powerful piece of our identities.
Key Point
Individuals who understand the conditions that shaped the attitudes of each generation and the values and beliefs that flowed from those conditions are better equipped to create strong personal and professional relationships and realize the many benefits that flow from these relationships. The following is a breakdown of three key forces that create these generational distinctions.
World Events/Socio-Economic Climate
World events/ socio-economic climate
Technology
Motives & cultural values
War, economy, job market, political landscape, prominent leaders, news events, and issues of and the access to money
Motives & Cultural Values
From authority-dependence to civic cynicism values, tastes, desires, what is being debated in the public square, and the drivers of pop culture
Technology
Tools to entertain, inform, inflame, connect, communicate, interact, and conduct commerce generations differ vastly in the way they use and even define technology
Generation versus life stages
Generational cohorts can and often are confused with life stages. While there can be overlap between these models or lenses, these are distinctly different ideas, and this workbook will try to keep these separate. For instance, from a stage-of-life perspective, someone in their 80s (in the 2020s) is dealing with end-of-life issues, and they are also a Traditionalist (born between 1920 and 1945). However, end-of-life issues are not generational issues. When Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are in their 80’s, they too will be grappling with these end-of-life issues, but they will still be Millennials.
Generations and EQ
Significant research on Emotional Intelligence (EQ) tells us that the older someone gets, the higher their EQ will likely be. This means that the average Baby Boomer (born between 1946 and 1964) will naturally have more developed Emotional Intelligence than the average Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2013). However, this fact has led people to the incorrect conclusion that Generation Z as a group lacks social skills (EQ).
The reality is that most members of Gen Z have the exact Emotional Intelligence that they should be expected to have. When they are in their 60s (like most Boomers are today), Gen Z’s levels of EQ will define the highwater mark. The development of Emotional Intelligence is tied to age and development, not generation. Age is constantly changing, but generation designation stays static.
Traditionalists
Born 1920-1945
About us
The generation born between 1920 and 1945 is known by many names the Veteran Generation, even the “Greatest Generation.” In this workbook we will use the name Traditionalist, and as the oldest workers and clients still active in society (as of the early/mid 2020s), it is with this compelling group that our generational exploration begins.
Traditionalists witnessed and came to adulthood during some of the most impactful and tumultuous times of sacrifice, achievement and change in the 20th century. The upheaval of the Great Depression followed almost immediately by the second World War forged the Traditionalists’ core values of stability, patriotism, security through hierarchy, and a sense of community (this community often coming with clearly defined and rigidly enforced rules.)
Over half of the men of this generation served in the military, and this generational cohort witnessed the United States pull together and with great sacrifice and toil save the world from fascism and make the United States the most powerful nation and economic power the world had ever known.
Traditionalists and hierarchy
This hierarchy and structure strongly encouraged the coming-ofage Traditionalists to stay in their lanes and to not mix outside of their own. Women tended to socialize with women and men with men. Generations tended to stay with their own kids hung out with other young people while the adults spent time with people their own age. In many places in the United States, laws enforced strict racial segregation educationally, professionally, socially, and romantically. Part of the social order was staying “in your lane.”
Traditionalists and higher education
College education was highly valued, but largely a luxury. Harry Truman was the last United States president (we have had 9 in total) who did not have a college degree. There was not a sense in the culture that everyone or even most people needed to advance their educations this far. Women and people of color were often excluded from admission from many colleges and universities further “normalizing” the idea of exclusion on the basis of both race and gender. It was this air that Traditionalists breathed as they pivoted into adulthood.
Organizations and Traditionalists
Having seen it work in the government and throughout the military overcoming the Great Depression and winning World War II, Traditionalists seek, impose, live and work within hierarchies, and success tends to come to those who respect and maneuver well within them. Therefore, tenure, authority, and experience are all important distinctions.
Movies List
What does the popularity of these movies (1941-1954) say about the culture within which Traditionalists stepped into adulthood?
• Casablanca
• It’s A Wonderful Life
• High Noon
• Sands of Iwo Jima
• Double Indemnity
• Treasure of the Sierra Madre
• The More the Merrier
• Hamlet
• Key Largo
• Arsenic and Old Lace
• Sergeant York
Movies as a Mirror
• Bambi
• Going My Way
• Rope
• Rear Window
• All About Eve
• Singin’ in the Rain
• Strangers On A Train
• Stalag 17
• Streetcar Named Desire
• The Day the Earth Stood Still
While these movies are varied in genre, demographically, it is a rather homogeneous group of films. They are nearly all stories of white men; the lack of diversity (to our modern eyes) is pretty noticeable. While the narratives are quite varied, so many of them are about the struggle of a man (a white man) to do the right thing even when it is difficult. They are traditional, heroic plots, where in the end, the good guy wins (after a taxing struggle) and order is achieved.
Traditionalists and Music
Traditionalists got their music over the radio, at concerts, and dance halls. Traditionalists saw the 78 (rpm) record replaced with LP (long playing) albums, whose most attractive feature was that an entire symphony could fit on one vinyl LP. But record players were expensive and not found in many homes. Music had distinct popular genres Big Band, Jazz, Show Tunes, Country & Western, and Rhythm & Blues, and someone’s age, race, and hometown largely predicted what style of music they likely did (and “should have”) listened to.
What Traditionalists do you personally know?
