“What we need in this time of crisis is for the senior leadership to take a strong handle on the tiller and steer this organization through these rough waters!”
“Actually, it is your steering, or lack thereof, that has gotten us into these tumultuous seas! We need fresh, younger, creative minds leading us forward.”
The bifurcation could not be sharper. Lines are clearly drawn between the ‘old guard’ and the ‘new kids’. One sees the other as lacking in experience and perspective. The other group sees the folks on the other side as out of touch and closed off to new ideas.
The anxiety in moments like these creates an either/or mentality with no capacity to imagine a way forward that is not solely authored by one group or the other.
“Hey boomer” is a dig to those born during a certain time referred to as baby boomers that a set of younger folks believe are either out of touch or the cause of many woes of the world. “Those millennials are _!” Insert a whole host of digs to those born during a different time frame who often get described as self centered and lacking capacity.
In my experience this over emphasis on generational identification of one group by another is inherently divisive. The fundamental challenge of these descriptions is that they are a gross generalization based on when someone was born. And the reality is there are so many factors that shape our beliefs and behaviors that have nothing to do with how many candles are on our birthday cake. These types of characterization of another person/group are often both dismissive and disrespectful.
We need the wisdom of time and experience. We need the wisdom of new perspectives and possibilities. No generation has the market share on either. Rather, each of us brings something to the table. Or as the folks in the Montessori world suggest, “All are teachers – All are learners.”
“Respecting the dignity of EVERY human being” is grounded in the core belief that every person is uniquely created and brings a unique value to the rest of us regardless of what day or year they were born.
“I’ve come to see that the call of God, the love that bids us welcome, is always a call to become the true you. . . . Not an imitation of someone else. The true you: someone made in the image of God, deserving of and receiving love.”
Micheal Curry
BP