Customer Reviews

The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation Is Rocking the Workplace

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I listened to the audio version of this book. It was somewhat interesting, but ......

I am a boomer. From my perspective, the first two thirds of this book was just cheerleading for Millennials. The Millennials are gifted, talented, etc. If you aren't hiring them by the tens of thousands and accommodating their work and life style, you will face imminent doom. I don't quite buy that argument. I tried to look through the prism of a 50+ boomer, an analyst in a relatively conservative industry, a co-owner of a dance studio (focus on 7-17), a yet-to-be discovered playwright and as a parent/uncle to Millennials.

I don't question the research or the results that the authors conducted. Just the presentation of their conclusions. I don't think Millennials will be a tidal wave of extraordinary talent. This exists in each generation.

This book really address the right side of the academic bell curve. First off, eliminate the 20%-30% that will not complete high school. Carve out the large non-assimilated Millennial immigrants. Set aside the Millennial craftsmen who get a job and learn a trade. Slice out the portion that either should not have attended college or attained a degree that lacks relevance. You are now left with a tiny segment of the Millennial population.

From a corporate perspective, you would be a fool not to identify, recruit, and retain high performing Millennials. But you would be just as foolish to mistake wizardry with gadgets as genius or baby-sitting as mentoring.

Technically, I am a "Millennial" since this generation is of those born from 1982 to 2000. (I was born the second day of the beginning of the generation and my brother who is 11 years younger than me is in the same generation). I picked this up at the library on a whim since I thought it would be a good indicator for how others perceive my generation and what I can do better in work environments. Let's face it- technology is a huge factor in today's society. This book implies that because of technological leaps- those in the Millennial generation have little to no manners, no etiquette with dealing with other generations, and a lack of respect. Personally, I do not feel that way at all when working with Traditionalists, Boomers, Xers, but I can see how this is a proven issue for those younger and less experienced than me.

Obviously, the book is about "The M-factor," which is the seven factors and trends that makes the generation who they are. These are: Parenting (which I don't agree with AT ALL for me, but I can see it for most of generation), Entitlement (Bingo!!!), Looking for Meaning (Absolutely!), Great Expectations (finding success and fulfillment without taking forever), the need for speed, Social Networking, and finally collaboration. Yes, my generation was always taught that, "You can be anything you want to be," and the aspect of teamwork was everywhere from classes to sports. There are a lot of truths in the book and is important to read. I very much enjoyed it and hope that we can all learn from each other.

I checked this book out from my library when I saw the title. As one of the oldest millennials (born in 1982), I ran into a lot of the problems discussed in this book when I started working full-time.

I like how it provides advice to all of the generations on how to improve communication and make the work experience better for everyone. What it says to millennials is definitely applicable!

I'm not through with the book yet, so I don't want to give a detailed review, but suffice it to say that I'm recommending it to all of my younger cousins and siblings to read before they get out in the "real world." I don't want them to make some of the same mistakes that I did!

I read it quickly, and there is an easily digestible writing style, but I really do feel you could write 4 densely written pages and the book would be done. It felt like an extended magazine article. It made a few interesting points - if you are a boomer who thinks Millennial's are entitled and over indulged, well what are you doing with your own kids... But I have to say the more they tried to justify how the millenials are not really entitled, the more entitled they sounded. By the end the authors made Millenials sounds like a sweet pile of puppies, happily collaborating, making aps, uploading blogs and putting everything they do on Facebook. It just didn't make it sound like they could really follow through and take real responsibility for a project, though that is what they are all lusting to do.

I work with a lot of 23-30 year olds, and what I see is that a lot more of them are flailing than those described in this book. I definitely agree with the other review that said this book refers to maybe 5-15% of that population, the cream of the college grads.

So interesting, and easy to read, 284 pages long, but not as incisive or intellectual as I would like - perhaps a bit like the Millenials themselves.