Dos and Don’ts
Dos
Use my experience and wisdom
Appeal to my loyalty and dedication
Set priorities
Err on the side of formality
Write well and speak clearly
Go slowly with high-tech and don’t assume I already know (or should)
Focus on the issue
Get to the point and stay on target
DON’Ts
Be inattentive or silly
Be superficial
Try to do too many things at once
Expect a lot of praise for things you should do anyway—like being on time or getting your job done
Be or require me to be overly sensitive in what I say or how I say it
Share too much personal information or be overly familiar
Rush to the new gadget or the high-tech solution
Baby Boomers
Born 1946-1964
About us
Starting in 1946 and lasting for almost 20 years there was a demographic explosion the likes of which had never been experienced before. Called the”baby boom,” this is the only generational time-frame to be officially designated by the U.S. Census Bureau. While spikes in the birthrate were recorded around the world after the second World War, a baby was born in the United States (on average) every 7 seconds for 18 years starting in 1946. This unprecedented and sudden burst of babies and then kids made for a new Boomer reality crowds lots of people in one home with only one television, one telephone, and one bathroom multiple kids sharing a bedroom. Theaters, parks, public spaces, and schools were all crowded.
As a result, Boomers learned early how to engage to get what they wanted and needed to speak up, ask, bargain, debate, collaborate, compete, argue, and push back. Baby Boomers learned from the start to find and use their voices to be seen and heard and to make sure their needs were met. Boomers became used to getting results through open and sometimes intense human interactions. Their big numbers and high expectations drove change after change as this group moved from child to teen to young adult and then to the very center of political and organizational power a position they largely still hold (and don’t seem interested in giving up).
Witness to massive change
Young Boomers witnessed the strict social order of their parents’ worlds start to flex and crack as changes in race and gender equality slowly took root, and as technological breakthroughs started to remake the world and how they lived in it. They came of age in a world where people of color and woman began fighting for educational, economic, and political equality. Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier in Major League Baseball and ushered a new era of racial integration. The Cold War took root, and the United States drifted into two prolonged and bloody wars in Korea and then Vietnam. Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Dr Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for Civil Rights, and Dr King, Malcolm X, Robert Kennedy, and President John Kennedy were all assassinated within five years of each other. And the United States’ ingenuity and drive bested the Soviet Union and put four men on the moon and brought them safely home. All this and much more happened as Baby Boomers were coming of age.
The Boomer work ethic
Because of its size, the Baby Boomer generation drove growth in every direction. As Boomers pivoted into adulthood, there were crowded paths in almost every industry and professional field, and as a result, Boomers had to push and assert themselves to stand out wherever they went. There were bulging new markets for new products and services education, homes, cars, jobs, families, but these all required competition and hard work. This personal struggle and rather grinding work ethic became their “worth ethic”--a central self-defining quality and badge of honor to this generation of leaders, workers, and contributors.
1956
Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel”
1960
President John F. Kennedy (JFK) elected
1957
Soviet Sputnik launch US enters Space Race
1963
M. L. King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
Organizations and Baby Boomers
1963
President Kennedy Assassinated
1965
MLK Civil Rights March/Voting Rights Act
1967
Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
1965 President Johnson sends ground troops to Vietnam
1968 Vietnam Tet Offensive
1969
Apollo 11 1st moon landing
1968
Robert Kennedy and MLK assassinated
Like Traditionalists before them, Boomers tend to respect and trust the structure of the system (revering tenure, authority and experience), but unlike Traditionalists, Boomers have long worked toward improving, stretching, and changing the system from within. Cross-matrix teams, Organization Development, companysponsored team-building, and ongoing staff development were efforts that took root as the Boomers took hold of our organizations.
Movies List
What does the popularity of these movies (19651975) say about the culture within which Baby Boomers stepped into adulthood?
• Patton
• The French Connection
• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• Cabaret
• In the Heat of the Night
• Last Tango in Paris
• The Graduate
• Billy Jack
• Chinatown
• Cool Hand Luke
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
• Godfather: Parts 1 & 2
• Bonnie and Clyde
• One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest
• Towering Inferno
• Jaws
• Love Story
• The Exorcist
• Young Frankenstein
• Sound of Music
• Blazing Saddles
• Rosemary’s Baby
Movies as a Mirror
An anti-authority theme runs through the Boomer movie classics. Unlike Traditionalist movies, we see the rise of the complicated, less-than-heroic leading man (but men are still at the center of everything). Patton, The French Connection, Chinatown these are all movies with ambivalent “good guys” in the leading roles.
The bigger trend is the rise of the anti-hero. How much more rebellious can you get? Godfather, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Bonnie and Clyde we actually started cheering for the criminal for the traditional “bad guy.”
Lastly, there is a grit and confrontational realism to many of these movies. The underlying (if not overt) message is not to trust “the man” and to question authority in general. Engage, but fight, and doubt the power and what came before. These movies did not give Boomers these qualities and outlooks, but they do reflect the cultural shift in values that was going on as the 1960s became the 70s and so many Boomers stepped into adulthood.
Boomers and Music
Baby Boomers found that their music, most notably Rock-n-Roll, was an expression of their generational identity. Rock-n-Roll, being the melding of genres primarily Rhythm and Blues, Country, and Gospel became the perfect symbol of the shift toward change and away from the rigid hierarchies of the Traditionalists. Boomers heard music over their car and transistor radios. At home, the record players ruled. Albums became cultural touchstones and works of art exploring values, love, and life, and Boomers bought them in record numbers.
Boomers & Technology
In the 60’s and 70’s, computers were smaller and faster but still too big and expensive for home use. Businesses used computers as a mechanism to process linear sequential data for decision- making. Boomers first discovered “dumb terminals” in college and high school where they keypunched basic code and solved problems.
Baby Boomers’ “First Technology” Implications
• Information flows top-down from centrally controlled information distribution centers.
• Intellectual authority was highly prized, which meant Boomers used technology to access information in their areas of expertise.
• Because technology came late to most Boomers, most prefer personal, face-to-face meetings.
• Boomers appreciated reading, receiving, responding to all types of hard copy information.
