Generations, Inc.: From Boomers to Linksters—Managing the Friction Between Generations at Work

CHAPTER  12

Different Strokes for Different Folks: A Model for Managing Across Generational Boundaries

“All Fords are exactly alike, but no two men are just alike. Every new life is a new thing under the sun; there has never been anything just like it before, never will be again.”

—Henry Ford, 1863–1947

 

Larry Remembers

In the mid-1970s I managed a 60-bed inpatient unit at a government psychiatric hospital. A staff of 42 people reported to me, and I managed a budget of about a half-million dollars (big bucks for the time). From the beginning, the goal was to discharge all the patients to more appropriate placements and shut the unit down. The goal was accomplished in two years, and I moved into the hospital training department temporarily until ...