THE DREAM IN ACTION

Late last year I started thinking a bit about gen-Y and what my generation means to the workforce. I wondered how we would affect the way businesses hire, how they’d treat employees, what opportunities companies would create for us, and how we would create opportunities for ourselves even when companies wouldn’t (or couldn’t). Those thoughts lead to the other side of the coin, how will companies react to my generation, and future generations as customers and adopters of their products?

I started by looking into the official names of past generations:

1900-1924 – G.I. Generation
1925-1945 – Silent Generation
1946-1953 – Baby Boomers

Added thanks to yw600′s comment: 1954-1965 – Generation Jones
1965-1979 – Generation X
1980-2000 – Millennials or Generation Y
2000/2001-Present – New Silent Generation or Generation Z

The names of Generations have been extremely non-descriptive since 1965. I believe that the next generation will have an effect on the world in a large enough capacity to warrant a name more exciting and more descriptive that just, ‘Generation Z’. As the speed of technology innovation increases, and as the effect of that innovation increases exponentially, I believe that the next generations ability to adopt new technology will be significant enough of a characteristic that they will be named after it.

Individuals who adopt technology or other new developments in society are called ‘cutting edge’ or ‘early adopters’. If you were on Twitter before Ashton, then you’re an early adopter. If you knew what Friendfeed was before Facebook bought them, you’re an early adopter. If you let Mint.com manage your financial accounts, you’re an early adopter. The next generation will be comprised of these types of people. This ‘early adoption’ characteristic is ingrained in many Gen-Y’ers and will surely be part of the make up of the 2000 and beyond generation. I contend that this Generation should be called The Early Adopter Generation. I understand that these individuals are at the most only 9 years old, but I’m excited to see how their ability to constantly adapt to new technological development helps them take over the world.

30 years ago there were very very few 25 year old CEO’s running and selling businesses. Today startup founders are as young as 15 years old and that trend will only continue. The ‘Early Adopter Generation’ will take jobs away from older co-workers because of their ability to continually find new productive ways to get things done. What’s best is that the ‘Early Adopter Generation’ will force companies to innovate even faster. They’ll realize that adoption curves will flatten and their innovation lag will speed up very quickly. This is the traditional adoption curve:

In the future the Early Majority category will decrease feeding many into the Early Adopters category. On the whole I believe that this next Generations mentality towards trying something new, especially technology will be extremely willing. Personally, I love trying new technologies. I’m definitely an early adopter in my generation, but my willingness comes from curiosity. The ‘Early Adopter Generation’ won’t just accept new technologies because they’re curious or “tech geeks”, their adoption mentality will come from an understanding that it’s necessary for survival.

A dramatic example: Today’s job market is shitty. When a company has an opportunity to hire somebody they start by looking within the company, it’s always cheaper to promote internally than to hire externally. The next stage of the hunt will likely be through talking to colleagues and current employees asking for recommendations (this is why it’s about who you know, this is also how I got my current job w/ GE). Then when they take the search external they’ll get bombarded by applicants and the filtering begins. How will they filter? First by the resume (which will soon be practically worthless), then by a Google search. If you search my name, ‘Ryan Graves’, you’ll find as the first result, a link to ‘THE DREAM IN ACTION.com‘. I’ve worked hard so that this search would lead to my blog, and encourage that as I openly refer to it as an extension of my resume. The early adopters who have embraced a web presence and a digital resume will be one step ahead. Currently, this will help an individual with a job search, in the future it will be absolutely essential. The Google search on an applicants name will continue to be higher on the priority list for employers and it will be a survival tactic to control what content is out there.

So, as a Baby Boomer, Gen X, or Gen Y’er what can we do to keep up? Easy. Continually push ourselves to adopt new technologies. Not blindly, but with an inquisitive spirit and a intellectual curiosity that will help us become more productive and more competitive as individuals contributing to our companies and the world. Have fun with technology. Don’t look at it as something that causes you problems or a head-ache, but as a puzzle that there is a solution for. See technology innovation as a necessary progression and an opportunity to make normal, daily tasks easier and more valuable. Dive in, become an early adopter, before your kid takes your job.