I have worked with one or two Gen-Y’ers who were rewarded far too quickly for their organizational abilities- managing timelines, assembling a binder with information, project management stuff. Based on this, they have become empty contributors to any process: rarely contributing towards vision or actual implementation, but hiding behind the curtain twisting knobs and dials instilling fear with the smoke and flash as the great and powerful Oz.

Gen Y’ers should be encouraged to develop a genuine niche of expertise but should not be allowed to remain stagnate within it. They should be mentored to one level and then challenged to the next. As Bruce suggests, “if you want A, you have to do B. If you want C, you have do D, and so on.”

On the other other, the fast pace at which we work and think has sometimes proved difficult when managing Gen Y and being managed as a Gen Y’er – but I don’t think the “just slow down and take breaks” approach is necessarily effective that was advised to me. On the flip, I’d say take more time to carefully craft the message and find things that connect to whatever it is you are working, and prove your knowledge base even more. I definitely learned that just being fast and hurried isn’t effective if it isn’t done right.