Talent vs. Effort

How do we get everyone to do their best?

My blog. My rules. I use this forum for my selfish purposes. I am grateful for those of you who stop by, take a look and leave a comment. I love you no less if you don’t comment. So I’m not just fishing for feedback. It is welcomed and encouraged but not necessary. 🙂

So here goes. My apologies and prayers if any of this hits home with you.

Millenials.

What does that word mean? It gets bantered around at the water cooler and in social media circles and while waiting in line to pick up our kids after school in the carpool lot. So just who are they?

Millennials (according to millennialmarketing.com):

  • Were born between 1977 and 2000
  • Make up about 25% of the US population
  • Make approximately $1,000,000,000,000 in discretionary purchases (that’s 1 trillion)
  • 37% say they will make a purchase to support a cause even if it means paying more for an item.
  • Are 2.5x more likely to be early adopters of technology if it’s “cool”
  • 80% want to brands to entertain them, yet only 40% want to participate in their creation

So why are they getting a bad rap? Well, they show up late (if they show up at all). Constantly. They dress weird. And I know weird. They are “Entitled, lazy, narcisstic and addicted to social media” according to CNBC.

From the best of my research, I see that Walt DisneyWorld employs over 70,000 cast members in the state of Florida who fit in the above descriptoin. You don’t think they have issues with millennials? They most certainly do. But they have created and developed and evaluated and recalculated a culture that deals with the issues rather than lower their standards (a phrase I have used recently that made me shudder).

You can take the most talented person on your team and give them the greatest role in your organzation. But if they do not put forth the effort to be successful, that talent is a wasted line on a resume.

“You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” Walt Disney

Stay tuned!

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