| Every parent, educator, and manager knows that | | | | working with the best, most knowledgeable people, |
| "Nintendo children"--those born after 1970 and raised | | | | wherever they may be. Such virtual teams often |
| on video and computer games, Walkmans, the Internet, | | | | recruit each other via messages on the Internet, |
| etc.--are different. Unfortunately, the Gen-X discussion | | | | operate smoothly from widely scattered parts of the |
| has focused mainly on the youths' supposedly short | | | | world, and many never physically meet their clients or |
| attention spans and attention-deficit disorders, ignoring | | | | each other. As they finish their day, software |
| or underemphasizing what is perhaps the most crucial | | | | developers around the globe often electronically |
| factor--that this under-30 generation thinks, and sees | | | | forward their work to a colleague in another country |
| the world, in ways entirely different from their | | | | who is just waking up. Managers must become more |
| parents.An example: This generation grew up on video | | | | adept at managing these connected capabilities and |
| games ("twitch speed"), MTV (more than 100 images a | | | | directing the acquisition, enhancement, and appropriate |
| minute), and the ultra-fast speed of action films. Their | | | | deployment of intellectual capital around the |
| developing minds learned to adapt to speed and thrive | | | | world.Active vs. PassiveOne of the most striking |
| on it. Yet when they join our companies, we typically | | | | cross-generational differences can be observed when |
| begin by putting them in corporate classrooms, bringing | | | | people are given new software to learn. Older folks |
| in poor speakers to lecture at them, and making them | | | | almost invariably want to read the manual first, afraid |
| sit through an endless series of corporate | | | | they won't understand how the software works or |
| videos.Speedwise, we effectively give them | | | | that they'll break something. Nintendo-generation |
| depressants. And then we wonder why they're bored.I | | | | workers rarely even think of reading a manual. "RTFM" |
| don't mean to suggest that Sega and Sony have | | | | ("read the [expletive] manual") is a term of derision. |
| created new intellectual faculties in under-30s but, | | | | They'll just play with the software, hitting every key if |
| rather, that technology has emphasized and reinforced | | | | necessary, until they figure it out. If they can't, they |
| certain cognitive aspects and de-emphasized others. | | | | assume the problem is with the software, not with |
| Most of these changes in cognitive style are positive. | | | | them. This attitude is almost certainly a direct result of |
| But however one feels, it's important that managers | | | | growing up with Sega, Nintendo, and other video |
| (as well as educators and parents) recognize that | | | | games where each level and monster had to be |
| these changes exist so that we can deal with the | | | | figured out by trial and error, and each trial click might |
| younger generation effectively.Below are 10 of the | | | | lead to a hidden surprise or "Easter egg."We now see |
| main cognitive style changes, which raise a number of | | | | much less tolerance in the workplace for passive |
| important and difficult challenges. We have already | | | | situations such as lectures, corporate classrooms, and |
| begun to see the development of new business | | | | even traditional meetings. As the younger generation |
| structures, ideas, and products that take into account | | | | progresses up the managerial ranks, it is likely that |
| under-30 employees' cognitive changes and | | | | such old-fashioned managerial standbys will be |
| preferences. It is likely that the full impact of these | | | | replaced by more active experiences such as chat, |
| changes will not be felt until the younger generation | | | | posting, surfing for information, and interactive learning. |
| fully comes to power, just as the movies were | | | | The process of "designing for doing," i.e., designing |
| impacted by the coming-of-age of George Lucas and | | | | systems and experiences that employees can actively |
| Steven Spielberg. That time is not far off.Twitch | | | | use, rather than things they need to listen to or be |
| Speed vs. Conventional SpeedThe under-30 | | | | afraid of doing wrong, may become the new |
| generation has had far more experience at processing | | | | generational equivalent of the industrial "designing for |
| information quickly than its predecessors, and is | | | | manufacture." Nike's "Just do it" slogan hits this |
| therefore better at it. Humans have always been | | | | generational change squarely on the head. It also |
| capable of operating at faster-than-"normal" speeds | | | | explains why Bob Dole's saying to Gen-Xers, "Just |
| (as airplane pilots, race-car drivers, and speed-reading | | | | don't do it" placed him so squarely in the past.Play vs. |
