Dr. Joanie Connell is an author, organizational consultant, and leadership coach. Her book is: “Flying without a Helicopter: How to Prepare Young People for Work and Life.” She’s writing a second one on connecting the generations that should be out this year. She gives keynote speeches at companies and schools and runs the consulting firm Flexible Work Solutions, Inc. She has a PhD from UC Berkeley and a BA from Harvard.
Today she educated us on how to cope with the various generations - the Silents, Baby Boomers, Gen X, etc. She says there are lot of conflicts when not connecting with the various generations and trying to understand each other.
Companies face a lot of cost for "NOT" connecting with the generations. She cited an example of an organization that invited millenials to a meeting with more older folks and learnt that the older generation was trying to get rid of the Baby Boomers since they did not understand the younger folks. The millenials felt that they were not welcomed to the group. This lack of understanding needs to be corrected by using the 3 key factors that Dr. Connell trains companies on - INQUIRE, EMPATHIZE and RESPECT.
There is some overlap in these generations as seen in the picture above. The older generations today are living longer. It seems 78 years is average life expectancy today. Each generation faces different issues as shown in image above. The context is different and so it is key to understand those differences as per Dr. Connell in order to bridge those generational issues. People have moved from mailing letters to emails and texting, carriages to space trips, etc. And so, the key is to mingle with an OPEN mind and avoid any "assumptions" of each other. Inquire, Empathize and Respect are the key factors to remember.
In the end, our club president Bill Sutton awarded the Joshua Malawi school certificate to Dr. Connell that represents donation of school supplies by DMSB to schools in Malawi in the name of the speaker.
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