Tammy Erickson's What's Next, Gen X?

MEMBERS OF GENERATION X—the 30-to-44 age cohort—have drawn the short stick when it comes to work. The economy has been stacked against them from the beginning. Worse, they’re sandwiched between Boomers (with their constant back-patting blather and refusal to retire) and Gen Y’s (with their relentless confidence and demands for attention).

Gen X’s are stuck in the middle—of their lives and between two huge generations that dote on each other and that are taking up a little too much of X’ers’ room.

But they can move forward in their career. In What’s Next, Gen X? Tamara Erickson shows how. She explains the forces affecting attitudes and behaviors in other generations—Traditionalists (born 1928-1945), Boomers (born 1946-1964), X’ers, and Y’ers (born 1980-1995)—so X’ers can start relating more productively with bosses, peers, and employees.

Erickson then assesses Gen X’ers progress in life so far and analyzes the implications of organizational and technological changes for their professional future. She lays out a powerful framework for shaping a satisfying, meaningful career, revealing how X’ers can:

• Use their unique capabilities to become effective leaders 
• Identify work that matches what they care most about
• Succeed in a corporate career or an entrepreneurial venture
• Spot and seize newly emerging professional opportunities

For example, she explains how X’ers can find a type of work and a place of work that
suits them—by identifying work activities that engage them, that feel
effortless and energizing, and that activate “life lures” such as the
opportunity to create something of lasting value, to be part of a winning team,
or to take on interesting challenges.

Provocative and engaging, What’s Next, Gen X? helps the 30-to-44 set break free from the middle—and chart a fulfilling course for the years ahead.

 

TAMARA ERICKSON is President of The nGenera Innovation Network (ngenera.com). She is both a respected McKinsey Award-winning author and popular and engaging storyteller. Her compelling views of the future are based on extensive research on changing demographics and employee values and, most recently, on how successful organizations work. Her work discerns and describes interesting and important trends in our future and provides actionable counsel to help organizations and individuals prepare today. Tammy (TammyErickson.com) has coauthored five Harvard Business Review articles (including McKinsey Award winner “It’s Time to Retire Retirement”), the book Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent, and an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Visit her blog, “Across the Ages” on hbr.org. Other books in Tammy's generational series include Retire Retirement: Career Strategies for the Boomer Generation and Plugged In: The Generation Y Guide to Thriving at Work.