| guru Evelyn Wood can attest). The difference is that | | | | WorkWhile often derided in the press as intellectual |
| this ability has now moved into a generation at large, | | | | slackers, in reality the under-30s are very much an |
| and at an early age. One problem this generation | | | | intellectual problem-solving generation. Many types of |
| faces is that, after MTV and video games, they | | | | logic, challenging puzzles, spatial relationships, and other |
| essentially hit a brick wall--short of piloting a jet, little in | | | | complex thinking tasks are built into the computer and |
| real life moves that fast. This generation's "need for | | | | video games they enjoy. Their spending on such |
| speed" manifests itself in the workplace in a number of | | | | electronic games has surpassed spending on movies; |
| ways, including a demand for a faster pace of | | | | PCs are now used more for running entertainment |
| development, less "time-in-grade," and shorter lead | | | | software than for any other application, including word |
| times to success.An important challenge for today's | | | | processing. While some have argued that play and |
| managers is how to reassess and speed up their | | | | games are simply preparation for work, I think that, for |
| assumptions around time, while still keeping sight of | | | | today's younger generation, play is work, and work is |
| other key objectives, such as quality and customer | | | | increasingly seen in terms of games and game play. |
| relationships. They also need to create experiences | | | | The fact that the real-life games are very serious |
| that maintain the pace and exploit the facility of "twitch | | | | does not make the player's approach any different |
| speed" while adding content that is important and | | | | than the way she approaches software. Achievement, |
| useful. Several possible approaches include speeding | | | | winning, and beating competitors are all very much part |
| things up via technology (such as by providing workers | | | | of the ethic and process.As the post-1970 generation |
| with the kinds of real-time data that financial traders | | | | enters the workforce, its preference for the computer |
| use), installing faster infrastructures with fiber-optic | | | | as the medium of play is already beginning to have a |
| cable and T-1 telephone lines, and creating new, | | | | profound impact on how work gets done. Game |
| MTV-style corporate videos. Re-engineering systems | | | | interfaces are appearing in the workplace. Financial |
| and activities so that things simply move faster is | | | | companies are inventing gamelike trading interfaces in |
| another.Parallel Processing vs. Linear ProcessingMuch | | | | which winning the game means making an actual profit. |
| of the under-30 generation grew up doing homework | | | | New associates at Bankers Trust learn about the |
| while watching TV and doing almost everything while | | | | bank's policies by playing a nonviolent, |
| wearing a Walkman. Many of them feel much more | | | | customer-focused video game.One of older managers' |
| comfortable than their predecessors doing more than | | | | most difficult challenges is to be willing to let the |
| one thing at once. While some argue that this limits | | | | younger generation's play attitude enter the "real" |
| attention to any one thing, this is not necessarily the | | | | world of business as quickly and smoothly as possible. |
| case. The mind can actually process many tracks at | | | | Instead of resisting play by removing or banning all |
| once and often has quite a bit of "idle time" from its | | | | games in the workplace, for example, they could be |
| primary task that can be used to handle other things. | | | | supporting and funding the development of new game |
| Today you see young computer artists creating | | | | interfaces that help the younger generation work and |
| wonderful graphics while listening to music and chatting | | | | learn in their own cognitive style. The preference for |
| with co-workers, and young bankers having multiple | | | | play is also influencing business in the form of pressure |
| conversations on the phone while reading their | | | | for a less formal workplace. Older managers should |
| computer screens and e-mail.This growth of | | | | reconsider their resistance to such changes carefully.A |
| parallel-processing ability appears to be acknowledged | | | | potential opportunity for managers to relate to the play |
| by Bloomberg TV News, in which the anchor person | | | | attitude of the new generation might be to supplement |
| takes up only one-quarter of the TV screen, the | | | | traditional sports-oriented competitions such as softball |
| remainder being filled with sports statistics, weather | | | | with inter- and intra-company tournaments in video and |
| information, stock quotes, and headlines, all presented | | | | other games. Doing so would engage the minds, as |
