Let’s, for a moment, exaggerate demographic stereotypes and generalizations.
If you’re a millennial, and you’ve been reading my posts, you’ll remember that your group is (sarcastically) “narcissistic”. You job hop, live in your parent’s basement, watch Netflix all day, and are notoriously lazy. Oh, and you can’t do great work.
Let’s say that 90% of Millennials are like this. There are approximately 167 million of you in North America alone, which would mean that just over 150 million of you are effectively useless.
Have we just made things simpler? No. Assuming a demographic is all the same doesn’t do anyone any favours.
Assuming that all people between the ages of 19 and 35 want the same things is ludicrous. Sure, many of them may act a certain way, but this isn’t determined by the years they were born. Instead, these behaviours are based on personalities and the values of the individuals.
My good friend, David Allison, who happens to be over twice my age, has taught me something very important: Age doesn’t matter.
Despite the fact that he has twice as many years under his belt, he admitted to me that I have more experience than him in some areas, and he obviously has more than me in others. Where we align though, is in the values we share.
The Bottom Line
So if you’re worried about being generalized by your age, demographic, or gender, know that it is who you are and how hard you work that will allow you to stand out from the pack. Don’t listen to those stereotypes.
Sounds good to you? Me too.
Let’s start telling the stories of the individuals, not the generalized demographic.
Written by Eric Termuende