One nickname for Millennials is “Generation Me.” We’ve earned it through our love for the selfie, the sub tweet, and the Facebook rant. Unfortunately, some of the Gen Xers and Baby Boomers have labeled the Millennial generation as selfish.
Is this true? Yes, to a degree. Sure, we love ourselves, but we shouldn’t have to sacrifice our self-worth just to appease the old guard at a company. In fact, there are ways to leverage your “Generation Me” membership as an asset in the workplace.
The Millennial is the Master of Masks
Millennials are the first generation to come of age with access to the World Wide Web. Social Media has dominated our lives way before Facebook and Twitter. How many hours did you spend writing the wittiest AIM away message or picking the perfect MySpace song?
The point is that we spent so much time on these things because we want others to see us in a specific way. This has made us masters of creating masks. This is also a valuable survival skill for today’s workplace. There is a famous quote from William Shakespeare’s As You Like It that says:
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
Look at the workplace as your stage. You are just playing a role while at work. You put on your mask when you punch in and take it off when you punch out.
Think of your first class of Freshman year. You walked into that class knowing nobody. You probably took a seat towards the back so you could blend in. The first few months at a job are the career version of Freshman year. Just blend in and focus on doing your job, and you will earn the respect of the senior employees.
Add Your Personality to the Part
Continuing with the Shakespeare metaphor, all of Shakespeare’s characters have been portrayed by hundreds of different actors. Each one brings his or her own flair to the part.
Once you’ve spent those first few months establishing yourself as a part of the team, start adding your personality into the workplace. A perfect example of this is my friend Dan Thorn, whom you probably know as the “Where They at Doe?” news anchor whose dancing videos went viral last October.
When you listen to Dan deliver the news, he does so in the professional manner you’d expect from a quality news anchor. Between takes is when he lets his personality shine through and he has a little fun on set.
The resulting video has racked up over 4-million views and landed him write-ups on several blogs, and even landed him an interview on “Fox & Friends.” He has since moved on to a more prominent anchor position at a bigger station. Although this is an extreme example, letting your personality shine through in your performance can get you noticed by the right people.
Do you experience dealing with an older co-worker who wasn’t a fan of your “Me-llennial” attitude? How did you bridge the generation gap to build a working relationship? We’d love for you to share your tips with our readers.
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