Not Everyone Gets a Trophy, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER ONEWHAT IS IT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE WORKPLACE?

They keep telling me, “Here's what you get in five years, ten years, twenty years …” But they expect me to come back to work tomorrow. What do I get tomorrow?

—Twentysomething

Not long ago, the president of a health care consulting firm told me he had just interviewed a twenty-five-year-old man for a job in his firm. The young candidate came to the interview armed with a number of ordinary questions about job duties, salary, and benefits. When these questions were answered, he made a request: “You should know that surfing is really important to me and there might be days when the surf's really up. Would you mind if I came in a little later on those days?”

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At a major food conglomerate, summer interns are usually given an assignment, such as a big data-entry project, that they can complete during the course of their summer employment. An executive there shared with me the story of one of his latest interns: “On the first day, she announced she had invented a new cereal. She had a box, complete with artwork and a bag of her cereal inside, that she called her ‘prototype.’ Clearly she had gone to great lengths, including the recipe and nutritional information and preparing a slide show. She wanted to know when she would be able to pitch her idea to senior executives. ‘The sooner the better,’ she said.”

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An experienced nurse-manager in a busy hospital told me she stopped a new young nurse from administering the wrong ...