MLAP Intro Part 3: Millennials and Leadership

The last subject I've decided to cover for my three part introduction to Millennial Labor and Politics is leadership. For millennials, leadership positions are something that can be somewhat of a unicorn. Whether this is on the new job at the firm or in politics, millennials are finding it difficult to break through the ceilings placed upon them by older generations.

However, leadership for our generation is more important than ever. Whether we like it or not, it is true that we don't operate how the baby boomers, or any other generation for that matter, have before us. In the workplace, we tend to value happiness over money.
We want to live a life that is fair for more people, even if that means we have to work a little harder for it. Millennials like to ask questions in the workplace, and while a disconnected employer may see this as troublesome, we want to know WHY our task is important or HOW it affects the company. If our tasks or careers have a sense of meaning, it takes a priority in our life. I feel that millennials get a bad rep about this specifically. It's not in our demeanor to question our bosses in a childish type of way, its that we are smart enough to know that we aren't interested in doing what I call "robot work". At some point, we will become the bosses. Think about the job you are currently at, and ask yourself, "In five years, who will be around and who will be making decisions?" If the answer isn't "me", you need to either find something that motivates you more and is your true passion, or find a career path that offers you a glimmer of upward mobility. What exactly do the other generations think about us? What do you think when you look in the mirror?

One of my favorite quotes is by a guy named Jocko Willink. He's commanded the U.S. Navy Seal Team Three, he's a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt, and his mantra should be adopted by the Millennial generation. He has a few phrases that he lives by, but there are two of them that stick out to me:

1. Take extreme ownership of your world. I recently was reminded of lesson that I had forgotten about, but discovered at a very young age. If you have a problem in your life, it's up to you to take care of it. Jocko gives examples of when he was a SEAL commander, he often went for months not requesting anything from the Commodore for his guys, not because they didn't need anything, but because he could take care of it without the Commodore's help. When a situation would arise where he actually needed something he couldn't take care of on his own, his Commodore always took care of it, instantaneously with no questions asked. Take some extreme ownership of your own world and see what results you can get.

2. If you want to be tougher, be tougher. Being tough to means different things to different people. Someone might find that being tough means taking on that dreaded boss at work. Another might say being tough is getting out of bed after a series of events they've recently gone through. The bottom line is that "being tougher" all comes to making the mental DECISION to be tougher. You don't need to overhaul your whole life in one night, but making a forced mental change to better yourself and committing yourself to it will pay you large dividends in the long run.

So this post and the two before are what I'm focusing this blog about. I'm hoping I can inspire millennials, even if its just a single person. I want them to run for office, go back to college, do a job search on the Internet if their miserable where they work, anything to improve their own lives while lifting up others. If I can educate people and help start a movement.....well you can't really ask for much more!

Cheers,

Brandon

@MillennialLAP