The Millennial Myth Transforming Misunderstanding into Workplace Breakthroughs

Ready for the Future or Stuck in the Past?

Millennials have been condemned as lazy, entitled, disloyal, and disrespectful and needing constant hand-holding. But Crystal Kadakia—a Millennial herself as well as an organizational development consultant and two-time TEDx speaker—shows that not only are these negative stereotypes dead wrong, but each one conceals a positive workplace practice that forward-looking companies must adopt if they are to endure. She illuminates how the advent of digital technology is the crucial root cause of many Millennial behaviors and offers a guide for what our traditional workplace needs to do to attract, engage, and retain modern talent.

Crystal Kadakia is the founder of Invati Consulting and a speaker, author, and thought leader for Millennials and the modern workplace. She spent seven years at Procter & Gamble as an engineering manager and a learning and development manager. She has won a number of awards, such as ATD’s One to Watch, the Power 30 Under 30, and CLO’s Learning in Practice Award.

Contents

Preface Millennials and the Modern Workplace xi

Introduction The Perceptions We Hold Today 1

Chapter 1 Rebuilding the Backdrop for Millennials 17

Chapter 2 It’s Not Lazy, It’s Productivity Redefined 33

Chapter 3 It’s Not Entitled, It’s Entrepreneurial 53

Chapter 4 It’s Not Hand-Holding, It’s Agility 79

Chapter 5 It’s Not Disloyal, It’s Seeking Purpose 101

Chapter 6 It’s Not Authority Issues, It’s Respect Redefined 117

Conclusion A Millennial-Inspired Modern World 139

Notes 145
Acknowledgments 151
Index 153
About the Author 161
Working with Invati 163