Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future

Of the more than 10 books I have read on Millenials/Gen Y, this was my favorite by an order of magnitude. Unlike many of the books that wax rhapsodic about Millennials/Gen Y, this book has no political angle. But in terms of values & perspective, everything suggests the author is rather conservative because of the refreshing absence of utopian cheerleading. Among all the books I've read so far, Generation iY stands out for the following qualities:1) It offers the broadest, most universally useful applications: for teachers, employers, parents, mentors, colleagues, coaches, politicians, advertisers, social activists, sales people, fundraisers, etc.2) The author provides a thoughtful, mature & deeply compassionate discussion of Gen iY's strengths & weaknesses and how to help them develop to their full potential.3) There is a blessed absence of trivializing pop-psychology diagnoses.4) The book is written from a perspective that implicitly treats Gen Y/Gen iY as composed of individuals (vs as an indiscriminate & undifferentiated cohort).5) The author effectively communicates genuine concern for the good of the youth who compose Gen Y/Gen iY -- as well as for the impact they will have upon our society at large.6) The author strikes a careful balance in his approach: neither deflecting legitimate exploration of deficiencies, nor blaming Gen Y/Gen iYers for them.7) The book offers straight-forward clear-eyed analysis for the purpose of problem-solving.8) Wisdom and useful insights shine though this rich & thoughtful work.Generation iY complements another book ( Y-Size Your Business: How Gen Y Employees Can Save You Money and Grow Your Business ) which offered numerous specific, actionable examples and Best Practices.Generation iY takes a further step back and offers a valuable conceptual roadmap for working with, mentoring and developing the maturity & leadership skills of Gen Y/Gen iYers.If mature adults want to influence & help Gen Y/Gen iY -- who emerge from over-indulgent boomer parenting & the current public education system largely in thrall to ideas that do not serve them well -- this book and this author model a robustly authentic & proven successful approach.

This book is not only easy to read but well-worth reading. Each topic begins with a summary followed by sections that discuss the topic in detail. The author, Tim Elmore,has worked in business and industry for many years doing leadership development. He sees Generation X or the Millenials through this experience. He describes a generation that has been raised to be highly confident in their ability to achieve but without learning to cope with disappointment or deferred gratification. He sees their parents hovering over this generation, guiding their careers, removing obstacles, and even intruding in interviews. This generation emerges as highly talented and motivated, expecting challenging assignments, positive management suppport and recognition, and rapid promotions. The flaw is failure to accumulate in-depth experience and failure to tolerate the hard knocks and lack of recognition. He documents a tendancy of the males of this generation to retreat from negative experience in the business world to the safety of the parental home and an electronic world. Elmore's central concern is that the large Boomer generation is beginning to retire, that Generation X is too small to replace them, and that Generation iY will be unprepared to take over leadership in American and the world. Elmore ends the book with a look at the style of mentoring that is required to develop leadership and bring this young generation to its potential. Good management stuff!Generation Y is the largest (78 million and counting) and most diverse generation in America. For another look at this same generation from a different perspective, I recommend in-tandem reading of "The Millennials" by Thom and Jess Rainer. They look at this generation through in-depth interview about their values and attitudes and find a number of positive and encouraging qualities.

Being the mother of two Tweens has been very challenging, even for an "expert" in child development. As a Pediatric Occupational Therapist that works with kids on the Autism Spectrum, ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorders, nothing is more humbling than having your own children defy all understanding of what you know. As luck would prevail, I encountered a daily web article from iMom titled "Three Lies That Can Keep Your Child Stuck in Adolescence" by Dr.Tim Elmore. I was stuck by what Tim wrote in that brief article and followed a link to his book. It reminded me of similar information Dr. Mel Levine wrote about in his book "Ready or Not, Here Life Comes", but with more focus on the influence of recent increased use of social media, instant communication and instant access to information. For my children, this change has occurred within the last half or third of their young lives. It is all they know and it is certainly influencing their overall development at a rapid pace. Dr. Elmore's book, "Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future" covers the paradoxes this generation faces, the special challenges of iY boys, and how our parenting styles facilitate postponed maturation/perpetual adolescents. For those of us that are able to take an honest look at how our parenting has created this, it is difficult not to get depressed or feel immense guilt. However, Tim then pulls out the wonderful projections of how this generation demonstrates a potential leadership opportunity that can influence a more compassionate, deeply connected with community, culturally diverse and generous world. By amending our parenting ways, we can provide the appropriate guidance to "enable Generation iY to discover their vocation..." He goes on to say that "...we have been protecting them rather than preparing them... instead of calling them out..." The rest of the book is inspiring! Highly recommended for parents of toddlers up to teens... especially to the parents of my future son-in-laws!

Good distinction between Generation Y and the current generation, Perfect not just for those engaged with youth ministry/work but also employers who are inheriting youth into the workforce and wonder why they do not seem to have the abilities to function in traditional ways.

Worth while reading

Every teacher and parent should read book

Must read!