Andy Birol is a local business consultant. I read a recent article of his admonishing the youth of our country. He takes the parent role and groups, I imagine, generation X and Y collectively. He describes them as entitled and not grasping the obvious. He seems to take pleasure in making everyone younger than him feel like children.
This article is wrong on many levels. Let’s run down them.
1. Cool Cleveland caters to the youth of our city and it gives them Andy Birol to chastise them.
2. The youth are the people who are going to be running this country when the boomers retire. They need to be treated much better.
3. The work world is different than it was when Andy entered it 26 or so years ago. Corporations don’t take care of their employees any more and workers return the favor. Each will gladly screw the other to get ahead. If you want committed, enthusiastic employees think of them as volunteers.
4. Andy’s recommendations are actually fine. He, for whatever reason, wants to slam his audience first. It’s a sure way to breed resentment instead of interest.
5. I had a young person who just entered the workforce recite this same type of crap. This person was happy to condemn her peers and herself. I don’t really know why. Maybe she’s trying to look for some sort of acceptance. Every minority has this type of person. Here’s some basic life strategy… never abandon your group in hopes of aligning yourself with another group – both will distrust and resent you.
6. Come on people! Stop blaming everyone else. If you feel the need to look down your nose at someone, just look inward. There is always plenty there to work on. When you look outward, look for what is right and focus on that.
7. Stand up for yourself. Be yourself. If no one hires you, start your own company and create an environment where you would want to go to work.
8. Don’t let the Andy Birol’s push you around.
9. Be proud of who you are.
10. The world is going to get better for the workers. You are going to be in control soon. It will happen sooner if every time someone like Birol tries to make you feel inferior, you immediately turn around and tell him why you would rather be a starving artist than work for some bull headed boss in a crappy office, why you try to protect your wait staff from a jerk patron that can’t scrape together a tip for somebody who could really use the money, and why you are resentful of being trained by someone who thinks more of his car than he does of you.
Stop treating people badly who aren’t like you. It’s exactly what is wrong with this world.
Here is Andy’s Article
http://www.andybirol.com/
Comments
9 responses to “Andy Birol Slams Youth”
Shane,
The correct link to my article is http://www.andybirol.com/article_read.asp?id=363. I hope your reaction to my effort to encourage our younger peers pushes every reader to reach his or her Best and Highest Use.
Regards,
Andy Birol [email protected]
Sage, I mistakenly referred to you as Shane. My bad. My apologies.
Regards,
Andy Birol [email protected]
Thanks for reading Andy.
I wanted to keep the link to the cool cleveland article.
“Highest and Best Use” at the expense of their dignity is something these younger generations simply are not going to stand for.
Sage
Sage,
Love your response. When I read Birol’s “vitrol” I was so pissed that the only words I could think of was “F U, D-bag.” Not one of my more eloquent moments. It is my view that Birol is part of the old school, loves to pontificate, and doesn’t actually dialogue, but patronize. His recommendations sound fine, but walking the talk or creating the conditions for others to walk is the key. Without the commitment and action, it just becomes the same old crap wrapped up in the latest pretty jargon. BHU,indeed.
Sage,
I work in the IT Consulting Industry. Every day I talk to “young guns” who think they have the ability to be the CIO of any company because of a degree and some technical knowledge. Most of them are very talanted, but lack experience. More specifically practical daily business experience.
I love the energy of the young, and they are great employee’s when they are put in the right spots.
Our future is going to be built on their backs, it is our responsibility to make sure they have the knowlege to bear the load.
I think you are missing Andy’s point. The fact is, the younger set must understand the boundaries of the systems within which they work. AND, if they wish to change the rules of engagement, they will need to work their way through the system to get to a position of authority sufficient to affect change.
Business won’t change because one stamps their feet. Business won’t change from the inside unless you are inside to begin with.
Or, better yet, one can go out, start their own business their way and see how it goes.
m
The selection of Andy, whom I’ve known and rather gotten a kick out of for some years, as a columnist for CC has left plenty of people kind of scratching their heads. To say it seems an odd choice is an understatement. Andy has a well-honed schtick, and it’s quite effective. But it’s still a schtick, and more pure high-concept branding than anything. As Andy would say, it’s all about “shameless self-promotion,” and good for him for being successful at that. But let’s not treat this as if it’s quantum physics, cause it’s surely not.
John Ettorre
Interesting dialogue.
I’m not saying that I adhere to the middle school mentality that everything you need to know, you’ve got the day you walk out of college. I would imagine very few younger people would suggest that either.
What I am saying is that there are a myriad of ways to guide and train people. The way that has been accepted since the industrial revolution is to scold, yell and demoralize. The reason why that won’t work anymore is because the business landscape is different than it ever was. Hierarchy is disappearing and the younger generations know that. They don’t owe anything to anybody. They can work for the guy down the street, for the guy in San Jose, for the guy in Canada, for the guy in Beijing, or screw everybody and work for themselves. THEY DON’T NEED YOU!
So, if you want to work with generations outside of your own, you must treat them with dignity and respect… something every single human being deserves. Guide them from the vantage point of peer to peer, instead of adult to child.
This mental shift is going to make the American business world stronger than it ever has been. But it takes courage from everyone above the age of 35 to do it. Trust trust trust. It will come back to you in ways you never imagined.
Brewed Fresh Daily Review. Thanks George. And thanks to all of you who stopped by because of Brewed Fresh.
Was it a slam? The things Andy cited are real examples of how anyone can mess up, not just the Youth of America…
I have two interns who work with me. Both are achievers – both are smart, articulate, strategic and fascinating. But both are still learning what it takes to be successful in business.
As a former bartender and restaurant manager, I know people can be jerks – but when the service is terrible, thoughtless, slow, indifferent, or surly, I’m not likely to leave a tip. (Okay, usually I’ll leave a small tip – they have to pay taxes on what the government thinks they got tipped!) Matter of fact, no matter where I get bad service, I’m unlikely to be happy about it. That lack of happiness isn’t an attack on youth, it’s lack of happiness.
Sage’s comment about methods of training bears a mention. The browbeating method is on the way out for just one reason: It doesn’t work. Even at the old-world manufacturing company where I work, even at the plants, it’s all about helping people learn their jobs. That said, they are held accountable for performance of their duties, and meeting the goals safely is paramount. You don’t get extra credit for trying hard, you only get it for succeeding.
Finally, a smart woman once told me to stop whining and get back to work – and that’s real advice…