by Henry Cialone, EWI President and CEO
From time to time, I find myself in a conversation with other CEOs when the topic turns to the Millennial Generation. I don’t know why, but the comments often tend to get pretty negative — and I ultimately have to raise my hand and call “BS.”
Let’s look at the stats: The Pew Research Center defines millennials as people who were born between 1981 and 1996 and, according to Gallup, there are roughly 75 million of them in America today. As of 2015, millennials surpassed Generation X as the largest labor group in the country, and they are currently on pace to account for more than 75% of the U.S. workforce by 2030.
Because of some widely held stereotypes about their work habits and work styles, many baby boomers and Gen Xers don’t believe millennials are up to this task. Dubbed as “Generation Me,” millennials have been labeled as everything from lazy to entitled. But that’s not what I’ve observed.
In my experience as CEO at EWI, many of these millennial myths just don’t hold water…