| simultaneously. It is quite possible, and even fun, for a | | | | well as the bodies, of employees in healthy competition |
| viewer to take in all of this information and receive | | | | and perhaps foster additional company spirit. Finally, the |
| much more "news" in the same amount of time.Rather | | | | younger generation's play preference has implications |
| than admonishing their young workers to concentrate | | | | for employee recruiting, as companies that go on |
| on only one thing at a time, managers should be | | | | campus with business simulations and other challenging |
| thinking of additional ways to enhance parallel | | | | games for potential recruits tend to be very |
| processing and take advantage of this increased | | | | well-received.Payoff vs. PatienceOne of the biggest |
| human capability. This might take, for example, the | | | | lessons the under-30 generation learned from growing |
| form of multiple types of information hitting employees' | | | | up with video games is that if you put in the hours and |
| computer screens at once--the objective of so-called | | | | master the game, you will be rewarded: with the next |
| "push" technology and Microsoft's new vision for the | | | | level, with a win, with a place on the high scorers' list. |
| corporate desktop. With all the information needed to | | | | What you do determines what you get, and what you |
| do the job--numbers, video feeds, links, simultaneous | | | | get is worth the effort you put in. Computers excel at |
| meetings, and the ability to move seamlessly between | | | | giving feedback, and the payoff for any action is |
| them--it's the Nintendo worker's nirvana.This | | | | typically extremely clear. A key outcome of this is a |
| generation's enhanced parallel-processing ability may | | | | huge intolerance on the part of the younger generation |
| also help them slide easily into the new "boundaryless | | | | for things that don't pay off at the level expected. |
| organizations," in which each worker is expected to | | | | Why, they ask, should I finish school when elementary |
| wear multiple hats and be part of many constituencies. | | | | school kids can design professional Web sites, |
| I remember when the requirement that consultants at | | | | 20-year-olds can start billion-dollar companies, and Bill |
| firms such as BCG and McKinsey serve | | | | Gates, who left school for something with more |
| simultaneously on multiple-project teams was | | | | payoff, is the world's richest man?Young people make |
| considered unusual and highly suspect. With the arrival | | | | these payoff-vs.-patience decisions every minute, and |
| of the new generation, such parallelism is being | | | | sometimes in ways that are counterintuitive. For |
| demanded.Random Access vs. Linear ThinkingThe | | | | example, it was at first strange to me that the same |
| under-30 generation is the first to experience | | | | people who prefer "twitch" games often have great |
| hypertext and "clicking around," in children's computer | | | | patience with slow Internet connection speeds and the |
| applications, in CD-ROMs, and on the Web. This new | | | | sometimes long waiting times in a game like Myst. I |
| information structure has increased their awareness | | | | suspect it is because they have decided, or realized, |
| and ability to make connections, has freed them from | | | | that the payoff is worth the wait. The challenge for |
| the constraint of a single path of thought, and is | | | | older managers is to understand just how important |
| generally an extremely positive development. At the | | | | these payoff-vs.-patience tradeoffs are to younger |
| same time, it can be argued--with some | | | | people, and to find ways to offer them meaningful |
| justification--that unbridled hyperlinking may make it | | | | rewards now, rather than advice about how things will |
| more difficult for these workers to follow a linear train | | | | pay off "in the long run."One clear business |
| of thought and to do some types of deep or logical | | | | manifestation of this requirement for payoff is the |
| thinking. "Why should I read something from beginning | | | | increasing demand for a clearer link between what |
| to end, or follow someone else's logic, when I can just | | | | employees do and the rewards they get, leading to |
| 'explore the links' and create my own?" While following | | | | the growing trend toward pay-for-performance. |
| one's own path often leads to interesting results, | | | | Another result is the increasing use of equity as a |
| understanding someone else's logic is also very | | | | component of compensation, along with the replication |
| important. A difficult challenge is how to create | | | | of equity-like compensation structures to reward |
| experiences that allow people to link anywhere and | | | | workers with a "piece of the action" for their own |
| experience things in any order yet still communicate | | | | initiatives and efforts. The growing realization that this |