• Power and autonomy came from having control over information and expertise. Technology reduces perceived status by reducing autonomy and discretion.
• Effective meetings and presentations utilized pen and paper, TV, flip charts, and workbooks.
• Discomfort with constant “new networked desktop computer technology” creates anxiety and a fear of obsolescence.
Organizational Contributions
Attracted to their careers and loyal to their employers, most Baby Boomers find their worth in their work ethic and are willing to continually take on new responsibilities while adhering to a consensusdriven work environment. Having been educated and initially employed in high-engagement and relatively technology-free systems, Baby Boomers leaned the value of face-to-face, non-verbal and written communication skills, and their experience within the organization has taught them to be upfront, (which can feel confrontational, although it isn’t intended to be,) and politically savvy. Boomers tend to believe that hard work will directly yield results. Their generational narrative tells them they got to where they are through hard work, and they demand an equal effort from those around them.
What Baby Boomers do you personally know?
Notes
Dos and Don’ts
DOs
Respect what came before remember that history matters
Act in the organization/team’s best interest
Show respect for authority and personal relationships
Pay your dues
Actively listen and be present (put away your phone)
Be accountable for your work focus and finish
Commit
Be on time, and don’t blame your being late on your commute
Focus on goals, values and outputs
DON’Ts
Get caught in “what’s in it for me” (WIIFM) thinking
Multi-task when we’re talking
Assume my wanting you to focus means I want you to slow down
Assume I’m anti-technology
Whine do your job and make it work
Assume we’ve never created something new or exciting we can and have
Assume we are thinking about or planning for retirement
Assume we never enjoy taking time off
Generation X
Born 1965-1980
About us
About half the size of the Baby Boomer cohort, Generation X was first noticed for its thin numbers. In fact, the first name ever given to this group was the “Baby Bust” generation in reference to the demographic implosion that started in the mid-1960s.
A confluence of events made a majority of this generation more likely than not to come home to a house with no adults in it; there was even a term derived that referred to this new reality—the “latch-key kid.” As women continued to fight for and slowly gain equal rights, the home life began to change. For the first time in the country’s history, women were gaining social independence from men. They could have careers, passions, credit cards, homes, and more without a husband as a prerequisite. The divorce rate increased because women increasingly had the option to leave unhappy marriages. The birth rate decreased because motherhood was not the only path for women anymore. However, these factors, in tandem with Baby Boomers’ tendency to be at work instead of at home, turned Generation X into a group that reported feeling on their own, raising themselves. This lead to a feeling of independence and a generational belief that Gen X was on its own.
The roots of Xers’ cynical edge
The world Generation X witnessed as the Boomer and Traditionalist adults around them worked and jockeyed for professional advancement was a steady parade of civic and community dissolution and leadership incompetence or even deception. President Nixon, a criminal, resigns in shame, and Ford and then Carter seemed to shrink in the face of the problems before them. Americans were held hostage in Iran for 444 days, and all Americans could do was impotently watch on. Saturday Night Live became must-see TV for coming-of-age Xers, and there was now a steady, popular place to gather and mock those in charge every week.
Herpes a treatable but uncurable sexually transmitted disease was then eclipsed by HIV/AIDS, a mysterious new disease that was (at that time) a death sentence but the government in the early and mid 1980s would not even acknowledge AIDS as a public health issue worth researching and discussing. 10 to 15 years before, Baby Boomers watched with rapt attention as Neil Armstrong first walked triumphantly on the moon; Generation X most of them school-age at the time watched in shock as the space shuttle Challenger exploded upon take-off. The cocktail of these intertwined events all contributed to what became Generation X’s cynicism and general skepticism of authority.
Inclusion takes root
On the flip-side of this coin, Generation X was a more inclusive generation than those before it. By the time most of Generation X were in middle and high school, these institutions had been well desegregated. Landmark civil rights legislation of the 1960s and Title IX in 1972 had all taken root in the schools that Gen X attended, and the result is a cohort that experienced more inclusion and equity in race and gender than had been broadly experienced in the past. Women were commonly exercising more agency educationally, professionally and societally, and Generation X experienced more racial integration than any generation before it.
premiers
1974
President Nixon resigns 1976 US birthrate hits lowest point in the 20th century
Organizations and Generation X
John Lennon shot 1989 Cold War ends/Fall of the Berlin Wall
1981 Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female to serve on the Supreme Court
Growing up witnessing many of the down-sides of hierarchies, Gen Xers tend to work and live somewhat independently of the hierarchies within their professional lives. Ambivalent to the end, Generation X has moved in and out of organizations as it served the needs of their careers and life needs at the time. Teleworking, flex scheduling, and efforts to promote work-life balance were Gen X movements.
Movies List
What does the popularity of these movies (19831992) say about the culture within which Generation X stepped into adulthood?
• Flash Dance
• Trading Places
• Beverly Hills Cop
• Aliens
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• 3 Men and a Baby
• Crying Game
• Victor/Victoria
• Tootsie
• Rambo
• Platoon
• Good Morning Vietnam
• Dances with Wolves
• Unforgiven
• Batman
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
• Breakfast Club
• Big
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
• Dead Poets Society
• Home Alone
• Fatal Attraction
• Silence of the Lambs
• Do the Right Thing
• Goodfellas
Movies as a Mirror
The movies that were popular when Gen Xers were growing up reflect the gritty skepticism that would become a hallmark of this generation. So many of these movies directly challenge (dramatically in some, comically in others) traditional socio-economic, gender, and racial roles and stereotypes. Women are action heroes; black characters are prominent where white people are expected; rich and poor swap stations, and men and women switch places.
