Chapter 6MILLENNIALS: FACTS AND FICTIONS

There is a belief out there—call it a hope or even an expectation—that the men of the millennial generation coming into business and government will be more inclusive, collaborative, communicative, and even more emotionally intelligent than the “knuckle‐dragging” baby boomer men who currently fill the roles of senior leadership.

They believe that millennial men and women are more understanding of each other than men and women of previous generations. Actually, the belief is that young men are less aggressive and more inclusive than previous generations of men.

They believe young men and women are both seeking the same type of work environment where they can be their true selves and blend together.

“Richard, this couldn't be further from the truth. This is simply an enlightened denial that generational differences exist. Those placing all of their hopes in this new generation are enlightened because they're committed at some level to the ideal of gender equality; yet they refuse to acknowledge that there are real, hardwired differences between males and females.

“They actually believe that baby boomers have these differences, but millennials don't. They think that social change has eliminated or greatly reduced gender differences, but it hasn't.”

IT'S NOT A GENERATIONAL ISSUE

Our biological differences don't change in the span of a generation or two—or even in the forty or so generations it takes to make up a millennium. These differences ...

Get Results at the Top now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.