Post by Matthew Richter

As with many other learning myths and misconceptions, the differences associated with what generation one was born to keep popping up. A friend just shared an image of a slide from a session at a prominent L&D conference (I won't say), indicating how leaders are different according to their boomer nature, Gen-X malaise, and millennial digital nativism (please don't get Clark Quinn to go off on that one 😁). This article explores the science and research on whether your generation is THE CAUSE of how and why you behave, or whether it is merely correlated with other factors. Why do we care? What does it matter, as long as we pay attention to how people may be different? Because we really aren't doing that! We are really putting people into a box... a category that lacks both validity and substance, AND THEN making decisions for how we engage and resolve issues. A recipe for ineptitude at best, or harm at worst. These tropes are easy to glob onto. They may seem to work and make sense, but in the end they lead to interventions that cost money, time, and effort, and likely yield no return. But... they lend to a fun narrative. Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. The Learning Development Accelerator The Thiagi Group Charles-Louis de Maere Tineke Melkebeek, PhD Kate Sidarovich Jacques Forest Les Lauber Kat Koppett Karl Kapp Stella Lee, PhD. #generations #humanresources #traininganddevelopment