Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. And while plenty of people are saying he doesn’t deserve it, I completely love the idea of someone winning a prestigious international award at the young age of 48.
It gives me hope that the workplace is actually changing from a stodgy focus on number of years at the company, to promotion and recognition based on ideas, leadership, and raw talent. The prize makes sense to me for these reasons:
There is no rule that young people can’t move up quickly
People keep harping on Obama’s age and experience as a reason he doesn’t deserve the award. Get over it. If the accomplishments warrant award, there is no reason to wait until a person hits a certain age.
I hate when companies do this. I worked at a Fortune 500 out of college and a position one level above mine opened up in my department. My coworkers told me to apply because I was already performing every single one of items listed under qualifications. It makes sense – why should they hire someone else, when I was right there doing the job already?I applied, but was rejected because I had only worked at the company for a 1.5 years and they didn’t like to promote people until they’d been there for 3.
Paying your dues is fine and necessary – but some people pay faster than others. Basing due-paying on age alone is lame. It’s for academics. It’s for old school thinkers. And I’m glad the Nobel Committee is not so old school.
Leaders who inspire people win
The workplace is nothing without strong leadership, and no company moves from good to great based on its products or services alone. Likewise, the United States would not be out of the global dog house if it weren’t for the way Obama represents our country to the rest of the world.
Truthfully, not much about our country has changed since Obama became President – we are not suddenly a better or smarter or more productive group of people. What has changed is our leadership – and the way Obama has inspired both the US and other countries makes him worthy of winning. And frankly, it’s amazing and shocking that one man can change global perceptions of an entire country.
Plus, now that Obama has been recognized as a leader of world peace, he has more clout to continue his mission, and more incentive to continue inspiring others.
You can’t grow without a stretch position
It’s career suicide to take on a role that’s past the breaking point of your talents and experience level. But we also know that the best way to advance in your career is to do the job you want before you have the title or authority to do so.
That’s where stretch positions come in. Obama has an aptitude for taking stretch roles that allow him to grow, without screwing up. US President was a stretch role for Obama, but he beat out several competitors with more age and experience than him, and he seems to be faring well.
While Obama hasn’t accomplished world peace yet, he’s a Nobel laureate for world peace because he has been executing on his vision of world peace all along, before he even won the presidency. This prize is yet another opportunity to grow into a stretch position – and I’m confident he’ll do just fine.
What do you think? Workplace revolution in the making?
Here’s the thing: people talk a lot about how special Generation Y is. I wonder if we’re getting a little too much undeserved praise.
We say we’re going to change the workplace, but are we really doing anything so far besides benefiting from the situation we’re in?
Generation Y has a huge population, and this has shifted power in the workplace to make companies more adept to giving us what we want in order to retain us. Furthermore, we have our Boomer parents who, for the most part, have paid our way through life, through college, and even beyond as we search for the perfect career opportunities that allow us to collect a fat paycheck while still being able to work flexible hours. We’ve spent our whole lives getting everything we demanded from our parents: a cell phone, a TV, a new car on our 16th birthday; and now we waltz into the workplace and expect the same treatment. Sure, older generations give us what we want; but begrudgingly, because, like everything else in our lives thus far, we did nothing to earn it.
It’s really no wonder that other generations resent us the way they do. We say we’re creating this massive shift in the workplace, but really, most of it has been created for us. Of course, we’re happy to take advantage of it, just as we were happy to show off and brag about our brand new cars to our friends, conveniently forgetting that we didn’t actually earn the money that paid for them.
Here’s how I think we are contributing to the workplace: longer hours. As much as we say we are not willing to sell our time, do any of us work less than 45+ hour weeks? No, because we’re so desperate to stay ahead of the other rich, bright, hard-working, degree-holding overachievers in our generation.
We insist we are too smart to do the crap work. We demand tasks and projects that are meaningful. But who, then, is qualified to do the busy work? An undergraduate degree is practically a prerequisite for getting a decent-paying job these days, and anyone with a college education is too busy and important to waste their time on administrative duties, says us.
I am reminded of the movie GATTACA, where science creates a superhuman race through genetic births, leaving anyone conceived the normal way left cleaning toilets. Is that really what Generation Y wants to be remembered for – the generation that divided the workplace into the over privileged vs. the underprivileged? The generation that killed off the middle-class worker?
While we’re on the subject, let’s talk then about money: how many of us are actually saving, or even (gasp) investing? Most of the Gen Y’ers I know are living paycheck to paycheck, and their higher salaries are going toward their rent and student loans. Oh, and the 54″ inch HDTV they had to own. And shopping trips for clothes and furniture they didn’t need.
If 30 is the new 20, retirements really are dead, as Ryan Healy says. Because we’re going to be so far behind in saving for a traditional retirement, and so focused on instant gratification, that we won’t be able to afford it. A conscious choice we are making, or the consequence of our “me now” upbringing? To me, a three month vacation now sounds like a sad consolation to having to work the rest of my life.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being a member of Generation Y. I want to believe we actually are special and can bring about the change we idealistically cling to. But right now I have more questions than answers, and I have to wonder if all the generational talk is making us forget what’s important – that every generation has contributed to where we are at now. That we all need to figure out where we belong in this new workplace we’ve been inching towards for the past 30 years.
And above all, Generation Y needs to consider the change we are actually creating, because, in the end, we’re the ones who will have to live with our choices.
Image Source: Tzatziki via FlickR
Exactly one year ago I turned 23 years old. I woke up, went to work as usual, and managed to get through an entire day with less than five coworkers wishing me a Happy Birthday. The best part was probably spending my lunch “hour” (20 minutes) eating an iceberg lettuce (ick) salad at my desk by myself.
Compare that to this year at a new company - I took the day off today, but that didn’t stop my team from decorating my desk with streamers and inappropriate but funny balloons yesterday. For lunch, we went to one of my favorite Thai restaurants and no one complained about splitting the bill. We played an extra round of Wii Bowling for my birthday, which I’m thankfully better at than actual bowling. And of course I got a few of the “So you’re 19 today?” jokes because I’m still one of the youngest workers at my office.
Looking at these two birthdays, you would never guess I had good relationships with my coworkers at both jobs. The difference was the culture on my old team was such that we didn’t celebrate birthdays, while my new team loves any excuse for a party, or at least a few hours out of the office. And what a world of difference it makes.
Want to keep millennials engaged? Celebrate them. Birthdays are important milestones for young people, so don’t miss the opportunity to let them know they are valuable to your company.
If you want to help me celebrate my 24th birthday, consider leaving a comment or, if you haven’t already, subscribing to Twenty Set by feed or email. I’ll be publishing some great stuff next week you won’t want to miss!
Monica O'Brien is the Director of Digital at Fizz and author of the book Social Pollination, which helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth!
