'The New Me Generation' (so much for Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y...)

[Deja Q]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/09/30/the_new_me_generation/

The crop of talented recent graduates coming into today's workforce is widely seen as narcissistic and entitled. And those are their best qualities.

By Jake Halpern | September 30, 2007

Nicole Mirabile, who is just 15 years old, has a clear vision of her future, and it doesn't involve a boss. The prospect of working at a Fortune 500 company – and landing the sort of well-paying job that Americans once regarded as the benchmark of success – holds zero allure for her. "It would be hard compromising with a lot of different people whom I might clash with," she speculates. Mirabile, a sophomore at North Quincy High School, would be far happier running her own company. "I have the time, I have the brains, I have the patience to do it, and I am not going to give up if I fail once," she vows.

Alan Chhabra, who is 31 years old, shares a similar sensibility even if, as it turns out, he does report to a boss. Chhabra works at Egenera, a computer-server manufacturer based in Marlborough, but he is not the sort of fellow who puts too much stock in old-school notions of corporate protocol. As he puts it, "I have no problem knocking on the door and walking into the CEO's office or the CTO's office on a whim – interrupting their schedule – and saying, 'I need to talk to you.'" Chhabra says that ever since he was a kid, he has been "knocking heads with basketball teachers, track coaches, teachers, and girlfriends. If I felt that I was right, I wouldn't back down."

What do Alan Chhabra and Nicole Mirabile have in common – besides a great deal of chutzpah? They are members of the so-called Entitlement Generation, the upstarts at the office who put their feet on their desks, voice their opinions frequently and loudly at meetings, and always volunteer – nay, expect – to take charge of the most interesting projects. They are smart, brash, even arrogant, and endowed with a commanding sense of entitlement. And since a new crop is graduating from Boston's high-powered colleges and universities every year, chances are, one may be heading to your office soon.

Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, says that this includes virtually everyone born after 1970. According to Twenge, these young people were raised on a daily regimen of praise and flattery from their baby boomer parents and from teachers who embraced a self-esteem-boosting curriculum that included activities like the Magic Circle game.

Article has more...

:scared:


BTW: What's this "Magic Circle" game? I was born after 1970, but I never got to play it. And damn straight I'm entitled to do so! :P

:o

:rofl:



Oh, there's this snippet too:

"I can live my life any way I want to" and "If I ruled the world, it would be a better place."

Well, isn't freedom about living one's life the way one wants to?

And that latter comment sounds familiar. Can't quite place it, but I think politicians are known for frequently saying it.

[NMDemDist2]

1. yeah, well good luck to them n/t

[MedleyMisty]

2. Sound like cool people to me

Plus - I was not aware that two tiny little individual anecdotes could explain the thoughts and feelings of an entire generation?

I saw one statistic in the whole thing that said that percentages of people showing narcisstic tendencies had gone up some, but were nowhere near a majority. Plus I didn't see the questions that were asked or much details at all about the study.

Even if you do accept that people born within a certain time frame can all be generalized about and are all the same, this doesn't sound negative to me. It's mostly saying, "OMG, these people stand up for themselves and don't bow down to authority!"

[Cabcere]

3. I was born in 1986

and I've never heard of this "Magic Circle" thing, either. :shrug: As for the entitlement thing...well, I dunno. I'd like to think I'm not that bad, but maybe I am. :shrug:

[ikojo]

4. Not surprising a 15 year old would think

the world revolves around them....generally people get over that after working for a few years. I know I did.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

5. Now all they need is experience.

[mitchum]

6. This is just another pandering, flattering piece written to motivate them...

to pursue that magic carrot. Dream it! Go for it!
The system demands it.
The same kind of flattering propaganda was trotted out for the boomers and Generation X

[ellisonz]

7. This article is mostly crap.

[WindRavenX]

8. God, I hate these articles. Not ALL of Gen Y are narcissistic assholes.

I just graduated college and seriously, these pieces just suck. We're not all like this.

My goal in life is to work in cancer research, live a good life, and retire to Canada to grow fields of marijuana and raise chickens.

:P

[Raine]

9. Seems like a good thing to me

I don't see anything wrong with people who have the drive and initiative to want to start their own business. I would commend them for not wanting to be men women in "grey flannel" suits, nameless and faceless in a cold, greedy, self-centered corporation. These people sound more like my generation (1960s & 70's) who weren't content to work the same way our parents did.

[AZBlue]

10. I have to disagree with one thing here:

They are smart, brash, even arrogant, and endowed with a commanding sense of entitlement.

Smart? Not the ones I work with daily.

[Cleita]

11. So far I like these kids. I hope our corporate masters don't

squash their dreams. A nation of small business entrepreneurs appeals to me. I was once one myself until a corporate behemouth, who could undersell me, forced me to close my business.

[Odin2005]

12. Oh great, not Twenge's BS about my generation being a bunch of narcissists, again.

Self confidence does not = narcissism. Twenge is full of shit.

It's ironic that the Boomers, the original Me Generation, are calling us self-centered.