Send to KindlePush Buttons, Email, and Videos
I’m late with this blog because of technology. You see, I’m from a generation that was impressed when push button phones appeared. Those phones had two extra buttons; a pound sign and an asterisk. We were told that those didn’t do anything, but someday they would provide wonderful new capabilities. But the techno world was not happy with a couple of extra buttons. Not at all. First they took away the phone cord. Then they figured out how to make the phone small enough to fit in our pockets. Then they gave us email so we might not have to use the phone at all. Or maybe not as much. And that’s where the trouble started.
I’m not completely backward and have become pretty familiar with email and consider myself to have some expertise with Microsoft Outlook, which I’ve used for years. So, when I realized that it was time to clean up and archive, I thought it would be easy. It wasn’t. Somewhere along the line, I managed to lose all my calendar and contact data. Fortunately, that phone that fits in my pocket has all that stuff too, but it took me several hours to straighten out the problem; time I could have been using to figure out the next technical issue.
That’s video blogs. I’ve decided to try this latest thing (well latest to me anyway) but it hasn’t come easy. It’s taken awhile to figure out the details and get this far. I do have an advantage though. My son, who comes from a generation that never really knew phones didn’t used to have buttons, understands all this stuff and is usually available to bail me out when I’m in over my head. Which is way too often.
And that brings me to the point of all this. The world has changed, and along with it the workplace. No longer does the old guy with all the corporate knowledge have all the answers. In fact, that guy may actually be getting in the way. He’s seen more real change than anyone in the younger generations, but he hasn’t seen the current pace of change. So, those of us who have been around a while need to be open to the capabilities of the younger folks who understand the technology that is so vital these days.
But, before the younger generation gets their heads too swelled, remember that older guy does possess the corporate knowledge and definitely still has much to contribute. It’s something of a new paradigm to many, but we have to learn from each other. That means people my age can learn from people my son’s age, but people my son’s age can still learn from the old guy.
There’s a lot more like this in my book, Balancing the Generations: A Leader’s Guide to the Complex, Multi-Generational 21st Century Workplace.
