quinta-feira, maio 15, 2008

IS Gen X really unhappy??

Hi Folks,

I've just checked a post at H-Blogs, about the "unhappiness" of Gen X. OHA! I'm a X-Gen myself and I'm REALLY happy with my lifes (work, personal, country, world, etc)!

Dunno if yankees are resented by their dummy president, or their dummies-funniest candidates-to (com'on, a cheated wife, a former insane religious-and-racist-buble-boy and a even-worst-than-bushes old guard idiot??? What a choice, hum?) or else, but, here in real world, X-Genners are in their best moment!

Let's check professor Tammy Erickson's points:

"1. X’ers’ corporate careers got off to a slow start and many are still feeling the pain. You graduated when the economy was slow and the huge bulge of Boomers had already grabbed most of the key jobs. As an article in the May, 1985 issue of Fortune said: “[T]hese pioneers of the baby-bust generation are finding life on the career frontier harsher than ever . . . they’re snarled in a demographic traffic jam . . . stuck behind all those surplus graduates of the past decade.”


2. When you were teens, X’ers witnessed adults in your lives being laid off from large corporations, as re-engineering swept through the business lexicon. This engendered in most X’ers a lack of trust in large institutions and a strong desire for a life filled with back-up plans, just in case. Many of the adults you saw laid off and then struggling to reintegrate were in their 40’s – about the age X’ers are reaching today.


3. Most corporate career paths “narrow” at the top – the perceived range of options diminishes as individuals become increasingly specialized in specific functions or roles. X’ers crave options, which assuage your concerns about being backed into a corner, laid off from one path. The sense of narrowing career paths and increased vulnerability is often most palpable at the transition from middle to upper management – just where many of you are today. This step also often brings demands for relocation and separation from established social networks – an additional assault on your sense of self-reliance.


4. Just your luck – the economy was slow when you entered the workforce and now its slowing once again – just as you are standing at the threshold of senior management. Stepping into leadership roles right now looks more difficult and the roles themselves, more vulnerable than they have at any point in the past decade.


5. And then there are those pesky Gen Y’s. Many X’ers are charged with “managing” Y’s which – let’s face it – is an impossible task, at least if you define “manage” as controlling their channels of communication. While vying for promotions and trying to look good, many of you feel that Y’s are doing an end run around.


6. X’ers are, in fact, surrounded by a love fest – and not feeling the love. As I wrote in last week’s post (very interesting to check), Boomers and Y’s are learning from each other – and enjoying their interactions. It’s easy to feel left out.


7. X’ers are the most conservative cohort in today’s workforce – and you’re surrounded by “shake ‘em up” types on both sides. In your personal lives, X’ers are not particularly keen on rules, but you had to follow them in the workplace – and you resent it when others now don’t. It seems unfair to be rewriting corporate etiquette when you’ve had to toe the line for so long.


8. Many X’ers’ are guarding a closely held secret: you’re not all as comfortable with the technology that is changing the way things are done as everyone seems to think you are. While it’s perfectly acceptable for Boomers to feign ignorance and ask for help, it’s embarrassing for X’ers to do so.


9. And if Boomer colleagues are annoying, the Boomer parents of your Y reports are down-right over-the-top. X’ers can’t believe the frequency of Y-parent interactions and are deeply turned off by parents who make their presence felt in the workplace.


10. Finally, your own parenting pressures are at a peak. You’re deeply committed to spending more time with your kids than your parents did or were able to spend with you, but juggling is getting more and more difficult."


Someone want's to answer one-by-one?


SENTAPUA! E vamos à luta, Filhos da Pátria!

Cafeine plus plus 4.0 ?

Hi Folks,

I was reading a lot of articles about the new "hyper ultra giga smart dummies" drug, also made for ultra-seniors with arcoleptics in the seventies, called Provigil. Well... In a huge flash back, Banffy had sent to me an article, kindo "The doors of Perception". John Hari told us a interesting history. But he concludes:

"I paced and agonised and finally concluded that taking narcolepsy drugs when you don’t have narcolepsy is just stupid. Our lack of knowledge about what it does to your brain was, in the end, a deal-breaker for me. Perhaps in sixty years we’ll know for sure it’s safe, and I will have spent my life at only sixty percent brain-capacity – but I’d rather risk that than brain damage"

Someone is trying it here, on Brazil. I'll wait and see... If, in ten years, he didn't become a moron, I ll try my shots and take the laziness... Until there, keep using my own and old methods: Chess, Açaí and old, black and warm caffeine :)


SENTAPUA! E vamos à luta, Filhos da Pátria!