Speaker and author Simon Sinek is widely known among corporate and organizational leaders who’ve embraced his insights on leadership and teamwork. In particular, Sinek has garnered a wide audience for his writings and discussions on millennials at work, and how their presence has been a transformative force in today’s work environment.
Sinek’s engagements as a motivational speaker include TED Talks about the role of leaders in inspiring “cooperation, trust, and change” in organizations of all sizes. One of his three books is the seminal “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action,” which is all about firing up people in the workplace.
In a widely viewed presentation titled “On Millennials in the Workplace,” Sinek offers a relatively brief but powerful talk about millennials at work. In his remarks, Sinek focuses on four areas: parenting, technology, impatience, and environment. Examining these prime characteristics, Sinek says, can help companies successfully hire and manage millennials.
Check out these 5 takeaways from Sinek’s talk on millennials at work:
1. Context is everything.
Sinek phrases it succinctly: Millennials have been accused of being “narcissistic, self-interested, unfocused, lazy,” and, most of all, “entitled.” However, he argues, it’s not really millennials’ fault. Sinek cites “failed parenting strategies”—a generation of children raised by parents who told their kids they were “special, all the time.”
Discover a better way to recruit remote talent
Founded in 2007, FlexJobs is the most experienced remote & hybrid hiring platform.
- Unlimited job posts
- Low, flat membership fee
- Access top-level remote advice
- Unlimited resume searches
- Reach the right candidates
- And so much more!
Once those millennials land in the workplace, it can be a painful reality to discover there’s no medal for coming in last place. Employers might benefit from understanding issues many millennials may have with low self-esteem and expectations for instant gratification, Sinek says.
2. Take corporate responsibility.
Here’s what Sinek bluntly tells corporations hiring millennials:”It sucks to be you.” Meaning what? “We have no choice,” he said. “We’re getting [millennials] in our companies and we now have to pick up the slack.” Working with millennials becomes a “corporate responsibility.”
He added: “We’re putting [millennials] in corporate environments that aren’t helping them overcome the need to have instant gratification and the fulfillment you get from working hard on something for a long time… The worst part about it is they think it’s [their fault]. They blame themselves… I’m here to tell them it’s not them, it’s the corporations. It’s the total lack of good leadership.”
3. Work to build millennials’ confidence.
Because of what Sinek characterizes as “faulty parenting,” corporations are faced with millennials who are “hard-wired” to get much of what they want right away, from food deliveries to entertainment on demand. “We have no choice… We’re getting them in our companies and we now have to pick up the slack,” Sinek says. “We have to work extra-hard to build their confidence…to find ways to teach them the social skills that they’re missing out on.”
4. Cultivate a supportive environment.
Part of the challenge in managing millennials, Sinek said, is counteracting their social conditioning by providing a work atmosphere that emphasizes longer-term rewards and human interaction.
For many millennials, he said, “everything you can want you can have instantaneously…except job satisfaction and strength of relationships. There ain’t no app for that,” he quipped. “They are slow, meandering, uncomfortable, messy processes.” For employers, that may mean cultivating slower-paced, more nurturing steps to bring millennials into the organizational fold.
5. Ban cell phones from conference rooms.
This bit of advice gets down to brass tacks. Says Sinek: “There should be no cell phones in conference rooms. None. Zero.” Why? Cell phone use reinforces the “dopamine rush” that millennials (and others) get from constantly checking texts, emails, and alerts.
“When you don’t have the phone, you just kind of enjoy the world, and that’s where ideas happen,” Sinek says. “Ideas happen when our minds wander and you see something [inspiring].” Moreover, it’s a chance to turn to the person next to you and actually have personal interaction.
Interested in hiring millennials? Discover a better way to recruit remote talent with FlexJobs!
Learn More
Don't forget to share this article with colleagues!