Generation X is known as independent-minded and naturally skeptical of and guarded against formal and traditional institutions and commitments all common themes that were playing out at the local cineplex (an innovation in movie-watching that started as Gen X was growing up). In addition to social roles dissolving, families in these movies have radically changed. In contrast to Traditionalist and Baby Boomer movies, many films include and/or are made for children/young people but almost all show young people disconnected from adults and direct parental involvement or supervision. Gen-X movies have latchkey kids everywhere kids raising themselves, kids whose parents are, for whatever reason, gone.
Generation X and Music
Generation Xers, in addition to the radio, got their music from MTV, and “I want my MTV” became a generational catch-phrase. With the rise of cassette tapes, music became portable, with Gen-Xers making mixed-tapes, personal musical statements that could be played in car stereos, boom boxes, and the new Sony Walkman. Rock- n-Roll fragmented into Pop, R&B, Country, Heavy Metal, Rap, and Grunge to name a few. Music also became digital as it moved from vinyl albums to compact discs.
Gen X and Technology
Information Age
In the 80s, the personal computer was introduced, and now everyone not just the largest of organizations could benefit from this revolutionary business (and personal) tool. They were small enough for use in homes and schools. Local area networks were introduced, and the computer became a way to gain a competitive edge in an increasingly global economy. In 1982, Time names “the computer” its Man of the Year!
Generation X’s “First Technology” Implications
• Resourcefulness, convenience and efficiency are bywords of Gen X, who are drawn to technology to make the most of their time and energy.
• Gen Xers were the first generation to have technology options that enabled and empowered them to personalize their work and entertainment choices like digital music (allowing for personalized mix tapes and CDs), software allowing personal computing, work processing and personal graphic design and the easy home-recording of digital video.
• Gen X is the first “Do-it-yourself” (DIY) generation with media-like e-zines and desktop publishing.
• Early online entry into the evolution of blogging allowed Generation X to become the first generation to post and share their salary and benefits packages in an effort to expose unfair hiring practices.
• Low-cost computer technology and docking stations showed up and set the stage for one of the most entrepreneurial periods in history with the Gen X “no fear of technology” attitude leading the pack.
• Distrustful of institutions monitoring their use of time and intellect, Generation X has privacy concerns with what they consider to be their intellectual property (IP) developed on institutional technology.
Organizational Contributions
Loyal to their own career development and motivated to attain and maintain work-life balance, Gen Xers tend to hone and dedicate their skills to one employer and then the next in a string of jobs that will make up a career. Having had access to computer technology since college-age (or before), Xers tend to be open to the technological solution and even dependent on technology as an enabler of their more flexible work hours. Working smartly and efficiently is important to many Xers but not to the extent that the job or the organization becomes their identity.
Generation X as a notably smaller demographic cohort has always been squeezed by the massive Baby Boomer generation on one side and the nearlyas-big Millennial generation on the other. Baby Boomers have always largely defined themselves by and through their work. For this reason among others Boomers have been slower to retire and leave the workplace than previous generations. While Boomers resist exiting the organizational stage, Millennials, who now total just more than half of all workers, are rightfully pushing for and expecting more leadership roles and organizational control caught in the middle are Generation X.
Dos and Don’ts DOs
Give me autonomy and feedback
Allow for my sense of adventure
Respect my work/life balance
Treat me as an individual
Give me options and choices
Give broad goals and room to achieve them tell me what needs to be done, not how to do it
Give me latitude to explore
Give me space to have fun, find meaning and be mobile
Give me the technological tools and training to succeed and the freedom to develop my skills
What Gen Xers do you personally know?
Notes
DON’Ts
Stereotype me or put me in a box
Assume that individualism = selfishness
Tell me what to think
Assume that my title is my identity or that my job defines me
Text your friends and/or watch YouTube and claim you’re working
Micro-manage me
Don’t force me into a structure or empty tradition
Expect respect based on seniority or title
Hold me to rules I regard as foolish or meaningless let me be the judge
Millennials
Born 1981-1996
About us
With Generation X and younger Baby Boomers for parents, Millennials were, as a cohort, recipients of parental and societal corrections. Whereas Gen X children were largely left to their own devices, Millennials became the focus of intense attention. The 1990s, in fact, was often referred to as the “Decade of the Child.” Concerned about the inclusion, psychological safety and overall happiness of the children in their care, teachers, coaches, and parents often treated Millennials gingerly, as if seeking their approval.
As internet natives, Millennials came of age in a time of instant global communication, media saturation, and material excess. They are, therefore, a digital-friendly, multi-tasking generation who are comfortable around technology at work and at home. The most educated generation to have ever entered the workplace, they are also the generation carrying the most debt (the debt largely coming from all that education).
Drivers and victims of social media
The first generation to experience the internet as children, Millennials found a preponderance of choices at their fingertips. Cable channels, YouTube videos, new apps, and social media platforms all specifically produced for and vying for the attention of this group of increasingly sophisticated media consumers. While on the surface it may look like the world was offering Millennials choices, but from another, more power angle, young, impressionable Millennials were unaware of the ‘Big Tech” business model and information ecosystem used by so many internet service providers who designed algorithms that tracked and used Millennials’ personal data to monetize and sell predictions to whomever wanted to influence this generation. Too often the adults working to profit from this group were the same adults criticizing them for being spoiled, self-centered, and too dependent on their phones and social media.
Paying constant, partial attention
Through their consistently “plugged in” media, Millennials witnessed the Rodney King beating and the subsequent Los Angeles riots, the OJ trial, the Oklahoma City bombings and the new presence of domestic terrorism, Bill Clinton’s impeachment, and the Columbine High School massacre. Of course, the most dramatic and life-changing event that most Millennials experienced in their formative years was the September 11th terrorist attacks and their aftermath. The 24/7 news cycle grew up along with the Millennials, giving everyone paying attention the constant feeling that life was dangerous and chaotic (despite the fact that crime rates were actually lower than in the previous generation).
