My boss is 5 years older than my daughter. She’s sweet, a young mother witt an adorable toddler, a loving husband and a great sense of how to soften my often blunt comments. She’s the head of PR, and she was not born when I graduated from college. She’s a joy to work with. She listens to my suggestions and then makes a decision about what we need to do.
For many boomers, it’s bound to happen. Any change to a new job is likely to change the hierarchal structure that so many of us expect, but it’s not so common any more for the person on the top of the org chart to be the oldest fart in the building.
The president of my college is a bit older, but still young enought to be my child. He is sharp though, and like many Gen-Xers, more willing to work with people instead of commanding or browbeating them. I came in on Saturday to make a short presentation to our board of trustees. Now, I am on salary and “exempt” so that means i don’t get overtime for this kind of thing. I’m new to the college and the board needs to know what we are doing differently with the website. It was not a problem.
On Monday I got a hand-written thank you note from the President. not only did he thank me for showing up on a Saturday, he praised what I said. I really feel valued. This is so different from the experiences I have had in the past. Maybe it’s just because I don’t work for the state anymore.
But if this is how the world may shift as we Boomers get out of the way and let the Gen-X and Millennials take over, I’m all for it. Right on.
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