I had the pleasure yesterday of speaking to a group of 70+ CMO's in New York City on the topic of Millennials in marketing. Actually I did very little speaking and let three fabulous Millennials speak for themselves, Justin DeGraaf, Marketing Manager at Unilever, Adrienne Waldo of Ask a Millennial and Brian Rosenberg of Prophet. The presentation was Titled "10 Things Millennials Wish They Could Tell Their CMO's". The 10 key points are nicely summarized on The CMO Club blog today.
The speakers did a great job bringing the points to life, but apparently many in the audience just weren't buying it. The Q&A session was unusually tense. The gist of the comments were that Millennials need to understand the workplace will not change to accomodate them Their issues are simply "management 101" - if they had good managers, their issues would go away. One CMO went so far as to say they are actively avoiding hiring Millennials because of the high maintenance demands.
I disagree. There is data, lots of it, that suggests this generation has different needs and expectations than Boomers and Gen X'ers. Their values are likely to have a greater effect on the workplace than the workplace will have on their values. If companies are to get the best from them, they will need to show greater sensitivity to these differences.
Beyond Management 101, understanding Millennials is critical for effective marketing. Millennials are the 'target of the future' and what better way to start to understand them than to listen to the Millennials in your own organization. While many of their tastes and habits are age-related, many others are generational. These differences will shape their lives as consumers for many years. For their sake, I hope that the CMO's in the audience take time to do some investigating among the Millennials in their organization and keep an open mind that perhaps their young workers are not just younger versions of themselves.
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Nice article Carol. I like your point regarding CMOs making the effort to investigate what's happening at the grass roots of their organization with the new hires. Part of the problem stems from traditional hierarchical structures which encourage a disassociation with the coal face.
ReplyDeleteCarol. Good Morning
ReplyDeleteBased on our experience with this segment as our primary customer, I agree with you. The smart companies will, and arguably have adapted to the
Millennials work habits, and they are very, very different from what was a standard 9-5 job.
I am the very tail end of the boomer segment, and the very outlook (I am not judging one or the other, just an observation) on work is diametrically different.
Once again, Carol, great post.
ReplyDeleteUnfortnuately, this theme is all too common among senior leaders in organizations. The corollary statement I also hear is "our" Millennials are different from 'those' Millennials" implying that the organization can continue business as usual. Here is my worry conversation. If organizations persist in the belief that "it" is the Millennials' problem - not theirs - and they resist change and shy away from hiring Millennials because they are "high maintenance", they may find themselves with a shortage of talent. The economy will recover and Millennials will choose to work for places - and managers - who get "it".
Carol, thanks again for attending the CMO CLUB Summit and participating. A few quick comments. Although a few vocal CMOs shared one view, most CMOs in the room are passionate about leading highly motivated teams and know good leadership focuses on understanding each individual in their organization and providing them the nurturing, direction, rewards, etc. that gets them delivering value and feeling good about their contribution. Lets talk new week about next steps and survey CMOs in the club on this topic.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and insight Carol. It still seems that many businesses are stuck in their ways, and thus will have a difficult time in not only the shift in power over the next 10 years but in recovering from the economic impact that Millennials will have on their business.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny as we are marketing a nonprofit here in Orlando, we always target college freshmen - why? Because if we can get them on board in the beginning we can have them for at least the remainder of their college life and potentially forever. If CMO's can start to think about those principles, their business with thrive b/c of it.
Glad you shared this info!
Carol, I enjoyed the session during the CMO Club Summit and was one of the CMOs in the audience. I honestly think that the audience was divided, and many felt that the issues raised by your wonderful panel are not 'management 101' issues at all. I spent my entire career (over 20 years in media, marketing, and technology companies) working with millenials and I always gravitate towards them. If an organization is looking for fresh, new, and innovative ideas, in addition to 'experience', they need to embrace new, vibrant, fresh, and sometimes radical approaches that millenials would bring on board. Does it come at a price? Yes, and sometimes companies benefit by embracing new ways of doing business or reinvention. Think of many new ways that marketers and advertisers are leveraging the millenials today - from viral marketing to social media marketing, millenials make a wonderful contribution to many new trends and explorations. A few concentrate on generation gaps and age differences (old versus young, boomers versus millenials), but in reality we ALL look for more understanding, deeper thinking, respect in a workplace, innovation, and flexible business models. Marketers by design, and by their culture, tend to segment and differentiate, yet the workplace and social interactions are much more complex today than a simple 'segmentation, or 'us versus them' notion. As far as 'high maintenance' is concerned, I can point to a few Gen X-er and baby Boomer CMOs who are sometimes slowing the progress in their companies by 'set ways, lack of imagination and innovation, or simply by being stubborn and not having their ego in check'. We are all being humbled by the current market conditions - we need to leverage each others' strengths and concentrate on building new business models of the future, inclusive of all generations, carrying through many sentiments which were expressed at the Summit.
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