Organizations and Millennials
This is a generation that has always had access to power and information, so organizational structures that limit access or slow work down are confusing and frustrating. The product of intense attention, praise, material comfort and education, this generation is fine with authority and hierarchies, so long as they have access to success and upward mobility through them. Millennials tend to be eager for mentorship, feedback and fast-track advancement.
Movies List
What does the popularity of these movies (20012010) say about the culture within which Millennials stepped into adulthood?
• Harry Potter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6
• Shrek 1, 2 and 3
• Monster’s Inc
• Spider Man 1, 2 and 3
• Star Wars: II and III
• Finding Nemo
• Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2 and 3
• Avatar
• Meet the Parents/ Meet the Fockers
• War of the Worlds
• Lord of the Rings 1, 2 and 3
• Night at the Museum
• Cars
• X-Men 1, 2 and 3
• Transformers 1 and 2
• Iron Man
• WALL-E
• Kung Fu Panda
• Twilight
• Crash
• The Departed
• Slumdog Millionaire
Movies as a Mirror
The movies that were popular as Millennials grew up reflect the radical shift that has put young people at the center of things. In marked contrast to the other generations’ movie lists, nearly every film on this list is either for or about kids or is made with a family audience in mind. Look back at the Boomer’s movie list (page 9) there is scarcely a movie you could take a child to see. Now it is unusual for a movie to exclude young viewers.
Most of the movies while quite diverse and often animated and/or in the fantasy realm actually have rather traditional narratives that are respectful of authority. There is a conservatism and traditional arc to most of these narratives. Through a struggle, the protagonist toils and ultimately bests the antagonist.
Millennials and Music
Millennials have always stored, consumed and bought (when they actually buy it) their music digitally. With songs and albums in digital format, Napster, LimeWire, and other file-sharing platforms made sharing and swapping music easy and often free, driving the entertainment industry to reinvent their business models. iPods became standard gear, and the internet became an indispensable means of up and downloading new music, sharing files and exploring new bands. Since the mid-90s, pop music has become a mash-up of new and borrowed tunes including, Hip-hop, Rock-n-Roll, Country, R&B, and World Music leading to a generation with the broadest, most diverse musical tastes to date.
Technology
Internet Age
Entering the wireless workplace of the 21st Century was natural to Millennials. Nearly nine-in-ten say they sleep with their smart phone by the bed. Multitasking has its advantages, but many see this Millennial tendency as more of a challenge accusing this group of lacking an attention span and/or the ability to focus over long projects or periods of time.
Millennial’s “First Technology” Implications
• Dubbed “digital natives,” they have never known an unwired world.
• Communication, connection, collaboration and contribution have always been web-enabled, mobile activities.
• Millennials prefer informal workplace structures and being constantly connected.
• Most Millennials have an email account only to set up their social networks, not to actually send/receive mail.
• Millennials’ tools allowed them to reach and be influenced by a larger group of people than any generation before it.
• Millennials report spending up to six hours a day reading, creating and clicking on user-generated content (UGC), any content from social media wherein users add their own opinion.
• This has led to Millennials’ wanting to work for companies that value their comments and opinions.
• Electronic conversations in soundbites help shortcut conversations in the workplace.
• From a young age, they’ve managed information and expect to do so in the workplace.
• They bring a more open approach to collaboration than other generations are comfortable with.
• Accustomed to immediate feedback, they expect performance feedback in the same manner.
Organizational Contributions:
No longer the youngsters of the workplace the oldest Millennial is/was in their early 40s in the early 2020s, Millennials are quickly and self-assuredly moving into positions of authority in organizations and in the government. This highly collaborative and tech-enabled generation finds itself with more organizational and policy-making power just as our workplaces post-COVID pandemic are facing massive paradigm shifts and challenges.
As organizations seek to and are forced to adopt a more dispersed, virtual (or at least hybrid) workplace, Millennials who now make up more than half of the workforce are ready as leaders, workers, and colleagues to make this tech-dependent evolution. Long criticized for their mobile devices rarely having been turned off or set aside, it seems we now live and work in a world where steady and continuous use of these technologies may be what keeps us functioning and productive. Millennials, these technology natives, stand ready to lead us into this new and fast-changing next chapter.
Millennials have a keen awareness of how the “mindon-digital” works. Growing up in a world where the “mob rules,” they are more likely to move in a direction when they sense a lot of other people are going that
Dos and Don’ts
Dos
Establish a personal relationship with me (we r =)
Give me developmental feedback in a respectful way (that I can take action on)
Discuss my career growth and future and promote me
Value me and my skills remember, I’m highly educated and valuable
Be open-minded to new ideas and change
OMG! Keep things moving!
Text please, especially for yes/no responses
Relate things to my personal goals/mission
Keep it casual and flexible
Allow my personal life to integrate with work life (see me as a whole person)
way, too. This tendency makes them great advocates for recruiting and retaining fellow Millennials. Enlist them to engage with the social media outlets in your industry and receive the benefits of being talked about online which helps achieve organizational objectives, and makes organizations stronger and more competitive.
What Millennials do you personally know?
