What's Next Gen X? A Real World Perspective from Tammy Erickson

"One day, everyone woke up and discovered money. A memo went out."

Tammy Erickson

You're a member of Generation X - the 30-to-44 age cohort. And you've drawn the short stick when it comes to work. The economy has been stacked against you from the beginning. Worse, you're sandwiched between Boomers (with their constant back-patting blather and refusal to retire) and Gen Y's (with their relentless confidence and demands for attention). You're stuck in the middle - of your life and between two huge generations that dote on each other. But you can move forward in your career. In "What's Next, Gen X? Keeping Up, Moving Ahead, and Getting the Career You Want " Tamara Erickson shows how.

Tammy explains the forces affecting attitudes and behaviors in each generation - Boomer, X, and Y - so you can start relating more productively with bosses, peers, and employees. Erickson then assesses Gen X's progress in life so far and analyzes the implications of organizational and technological changes for your professional future. She lays out a powerful framework for shaping a satisfying, meaningful career.

Welcome to a Success Strategies Channel podcast on TotalPicture Radio, with Peter Clayton reporting. Tamara Erickson is both a respected, McKinsey Award-winning author and popular and engaging storyteller. Her compelling views of the future are based on extensive research on changing demographics and employee values and, most recently, on how successful organizations work. Well-grounded and academically rigorous, fundamentally optimistic, Tammy’s work discerns and describes interesting trends in our future and provides actionable counsel to help both organizations and individuals prepare today. Her latest book, What’s Next, Gen X? Focuses on the generation “stuck in the middle” those, between 30 to 44 years old who’ve drawn “the short end of the stick” according to Tammy.

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Question Peter Clayton asks Tamara Erickson

How has this age group drawn “the short end of the stick?”
Is Gen X global? Are Asian, European, Latin, Chinese, Iraqi of this age group considered Gen X?
Tell us about the relationship between Gen X’ers and Boomers.
On you blog. Across the Ages, you wrote about our first Gen X president. As I was reading you article, I kept thinking about all of the people President Obama is trying to work with in congress. They’re all Boomers or Traditionalists. We’re not even talking about political parties -- just generational differences.
What are some of the most significant career struggles the Gen X’ers are dealing with?
Gen Y seem to have a better relationship with Boomers than Gen X. Why is this?
There’s a quote in you’re book I just love. “One day, everyone woke up and discovered money. A memo went out.” You were writing about the great, sincerely missed, dot com boom of 1995. How has this shaped Gen X?
As a group are Gen X engaged in their jobs?
What engages them in their work?
Back to the boomer bugaboo for Gen X’ers -- Boomer’s are not retiring -- to quote Jimmy Kimmel, even Jay Leno with $800 mil and a warehouse full of cars is not retiring. And it seems the only stadium rock and roll acts are all in their 60’s
Along with the boomer issue is the outsourcing issue -- a new dynamic for Gen X’er to contend with.
Quoting from your chapter titled A hard Look at the Options Ahead.. “Most organizations today are based on assumptions that either are or soon will be no longer valid.” Can you expand on that for us?
Here are some of the changes you expect:
Innovation will be a key organizational capability.
Strategy and long-range planning will disappear
Corporate success will be measured in metrics of sustainability.
The notion of chain of command will break down
Here’s a statistic that jumped off the page, already, 34% of all US workers say they never plan to retire. That’s only going to go up.
I’d like you to share some of your advice from your chapter “Trading Up” How can Gen X’ers increase their effectiveness at work?
Talk to me about Gen X in leadership roles, and why you believe they’re uniquely suited for leadership.
Why do you follow only four people on Twitter?