| s!equential ideas and logical thinking.One approach is to | | | | generation wants its payoff now has also led to an |
| set up new information-delivery systems, such as | | | | increased willingness on the part of many businesses |
| corporate intranets, that let workers break out of the | | | | to provide seed capital and to "spin-off" internal |
| traditional boxes in which corporate information has | | | | start-ups, allowing workers to potentially cash in more |
| been stored, and then to create tools to link this | | | | quickly and allowing the firm to benefit long-term |
| information to systems that provide logical and | | | | through an equity position.Fantasy vs. RealityTo me, |
| decision-making structure. The U.S. intelligence and | | | | one of the most striking aspects of the under-30 |
| military communities recently created Intelink, an | | | | generation is the degree to which fantasy elements, |
| intranet-based system in which information becomes | | | | both from the past (medieval, Dungeons & Dragons |
| universally available as quickly as it gets created, | | | | imagery), and the future (Star Wars, Star Trek, and |
| allowing users at all levels the freedom to create and | | | | other science-fiction imagery) pervade their lives. While |
| explore random paths that lead to new ideas. The | | | | young people have always indulged in fantasy play, the |
| linking and browsing structures of the Internet and | | | | computer has by its nature made this easier and more |
| intranets have many positive benefits, and managers | | | | realistic, in many ways bringing it to life. Sociologists |
| of Nintendo-generation employees should encourage, | | | | might say that some or all of this is due to a desire to |
| rather than discourage, their creation and use. | | | | escape the realities of today's life: fewer good jobs, |
| Managers should also be exploring nonlinear electronic | | | | more alienation, and a degrading environment. |
| alternatives to today's reports, manuals, lectures, and | | | | Whatever its cause, the fantasy phenomenon has |
| lengthy narrational videos.Graphics First vs. Text FirstIn | | | | certainly been encouraged by technology. Network |
| previous generations, graphics were generally | | | | technology allows people not only to create their new |
| illustrations, accompanying the text and providing some | | | | fantasy identities but to express them to others and |
| kind of elucidation. For today's young people, the | | | | join in fantasy communities. The huge interest in chat |
| relationship is almost completely reversed: The role of | | | | rooms and in individual home pages is, at least in part, |
| text is to elucidate something that was first | | | | another manifestation of this.Rather than admonish |
| experienced as an image. Since childhood, the younger | | | | younger workers to "grow up and get real" and |
| generation has been continuously exposed to | | | | abandon their rich fantasy worlds, managers should |
| television, videos, and computer games that put | | | | look for new ways to combine fantasy and reality to |
| high-quality, highly expressive graphics in front of them | | | | everyone's benefit. One place it may be possible to do |
| with little or no accompanying text.The result of this | | | | this is in the design of work spaces: Spaces designed |
| experience has been to considerably sharpen their | | | | by the younger generation are very different from |
| visual sensitivity. They find it much more natural than | | | | those of their predecessors and from those designed |
| their predecessors to begin with visuals, and to mix | | | | for them by the older generation. Companies already |
| text and graphics in a richly meaningful way. An | | | | run by Nintendo-generation individuals generally have |
| excellent example of this is Wired, whose intensive | | | | much more informal furniture and settings, and often |
| use of graphics makes it highly appealing to younger | | | | have special rooms for games, etc. Microsoft's |
| readers but difficult for many older folks to read--"Why | | | | "campus" is full of indoor and outdoor play |
| can't they just give us the plain text?" is the complaint I | | | | opportunities.The younger generation's fantasy |
| hear from colleagues. This shift toward graphic | | | | preferences can also seen in the growth of new |
| primacy in the younger generation raises some | | | | "off-the-wall" job titles, such as Yahoo's "Chief Yahoo" |
| extremely thorny issues, particularly with regard to | | | | or Gateway 2000's "chief imagination officer." Young |
| textual literacy and depth of information.The | | | | workers may be willing to go a lot further with their |
| managerial challenge is to design ways to use this shift | | | | imaginations--Gateway decorates its shipping boxes |
| to enhance comprehension, while still maintaining the | | | | as cows. We are also seeing an increasing |
| same or even greater richness of information in the | | | | debureaucratization of systems and procedures in |
