TEDxSF - Scott Hess - Millennials: Who They Are & Why We Hate Them

Scott Hess is the Vice President of Insights for TRU, a global youth research firm, and is considered one of the foremost authorities on American youth. In this role, Scott works across TRU's syndicated and custom research divisions to discover, distill, and communicate compelling, actionable insights for clients -- the world's leading youth brands and companies. A sought-after speaker, consultant, and moderator, Scott helps clients develop more youth-relevant products and services, communicate more effectively with their young customers, and ensure that corporate strategy and execution align with the evolving zeitgeist. Over the past decade, Scott has worked with virtually every significant youth-relevant entity in business today, from motorcycles to movies, from social networks to skin care, and from governments to gum. As a husband and father, Scott's committed to building a future that's profitable for clients as well as positive for young people. As a former teenager, Scott's personal mission is to make sure that young viewpoints are heard, respected, and understood.

[nancykane]

Being 22 (born 1991), I couldn't agree more with this talk.
I hear a lot about the lack of motivation my generation has, but everyday I see my old classmates succeeding at loving their lives. And I see people my age leaving school every year with drive in their hearts to help change the world. 

[wellhedge]

This talk is more than three years old now. When I gave it, I had no idea it would someday generate this many views, nor this level of interaction. I'm gratified and humbled by both. And I'm appreciative of the forum TEDx SF provided, both in the Yerba Buena Center that day, and then here on YouTube.

Obviously, much has changed since I gave this talk. That said, I want to reiterate what was my overarching message/intention on the day I spoke:

Each successive generation emerges from youth with a target painted on it by its forebears, who are simply less well adapted to the emerging world than they are, almost by definition. Each generation is, by virtue of growing up in its unique context, "better" than the ones that preceded it. It's evolution. We evolve by adapting our success strategies based on context.

In a nutshell, it's *silly* to hate the next generation. They are us, but younger, and more current. Icons and iconic moments may come and go, defining us along the way by their presence. But there's nothing wrong with these kids today, or yesterday, or ever. We "hate" them because they've come to take our place, in a world we understand less with each passing day. Such is life. Our choice, as humans and as businesspeople, is to choose whether to embrace and guide them, or to disdain them. To me, there's only one choice that makes any sense.

Onward! Next up: The Post Generation!

[forloveoffur]

Well said. I graduated college almost 2 years ago - took 10 months to get a mediocre but relevant job, which I just left because the commute was terrible (up to 3 hours per day, not factoring weather) and I would have paid like 5k a year just in gas and car repairs. So now I'm unemployed and struggling to find a decent job, living at home, and people 30 years older than me look down on how I'm doing in life. Someone literally said to me that at 24, I should have had kids by now. I have so much debt from trying to improve my life and can't even afford a studio apartment - why would I ever bring a kid into the picture? Older generations just don't understand how different it is for millennials. We don't have the world of opportunities they did. College grads can expect to earn 100K less than they thought they would in the next 20 years of their career (PBS) because of this economy... There are jobs that require master's degrees that pay minimum wage. So what if we whine? It's a good damned reason to be mad and there's nothing wrong with speaking out.

[Fightclub]

Every generation says the next generation is bad and lazy.

[CathyBInAGaddaDaVegan]

I adore Millenials and working with them. They are bright, innovative, and positive. They don't have power trips. They always have time to get a coffee. I think they are the first generation (as a generation) to really grasp the best uses of technology. They are constantly connected with the world so they feel its pain - they care about justice and environmental issues like no previous generation has. I think we're going to see some great things from this generation.

[boixgenius]

Honestly I hate the whole "this generation is better than that generation" fight. It's super annoying. It's almost as if people are trying to gain some sort of respect in saying those things. "Hello I'm 14 years old and I hate my generation." Honesty, get over yourselves. I liked this video. I hate these comments.

[SitaraAleu]

I'm lazy and needy. And I prove this by working the only job I qualify for, a 35-40 hour week stock job (part time of course since it would cost more to make me officially full time) and then my afternoons are spent diligently at my sewing machine cranking out orders and costumes I've been commissioned to make, and then it's straight to my volunteer job in the field I specialize in so I can gain experience, since I haven't a prayer of affording college and can't go. Oh what's that? You say I'm a lazy worthless bum because I won't shell out a large fortune to attend a school that'll re teach me everything I've learned through my apprenticeship and volunteer work in less than two years no less? Well, whatever you say, people who grew up when tuition was a third of the price and a house was a realistic dream to have.

[abaue]

It's not that we don't WANT to get married, be financially stable, and such... it's just that it's so much more expensive now to do it and we're all crippled with large amounts of student debt. I had to drop out of college, I have student debt. I'm still trying to get back to school and pay off the debt. I'm 23 and WISHING I had things together. I wish I wasn't working 35-68 hours a week earning maybe $400 a week between the two jobs. I can't take vacations. I don't have TIME to date. I don't even have the time or money to get back to school. I'm stuck living with my family and hating everything about that. 

[MikeTXBC]

What's interesting is that because many of the Millennials (and the tail-end of GenX, such as my wife and I who were born right before the generational cutoff) are deciding they can't afford to have children, the following generations will actually have a somewhat easier time getting into the job market.

Why? Fewer workers competing for jobs.

It's always been a supply vs demand game. It's one of the reasons why certain events, such as large scale wars or disease, actually helped humanity in the long run.

Wars used to wipe out tons of people, which was terrible for them and their families, but also reduced competition. Modern wars don't see nearly as many people killed, which is a good thing overall, but also means the population isn't being thinned.