Notes
DON’Ts
Give me harsh, rude criticism
Discount my education and the contribution I can make right now
Infringe on my personal time (especially because you need me to fix your technology)
Assume I’m incompetent because of my age
Limit my use of technology it makes me more effective
Pull rank or tenure, which are generational tricks to keep me out
Judge me professionally based on my personal life
Assume my need to contribute is ego driven
Judge me based on “face-time” view my work quality
Generation Z
Born 1997-2013
Assume I lack a good work ethic, that I’m shallow, or I don’t care
About us
Discussing the behaviors of Gen Z is still a little tricky given they are still being shaped by the world they live in. In fact, one of the challenges Gen Z faces is that the world is changing so much faster than ever before. From large, geopolitical movements to small, interpersonal levels, the rise of social media makes change both immediate and continuous. Climate change, the COVID pandemic, an increased awareness of social inequality, both corporations and world governments with increasing access to our private data, inflation and the rising cost of housing, education, food, and healthcare, and a massive increase in gun violence these are all part of the normal world upon which Generation Z is imprinting the world they will live in and with.
Gen Z’s attitude to these problems is complex. Many “Zoomers” feel like they are saddled with solving problems they did not create problems that keep growing in number and magnitude. Many also express a “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t” feeling. If they stand up, speak out, and try to fight these challenges, they’re told to wait and that progress takes time. If they do nothing and pursue escapism, they’re lazy, entitled children who spend too much time on their phones. These dynamics have created a key characteristic of Generation Z: a pointed and growing distrust of traditional institutions and the leaders that run them. The world moves faster than ever, and our institutions by design do not move quickly enough to solve the problems they face. Take, for example, the fact that only one President in US history went to racially desegregated public schools--and that was Barack Obama, who left office in 2017.
Organizations and Generation Z
If access, and even dependency, on the internet was already on the rise, then the COVID pandemic and the prolonged disruptions and quarantines that came in its wake exacerbated it. The pandemic hurt every generation in different ways, but it will likely take many years before we truly understand the formative damage that COVID and our response to it did to the emerging Generation Z. Gen Z lost family as well as valuable years of youth and education. The oldest of Gen Z missed their college graduations while the youngest Gen Zs missed formative years of Elementary School.
An obvious and immediate effect of the COVID pandemic as it relates to Gen Z is the transition of the world into an online space. As a generation who feels natural in online spaces, it became immediately clear who among their parents, teachers, professors, bosses, etc. was not prepared to help or even appear as a competent participant in this new arena. It was another piece of evidence that supports a growing narrative held by many among Generation Z: institutions and authorities are not listening, do not understand, and are not equipped to provide the help and support they need.
Movies List
What does the popularity of these movies (20152021) say about the culture within which Generation Z stepped into adulthood?
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker
• Fast & Furious 7
• Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame
• Zootopia
• Finding Dory
• American Sniper
• Moonlight
• Parasite
Movies as a Mirror
• Blackkklansman
• Once upon a time in Hollywood
• Black Panther
• Captain America: Civil War
• Deadpool
• Batman vs. Superman
• Joker
• Get Out
• Nomadland
More diverse and representative in cast, production personnel, and content than ever, these movies reflect and project a growing commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Generation Z has only experienced a post-9/11 world in which the United States has been at war. In an aggrieved, even avenging crouch, the United States has stepped up
and leaned into sustained strife domestically and around the world. Immersion in open conflict and toiling with the excessive and often abusive power of an oppressive system are themes that run throughout most of these movies from the real-life stories of Blackkklansman and American Sniper to the fantasy escapism, yet powerfully dark world of Marvel superheroes.
These themes of systemic oppression, socio-economic inequity, conflict and overwhelm are just as present in so many of the most streamed television shows from 2015 to 2021.
• Walking Dead
• Black Mirror
• Westworld
• Ozark
• American Horror Story
• Stranger Things
• Attack on Titan
• Bo Burnham’s Inside
Gen Z and Music
What makes Gen Z’s music environment interesting is not the quality of music, but the context of the music. The internet provides new platforms on which people create and discover; popular music is no longer dictated solely by massive record labels. SoundCloud was created as a music-based social media platform. You can like, comment on, and repost songs. It was created in 2007, but rose in popularity in the 2010’s. In a brand new way, anybody with a computer could create music and gain notoriety. Talented contemporary artists like Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Travis Scott, and Lizzo all started by posting songs on a SoundCloud account. Justin Bieber got famous by posting videos of singing with an acoustic guitar on YouTube. Modern technology allows for better access to the creation and the consumption of art for Gen Z.
Gen Z, Music and Technology
Generation Z consumes music and video and data continuously concurrent to life and its other demands and activities. Google, Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, and a steady stream of other and everexpanding apps and platforms are cycling into and out of this generation’s awareness. The Gen Z mind does not relate to doing a task OR being plugged in to their online worlds. Rather, they engage life’s tasks WHILE plugged into these data streams. Online engagement and connectivity to the collective of the internet is an augment, not a distraction.
What members of Generation Z do you personally know?
Notes
Dos and Don’ts
DO
Show patience as I learn workplace norms and etiquette and show a willingness to adapt to me
Share what you are passionate about besides work
Understand, if not embrace, my search for a healthy work/life balance
Reassure me that my presence is important to this organization
Take my ideas for innovation seriously; I know the status quo works, but my way could also work
Personally recognize my contributions
Grant access to leaders inside the organization
Let me appear on a blog, podcast, YouTube video, et cetera
Keep check-ins with me brief like <5 minutes
DON’T
Dismiss my passion for justice as a “just a phase,” or “being politically correct”
Expect respect simply for being older; respect is a two-way street
Limit access to power or information or slow work down
Assume I’m incompetent because of my age
Hold back on or limit my use of technology
Forget about diversity and inclusion
Limit my access to senior leaders
Make me wait for feedback
Limit my career moves
Generational Blind Spots
What follows is a summary of each generation’s blind spots. The intention is for people to engage mostly with their own generation’s data. Remember, once you know you have a blind spot and decide to focus upon it, the blind spot goes away.
