Age groups are fascinating. The Greatest Generation survived the Depression, stopped Hitler, and built the biggest economy in history. Then came the Silent Generation, a.k.a. Traditionalists, or Beatniks. Followed by the Baby Boomer—Me Generation—Hippies. Generation X, the Baby Busters; Gen Y, the Echo-Boomers or Millennials; and Gen Z— Post Millennial—Zoomers. The little tikes are Gen Alpha, and now we get the Betas. But they’re babies, not fish.
Thanks to the web we know everything about you just from your generation. Baby Boomers are grouchy, have great pensions and hate technology—you know, like Bill Gates. If you want to shut down their opinions, just say, “Okay, Boomer.”
Gen X is arrogant and materialistic. Millennials are woke, entitled, and can’t afford a house. Gen Z doesn’t drive, will never marry, and are obsessed with their phones. ‘Cause, you know, people over thirty don’t use smart phones…
Of course I’m mocking generational stereotypes, which are everywhere. Some who never judge on race or gender assume people of a certain age are all the same. Professor Eden King says workplace harmony and productivity suffer under these false perceptions.
I can prove they’re false with statistics theory. Even if Gen Z slightly values time-off more than Millennials, within-group differences swamp the between-group differences. Their bell-curves overlap by so much that generalizing is meaningless. The upshot? You can find great employees and great bosses of any age.
The only reason these bogus generations exist is that birth rates surged after World War II and spawned a name. Labels create bigotry. So, every new batch of young people thinks their parents are idiots, and that the next generation is lazy and directionless. Can we lay off the intergenerational warfare and just get along?
I’m Jeff Gentry
Best reference:
King, E., Finkelstein, L., Thomas, C., & Corrington, A. (2019). Generational Differences At Work Are Small. Thinking They’re Big Affects Our Behavior. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–5.
Dumb Ideas that Changed the World copyright 2025 by Jeff Gentry. All rights reserved.
