It's not unusual
The Post magazine critic tackles the new Fortune cover about Gen Y at work and comes away with this column.
What the hell is a corporate boss supposed to do with these cockamamie Generation Y kids?
That's the question that Fortune magazine tries to answer in its Gen Y cover story, which is called "Manage Us? Puh-leeze." The subtitle gives you an idea of what's inside: "Today's twentysomethings have their own rules. You just don't understand them :-)." When America's premier business mag touts a pop sociology story with a smiley-face emoticon, you know you're in for a deep blizzard of baloney.
Generation Y is the media term for people born between 1977 and 1995. Of course, it's a complete fiction: All Americans between the ages of 12 and 30 are no more alike than all Jews or all Asian Americans or, for that matter, all Latvian lesbian taxidermists. But birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, magazines gotta run generalizations about generations. God knows the baby boomers have been hyping themselves for decades.
The rest is here. If you're a member of Gen Y and ever read a Gen Y article and smirked, this quick hit is for you. Some of the management tactics in the Fortune piece are interesting and some of the situations may be familiar, but really …
We all know the type: He's a sartorial Ryan Seacrest, a developmental Ferris Bueller, a professional Carlton Banks. (Not up on twentysomethings' media icons? That's the "American Idol" host, the truant Matthew Broderick movie hero, and the overeager Will Smith sidekick in "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.")
and the disclaimer box …
This collective portrait does not represent all Gen Yers, some of whom are complicated enough to choose the road less selfish – getting married, starting nonprofits – and some of whom can't afford to be this entitled. While parents were consulted, they spoke strictly on background, in the interest of their mental health.
and, of course, the glossary.
