Who Can Succeed?

It might have been too close to the holidays to get my blog or your comments going, but I appreciate those of you who have commented. Change and stress that goes with it are clearly on people's minds.

I don't mean to add to that stress, but technology is also part of the change we see today. It has been said that in the age of the Internet, if workers want to be effective, they need high-concept, high-touch abilities. I read the view on youngfeds.com when it first began that younger people are better equipped to succeed in the Conceptual Age because they are not bogged down by traditional thinking and management styles. Author Dan Pink was quoted, "They have less to unlearn. And they've been steeped in a culture that is much more visual, interactive, connected and playful. That goes a long way."

To be a top manager and leader in government today, you must be conceptual. Some of us, like me, majored in philosophy in college. In contrast, today you need to go to graduate school to get highly specialized, narrow credentials to move ahead. What's conceptual about that?

But it is still true that younger workers who grew up with the Internet have an interactive and connected quality that can be a true asset to the workplace. It will be interesting to see if that quality can help bring the generations together.