Exercise
Put a check mark by the comments of your generation’s description to which you relate. Which of these blind spots do or even might apply to you?
If you are a Traditionalist, check your blind spots:
Concentration on knowing, practicing and recalling past experience and procedures in the name of efficiency leads this generation to be more backward than forward looking, more historical than visionary.
Being well into middle age before computers became a workplace reality, Traditionalists tend to be late adopters (if they do at all) of new technology and slow to pick up on new trends.
Traditionalists tend to believe work is done at the work-site, and if you are not at work and at your desk (or place of actual labor), you are not working. This mindset blocks this generation from embracing telework and/or flex hours or trusting their colleagues who engage these more technology-enabled ideas.
For most of the Traditionalists’ careers, the pace of growth and organizational change was more gradual than it is today. As a result, most in this generation believe that career growth and advancement are things that happen more slowly earned one success after another over time.
When managed by a younger worker, but especially a Gen-X’er or a Millennial, Traditionalists often chafe and struggle when their years of general life and work experience are not acknowledged, respected, and consulted.
If you are a Baby Boomer, check your blind spots:
Rigid commitment to the organization leads Boomers to become too bureaucratic and hierarchical, letting rank too often define status and importance.
Organizational adherence and experience leads many Boomers to expect everyone to conform to the established, “one-size-fits-all” office protocol and procedure.
Boomers, who have always seen inherent value in time at your desk (and often were the fist one in and the last one out of the office), can now struggle to engage in and manage the “post-pandemic value” provided by those working from home and with newly varied schedules.
The desire to meet, train, and talk face-to-face can lead to inefficiencies and an under-use of newer technologies.
The values of learning by trial-and-error and “paying you dues” leads many Boomers to expect less experienced workers to take more time working through issues and learning the organization’s culture than these workers want or believe necessary.
When managed by a Gen-X’er or even more challenging a Millennial or a Gen Z, Boomers can chafe and struggle when their years of general life and work experience are not acknowledged and consulted.
If you are a Gen Xer, check your blind spots:
Gen X’ers tend to consider someone with 10 years of experience as someone who has two years of experience and eight years of doing the same thing over and over. This focus on practical skills leads to a discounting of longer-term, experience-rich workers (often Boomers and Traditionalists), who can feel discounted and diminished as a result.
Focus on their own professional and career development in lieu of more traditional organizational loyalty can make Gen-X workers seem short-sighted and selfish (especially to Boomers and Traditionalists).
The independent streak that makes Gen-Xers not fully trust the organization extends to its traditions and procedures, and Gen Xers, as a result, sometimes turn their backs on or overlook procedures and possible solutions that could work because they are things “we’ve always done.”
Gen-Xers, seeing little value in face-to-face or desk time, can both under-engage in-office presence AND under-value the efforts of others putting in physical time at work.
Gen-Xers can be quick to adopt a tech solution for its seeming efficiency, convenience or novelty at the expense of face-to-face, personal experiences (meetings, trainings and processes).
If you are a Millennial, check your blind spots:
It can be a disconnect for Millennials that personal markers of identity (tattoos, piercings, wardrobe choices, personal photos both on-line and in a workspace) can be jarring, distracting, or out of alignment with an organization’s image.
Millennials are accustomed to positive feedback and rewards for success. Withholding bosses and organizations slow to praise and promote can confuse and frustrate a Millennial used to sprinting toward success.
Millennials can struggle to see the value in unplugging or stepping away from technology. Millennials tend to see themselves as more effective WITH their phones, so demanding them to be unplugged seems slow and unnecessary.
The constant presence of internet-based data has led Millennials to be quick to push tough questions to the collective for answers. However, if the question defies quick answers or pushes into new ground, Millennials have had less experience than past generations wrestling with complex questions and blazing new trails on their own.
When managing other generations, Millennials understandably believing they draw power from their title, education and job experience may discount the broader life experience that older workers believe most secures status and respect.
Millennials tend to define an experienced person as someone who “knows about” something. There is not necessarily an important difference between someone with extensive experience and someone who knows a procedure because he watched a video on YouTube. If you know, you know; get on with it. This can lead Millennials to under-value others’ experience and over-value their own.others’ experience and oir
If you are a Gen Z, check your blind spots:
Constant connectivity has been integral to Gen Z’s lives since they were conscious. The constant connection and multitasking often is and can appear distracting and rude.
Cognitive research has shown that actual “multi-tasking” is not possible. Gen Z is so accustomed to this multi-pronged and simultaneous engagement that they can be openly resistant to slowing down and focusing on one task at a time.
Being digitally native, Gen Z frequently expect immediate data, answers, and progress. This can appear as impatience or lead to quick, rash judgements when a situation calls for careful thought or consideration.
Generation Z only knows a post 9/11 United States and world a world that has been violent, volatile, uncertain, and highly contentious. Gen Z, therefore, tends to regard institutions and their leaders from government and civic organizations to the people who run and represent corporations with skepticism and frustration.
The immediacy, technological ease, and rising ubiquity of online communication can lead Gen Z to discount traditionally used communication (face-to-face meetings or personal phone calls) as outdated even when these options are or could be useful.
Organizational tensions by generation
Inspired by Haydn Shaw’s Sticking Points
This worksheet presents nine different common points of tension in nearly every organization — and the differing perspectives from each of the five generations currently active in the workplace
Communication Formal letters, thank you notes, live meetings, and phone calls
Dress code
More formal, appropriate dress at home and at work
Feedback If people in power have something to say, they do so through formal channels ongoing feedback is not an obligation
Fun at work
Loyalty
Work and play are different things. Work then play on your own time
Longevity and tenure matter find a job with a future and stay there
Meetings In-person meetings are the way leaders give (and get) the data they need to make decisions
Respect Leadership, experience, age and tenure are to be recognized and respected
Training Is something the organization does for the worker what is the worker doing for the organization?
