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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Another book about the Upper-Middle Class Minority of Millenials, August 17, 2011
This review is from: The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking Up the Workplace (Hardcover)
Ron Alsop's book, "The Trophy Kids Grow Up", is another book in a line of many that claims to examine the lives of "Millenials", the generation of people born in the 1980s and 1990s. Like most of these books, it is a combination of anecdotes and occasional polling, with a massive dose of opinion to hold it together.
I made it about 50 pages into the book before setting it down. Part of the reason for this was because there was nothing unique to draw interest in the book, nothing that distinguishes it from other books that purports to examine Millenials. We get the same usual claims about their/our inability to work hard, our desire for a workplace that suits our personal lives and dreams, and our penchant for volunteerism and tolerance. The book can get rather tedious to read after a while.
The main reason I put this book down, though, was that it began to grate on me. I think I understand why: Alsop's book, like most other books examining the Millenial generation in this manner, is -really- a book about Millenials from Upper-Middle Class backgrounds. These are the kids with helicopter parents who have the time to get nosy. The kids who can afford to job hop and start companies in their spare time, or spend "at least a summer" studying abroad. The type of kids who usually fill out the roster of dream applicants desired by Wall Street and other high-end employers. Even the title reflects this - "trophy kids" is a label that could only be applied to kids from these backgrounds.
What about the rest of us Millenials, though? The ones who come from lower-Middle Class and Working-Class backgrounds? We represent a majority of the Millenial population, but Alsop has precious little to say about us except in a handful of polls aimed at our general age demographic. These are the kids who have to work in the increasingly large number of low-paying service jobs, who go to junior and state colleges. The kids who don't spend "at least a summer" studying abroad because that's several thousand dollars that we can't afford to part with. The kids who end up with increasingly large amounts of student loan debt because our parents can't afford to coddle us. Even Alsop's point about diversity acceptance amongst Millenials seems rather hollow when he doesn't bother to seriously examine the outcomes of most minority Millenial kids, many of whom are coming from impoverished backgrounds.
This is a major failing in this book, but it's sadly understandable. It's easier to interview a handful of top employers and a handful of superstar Millenials, as opposed to examining 100 typical Millenials struggling to make a living at the bottom of the Service Economy. In that case, Alsop's book isn't bad - hence why I gave it two stars instead of one - but it is unfortunately typical.
I would strongly suggest that you pass on this book.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Expectations, December 21, 2008
This review is from: The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking Up the Workplace (Hardcover)
Journalist Ron Alsop (The Wall Street Journal) has taken a group of columns and expanded them into a book titled, The Trophy Kids Grow Up. Alsop's kids are the millennials, those born between 1980 and 2001, who have grown up with prosperity and have had lavish attention and praise wash over them throughout their lives. Now that they are arriving in the workplace, Alsop proposes ways that companies need to change to accommodate this generation of workers. I'm not as sure as Alsop is that this generation is shaking up the workplace. It may be that this group, to whatever extent they represent a real group, may be unrealistic in their expectations of the workplace, and are making their concerns heard. Some companies are listening and making changes; other companies are likely to tell them to grow up. Alsop provides lots of examples of what changes some companies are making. Each chapter ends with "chapter highlights" to recap his key points. I found this book to be tedious to read and sometimes repetitive. I was aghast to read about helicopter parents wanting (and sometimes getting) to sit in on performance assessment meetings with their children who are adults. My forecast is that this cohort called millennials may be starting out with expectations that some companies will be willing to meet. As the bulk of millennials come to the workforce, their expectations may become more realistic and more consistent with current corporate practices. If you read this book and decide to copy what some companies are doing, I encourage you to think twice, and make only those changes that you conclude are absolutely necessary to avoid alienating the talented millennials you want to become part of your organization.
Rating: Two-star (Mildly Recommended)
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Subject and Advice, October 23, 2008
This review is from: The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking Up the Workplace (Hardcover)
Born between 1980 and 2001, "millennials" challenge us as they move into their roles of student, worker and citizen. For anyone that has experienced these trophy children, they realize that we (management) need help and guidance. This is a well-crafted book that will help you adapt to the demands of the millennial generation. It is also full of advice on how to retain this generation. As pointed out in this important work, attracting is one problem. Retention is quite another.
Spending most of my career in human resources as a manager and now as a human resources corporate director, I have experienced many of the attributes from this generation and found this to be a very helpful book for planning the future. Ron Alsop shares his insight and helps us understand the many facets of this fascinating albeit frustrating group. As I read the book, I wrote down many of the conflicting qualities and characteristics of these millennials.
1. High sense of entitlement
2. Philanthropic
3. Surprisingly Community-minded
4. High premium on career success
5. Job-hoppers
6. Not Loyal to any employer
7. Technologically savvy
8. Committed to self-determination
9. Confident
10. Hard working
11. Achievement oriented
12. Display poor leadership abilities
13. Not good problem solvers
14. Demand freedom and flexibility
15. Expect explicit rules
How can we ever hope to blend this eclectic mix of attributes? Well, this book provides a rich portrait of these young people (and their parents) and more importantly, offers sage advice on how to deal with them.
I hope you found this review helpful. Michael L. Gooch, Author of Wingtips with Spurs:Cowboy Wisdom for Today's Business Leaders.
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