Likewise, disease did the same thing. In fact, the Bubonic Plague was partially responsible for ending the medieval practice of feudalism. Suddenly, people who would've been relegated to positions as serfs were valued more and could actually hold real jobs.

Beyond depressing life-changing events like those, people also used to retire. Today, very few can actually afford to retire, so unless they die themselves or are let go, higher positions within organizations remain filled. That reduces upwards mobility for those beneath them, which creates a domino effect.

North America used to have other industries as well. Manufacturing was big at one time, but today it's a rare sight within the US or Canada. Most of these companies have moved their production facilities to other poorer countries, where the population can be legally taken advantage of by North American companies. That's how we can get cheap electronics. If American or Canadian workers were making them, we'd easily be paying five times as much as do now per unit.

Even if we have simply moved to an information economy, we still might've done well had we not begun outsourcing everything. Nowadays we have more work done in countries like India than here. That takes away from our economy.

Education costs have also risen through the roof, and to add insult to (financial) injury, degrees simply aren't worth much nowadays. It's not unusual to see people with degrees as high as doctorates serving coffee. Sure, the smartasses online like to spout off such gems as "you should've gotten a degree in something useful" or "you should've gone into a STEM field."

Thanks, but it's almost impossible for an 18 year-old to know what's useful when they're working off out-dated information given to them by previous generations. Perhaps for those generations the information was accurate, but times change and the advice given changes a lot more slowly. Also, people in STEM fields are suffering today because too many went into those areas and have over-saturated those markets.

And finally... we all know employers always want the best people for the least amount of money. That's business and it makes sense. What doesn't make sense is advertising "entry-level jobs" that require 3-5 years of previous industry-related experience. The entry-level job was designed for those who've just come out of school or have recently switched careers, not for people with half-a-decade of experience under their belt.

Because of this lunacy, the unpaid internship (aka "having people do a job for free that normally an employee would be paid to do, thereby putting someone out of work in the process") has taken hold and many companies and industries have designed their modern-day business models around free labor.

Unfortunately, the only way people can afford to work for free is if they have a separate source of income, huge savings, or go back to living with their parents. Not everyone has that luxury, so tons of people with higher education qualifications are working minimum wage jobs just to make ends meet.

And just to make it all hurt more, you're then told you're lazy. Why? Because you had the misfortune of being born into a world where a college degree is a base requirement, but priced like a luxury extra. So, for the first time in history, in order to get a job as a secretary making $30, 000 a year, you need a bachelor's degree that costs three times that.

[didthatreallyjust]

no. there is almost NO work-life Balance for millennials. It's just work to just barely make it.

[tiffaniwarren]

I appreciate all the kind words.  This guy is what I love about a lot of Gen Xers.  I think he was disappointed that he wasn't getting the cheers he wanted from Millenials at the end - but it's just like he said, we value inclusiveness.  It feels WRONG for us to cheer at someone else's expense - we're more likely to say, "Hey yeah, you guys were/are great too!  We're just different, not better."  But overall I enjoyed and appreciated his presentation. :)

[Frankiigii]

A lot of Millennials grew up being inspired by Gen X, we had older siblings, cousins, our parents showing us what it was like to be meta, to take a step back and realize that we're living in a machine. We took that and now we're running with it. We believe we can make of the world what we want. If we want a space where people are included, appreciated, heard, a world that merges nature and invention then it's up to us to make it that way. Most Millenials have massive respect for Gen X. And maybe a bit of nostalgia for a world that wasn't so connected all the time. It's kind of exhausting to be alive today. The world is massive, there's so much happening and we're aware of so much of it all the time. Regardless, we don't want to be better than anyone, we just want to be fulfilled.

[tylergann]

"Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it."
~George Orwell

[wellhedge]

One speech, 80, 000+ views. Man. Very cool. Thx to all who've watched (and are watching and sharing). 

[carolinagbb]

I don´t understand why for americans everything is about, who wins?, who´s best?, comparisons, etc... every generation is unique, that´s it

[wellhedge]

When the good folks from TEDx first posted this video to YouTube, I remember hoping it would get a thousand views. Three years later, it's at 150, 000 and still going. Granted, I know it's not a million, not that big a deal by TED talk standards, but it's still wildly gratifying that so many people have taken the time to watch, and to comment, and to thumbs-up or thumbs-down the content. Although it's far from a perfect speech (and boy can I see its flaws), I'm happy that many of the ideas herein still feel relevant a thousand days later.

I've also enjoyed interacting with commenters here. I first did it as a lark, and over time it's come to be part of my daily ritual, to check in and weigh in. Big thx to any and all who pass by here, and who take a moment to consider some of my ideas!

[superman]

We should probably stop focusing on trying to separate ourselves from each other and trying to put blame on other people. The damage is done. People are people. We make mistakes. But what we need to do is learn from them, not point fingers. Why is this so hard to see? We learn this in elementary school.

[oxSoNyAxo]

This is one of the best and most informative talks about millenials I've seen recently. Some very interesting points raised. I'm glad people are starting to look at other generations in a progressive way and without judgement.

[DeIeted]

Apple and Beiber as millennial icons?  Jesus Christ, define me as gen Y and 2000 onward as millennials.  I can't be associated with this.

[jean-luclarue]

As a millennial I do think it's unfair for people to talk shit about us for basically just being younger. Millennials are not worse than precious generations, but I don't think we're automatically better either.