Work ethic You’re lucky to have a job do whatever you can to do the job completely and well
Hand-written notes, memos, phones, and meetings
Expected uniform at work and casual at home
Annual performance reviews, quarterly 1-on-1 meetings with the boss
Work to play working and getting stuff done is fun
Leaving is a last resort
How we get information and provide development opportunities for everyone let’s meet in person if we can
E-mails, IMs, and virtual meetings
Prefer casual at work, but it is not worth the fight
Just let each other know what you think no formal meeting needed
Work/life balance is important, and do not assume work will be fun
Leaving is often necessary to maintain your career
Keep them short and focused, and let’s meet virtually
Positions and titles are worthy of respect I respect those who prove to me that they deserve it
Is both a reward and an investment
Competition is stiff I work 8-6 and then take work home
Is my career-security
I’d rather leave work at work, but I will take home what I need to
Traditionalist
Baby Boomer Gen X
Instructions & reflection/discussion questions
If you are engaging with this workbook by yourself, reflect on the following questions, and we would strongly suggest that you actually write your answers down.
If you are engaging with this workbook in a larger group or team, we suggest that you discuss these questions. If possible, discuss them with someone of a different generation. And we still strongly suggest that you write your answers down.
Texts, IMs, social media connections
Express your style, but dress for work do we need a dress code?
Just put the score on the screen like a video game feedback should be instant
I’ll get more done if we have fun
Change careers until you find the right fit if you like your career, change jobs within your organization
If we need to meet, OK, but keep things moving, and let me multi-task
Texts (vowels optional) and IMs my social media life is not for my boss and co-workers to see
Dress how you want it’s what you do not how you dress that should matter
Show me how to win and let me know how I’m doing and offer personal support
Work is work I have fun outside of work. However, rigid workplace expectations and hierarchies make work miserable
Jobs are about a symbiotic relationship, not loyalty give me stability, a raise, a promotion, access to responsibilities I want, and I will give you my work
Meetings should be fast-moving, inclusive, psychologically safe, and over soon
I respect those who “get it,” get me, and take me seriously I respect leaders who notice and care about me and help me succeed
Is standard a perk offered by any good employer
Is needed to do the tasks we are expected to do
It’s a 24/7 world. I’m leaving at 5:00. I’ll log on tonight if needed
I’ll work as much as I need to within reason, but respect my life outside of work and recognize my effort praise, pay, and promote me
My effort is not as important as my results are. If my work is up to par, then my effort should not matter.
With your colleagues, select a tension/ topic that you will discuss in depth.
In a small group, discuss your selected organizational tension how does this tension manifest within your organization? Do you experience or have you experienced different generational approaches to your chosen issue/tension?
Drawing from your materials and your own generational insights, explore the different approaches to the topic each generation takes.
Be ready to explain and defend the perspective or approach of each generation help us understand each generation’s approach and point of view. How and why does each generation approach this topic/issue the way they do? You are not being asked to agree with any generation’s approach merely to understand it within the context of their upbringing and personal historical story.
Which generation is most frustrating for you to deal with concerning this issue?
How do you think your generational attitude or approach to this issue is experienced from other generational points of view?
Next Step Actions
Personal Development
What are 3 to 5 descriptions or details of your generation with which you identify most strongly?
Identify a few ways in which your generational outlook and style have benefited your life and career. How has it served you well?
Identify a few ways in which your generational outlook and style have proved challenging (to yourself and/or others) and may have limited you or your success?
What two action could you take to put any of these generational insights to work in the next week?
Relationship Development
• Identify someone in your life with whom you have a generational struggle this struggle need not define your relationship. Try to pick a current (ongoing) relationship that is holding some kind of generational tension. Who is this person, and from what generation are they?
• Read the DOs and DON’Ts at the end of this person’s generation chapter in this workbook. Identify 1 or 2 behaviors that you could commit to doing more of (DOs) and 1 or 2 behaviors you could commit to doing less of when dealing with this person (DON’Ts).
• Read the DOs and DON’Ts from your own generation’s chapter. What are the behaviors you would most like this person to do more or less of when they interact with you? Consider asking select people in your life for these specific behaviors--whether DOs or DON’Ts.
Organizations that have effectively integrated a generational model with programs, policies and procedures rooted in generational sensitivity empower leaders and team members to identify and bridge gaps.
Workshops & Keynotes
• Communication
• Team Building
• Generational Diversity
Leadership Development
• Coaching
• Influencing Skills
• Motivation & Engagement
Learning Tools
• Workbooks
• Exercises & Group Activities
• Action Plans
To explore your options and discuss how OKA can help support your generational diversity efforts, contact us at www.oka-online.com
Hile Rutledge is President and Principal Consultant of OKA, one of America’s most respected and trusted training and development firms. Hile’s published works include The EQ-i Workbook, Type Talk At Work, The MBTI Workbook, Narrative Intelligence, and a host of other training materials and online resources. Hile’s primary area of expertise is the practical use of assessment tools in the development of self-awareness and improved self-management for leaders, teams and organizations. Hile, a member of Generation X, holds MSOD and BA degrees and lives with his wife in Falls Church, Virginia. And Hile is happy to have coauthored this book with his son, Whitten Rutledge.
Whitten Rutledge is a Consultant and Project Manager at OKA. As Hile’s son, he grew, lived, and learned about the garden of tools that OKA has to offer—even undergoing certifications in the EQ-i, DRiV, and the MBTI as a teenager. Whitten, a member of Generation Z, has a BA in Political Science and Creative Writing from Virginia Commonwealth University.