| new context. In the training area, creative groups such | | | | many organizations. Perhaps it is not too far off when |
| as Corporate Gameware, my unit of Bankers Trust, | | | | some companies will sport their own "Klingon," "Borg," |
| are presenting important but not especially "sexy" or | | | | or "Wookiee" divisions doing serious business while |
| exciting material in ways that conform with the | | | | decked out appropriately.Technology as Friend vs. |
| preferences of younger employees by using the highly | | | | Technology as FoeFinally, growing up with computers |
| graphic style of video games. Another promising | | | | has engendered an overall attitude toward technology |
| development is data visualization, in which large arrays | | | | in the minds of the younger generation that is very |
| of information are presented as colorful, ever-changing | | | | different from that of their predecessors. To the older |
| graphic images that visually accent different | | | | generation, technology is generally something to be |
| characteristics of the data. These tools are beginning | | | | feared, tolerated, or at best harnessed to one's |
| to make serious headway in data-intensive business | | | | purposes. No matter how easy we make it, this |
| fields such as finance and marketing. However, they | | | | generation doesn't want to program its VCRs or even, |
| should be considered by managers in all industries as | | | | for the most part, surf the Net (though there are, of |
| an approach that fits the new generational | | | | course exceptions, such as the Internet's becoming a |
| style.Connected vs. Stand-aloneWhile the previous | | | | useful way for the retired generation to stay |
| generation was linked by the telephone, that system is | | | | connected and productively use their leisure time).Yet |
| synchronous (i.e., both people have to be there). The | | | | even if the older generation comes to technology |
| under-30 generation has been raised with, and | | | | willingly, or is forced by a changing culture to learn and |
| become accustomed to, the asynchronous worldwide | | | | embrace technology, it will never be as entirely |
| communication of e-mail, broadcast messages, bulletin | | | | comfortable and trusting of it as are their children. To |
| boards, usegroups, chat, and Internet searches. As a | | | | the younger generation, the computer is a friend. It's |
| result of this "connected" experience, young people | | | | where under-30s have always turned for relaxation |
| tend to think differently about how to get information | | | | and fun. For many in the generation, owning or having |
| and solve problems. For example, if I need a question | | | | access to a computer feels almost like a birthright. |
| answered I'll typically call the three or four people I think | | | | Being connected is a necessity. The huge generational |
| might know. It might take me time to get to them, and | | | | reversal in technical skill, where parents must turn to |
| take them a while to get back to me. When my | | | | their children for help in using their expensive |
| 22-year-old programmer wants to know something, he | | | | equipment, is now legendary. "What technology will I |
| immediately posts his question to a bulletin board, | | | | have?" is often the key factor in a young worker's |
| where three or four thousand people might see it, and | | | | decision about what job to accept.How can an older |
| he'll probably have a much richer answer more | | | | generation of managers relate to and help employees |
| quickly.The challenge for managers is to invent ways | | | | who see computers and related technology in this |
| of taking advantage of this connected mode in their | | | | way? One way is to empower them to create new |
| interactions with the younger generation, as the | | | | business elements--computer applications, structures, |
| younger people do among themselves. The more we | | | | models, relationships, Web pages--that make sense for |
| help connect these employees to each other and to | | | | their generation. Another possible approach is to |
| customers, the quicker they will invent positive ways to | | | | continually seek ways to communicate, transfer |
| take advantage of it. The "connectedness" of the | | | | needed information, and build desired skills via the |
| generation has also made young workers much less | | | | media the younger generation willingly engage in, such |
| constrained by their physical location and more willing | | | | as computers and games.Rather than forcing the |
| to work in the so-called "virtual teams" that are | | | | younger generation to use the methods of the past, |
| becoming more useful in a variety of businesses and | | | | managers should be offering them the resources to |
| industries.Workers who have grown up online tend to | | | | create their own approaches that will work in their |
| be much more comfortable with seeking out and | | | | new cognitive environment. |