Customer Reviews

The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation is Shaking Up the Workplace

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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)

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.

This book shares insight from all the right people, including the source, the Millennials. It's fun, witty, and so true! Not only would Gen Y appreciate the read, but it will give clarity to helicopter parents, career services staff, and to those employers that have no idea how to attract, recruit, retain, OR understand this unique generation.

This book is a great start to understanding what we've made our kids into...and how to lead and manage them as employees.

If you are over 35 and supervise folks undeer 25, read this book.

Anyone working with members of the Millennial generation will want to read this informative book by Wall Street Journal writer Ron Alsop. He offers an insightful look at the newest generation to join the workplace by covering the upsides (tech savvy, bright, high aspirations) and the downsides (entitled, informal, impatient) using real world examples from managers at Fortune 100 firms and career services professionals from major colleges and universities.

The Trophy Kids Grow Up is balanced and well written, and will give you the information you'll need to successfully manage this group.


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Ron Alsop casts a thorough, balanced spotlight on this generation's strengths, preferences, and challenges, sharing essential understanding for all who teach, hire, work and play with this remarkable generation. He also prompts us to recognize how they developed and explore their interests and world view. As an MBA professor, I found this to be an essential guide that has helped me best motivate many. It also prompted me to think about and continue to explore my own generation's strengths and challenges, as well as the confluence and interaction of the several generations in the workplace and our overall society. I recommend this to every educator, employer and manager. It is studded with essential insight shared with refreshing storytelling and clarity.
Fred Talbott
Vanderbilt University

I thought the book The Trophy Kids Grow Up was a wonderful book. I saw the book in my local library, and I was intrigued by the title. I am of the Baby Boomer Generation, and I have to admit, I really do not relate very well to The Millennial Generation. I don't dislike them at all, but I have to admit I really do not understand them. They seem so shallow, not very personable, and plugged in to the latest technology, and in many ways they are. The book pointed out this groups foibles, of which there are quite a few, but it explained them very well to a person like myself who is befuddled by this generation. I have a new found understanding of them, and I will try to be less judgemental of them. Anyone from the Traditional Generation, or Baby Boomers who feels they do not relate well to The Millennials,(Trophy Kids) needs to educate themselves as to why they have problems understanding them. A good read, well worth your time, and educational.

One can read this book two ways. First to rail against the millennials who

job hop
seem entitled
are not willing to wait to climb the corporate ladder
want it all, quickly
are unafraid to challenge the bosses
seek a meritocracy
bring along helicopter parents
seem to need endless feedback
require detailed checklists of explicit work directions
prejudge a company from what its website says
a lack of manners and suitable etiquette

Or you could hail them for

a much better sense of real altruism than any generation so far to date.
seekers of work life balance
a desire to get the work done, in any location and then do what they want
reducing the need for huge offices and cube farms
working for much of the time without supervision and not just nine to five.
showing how intrinsic motivation is a growing influence on modern productivity ( See Driven by Dan Pink)
helping break us all free of the reward punishment management model ( which Dan Ariely shows is counter productive today)
using any and all technologies at a whirlwind adoption rate.

I think I will hail them for their pressure on HR and recruiting systems. I will recognize that having four generations in the workplace now calls for some pretty serious negotiation and mediation skills. But our culture is evolving and will not stop. This is a clearly written book, based on what is really happening in the workplace as we have all seen it. If you have to hire people today, you need to read this book.

I bought 2 copies of this book. Both were new, shipped quickly and I found them to be in great shape. The content of the book was very interesting as I'm one of the millenials shaking up the workplace. Good to see an author who knows how to hit the nail on the head. Thanks.