Tag: workforce

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/05/28/mika-brzezinski-daniela-pierre-bravo-give-career-advice-to-millennials.html

As young adults entering the workforce, we face the challenge of overcoming the stereotype “lazy millennial”. Our generation has grown up in a completely different era than the elder generations, living in a time where technology has always been present. Millennials have come to be perceived as the generation who has had everything handed to them, not knowing what hard work really means. This is particularly problematic in the corporate world, where several generations must work together. How can millennials become successful in their careers if they cannot effectively communicate with elder generations in the workforce? This is a question Mika Brzezinski offers solutions to for young millennial women in her book “Earn It”. 

Mika writes this book alongside Daniela Pierre-Bravo, a young millennial woman who was able to push past these stereotypes and effectively make a name for herself in her work. In the CNBC interview linked above, Pierre-Bravo and Brzezinski touch on some of the pieces of advice offered in “Earn It”. 

After reading the book, a specific passage resonated with me:

 “Young women still face a familiar set of challenges: in addition to gender bias that’s an everyday occurrence in the corporate world, they are often dismissed because of their youth. Millennial women in particular get a bad rap, accused of being part of a generation that is distracted, entitled, and lazy. They’re encouraged to present themselves as self-assured and ambitious, but not overly aggressive, which would make them less likeable. These are contradictory messages for women who are entering the work-place and don’t understand the office environment.”

Brzezinski (xiii)

Millennial women are quickly categorized into one of two stereotypes; therefore, they must communicate and present themselves in a way that older generations can make sense of. “Earn It” is a major resource for my paper, and I will draw connections to other sources that talk about differing communication styles between generations, and I will expand on why this is especially important for women.