The following are a few of the questions asked at the panel I served on a few weeks back. My answers were relatively short due to a limit of about 30 seconds, or a few sentences, for each answer. By all means, these answers are my personal opinion and would love to invite further discussion and your insights via comments or email.

Is Email dead? Honestly, I think email will never die. Most of my friends spend more time checking email than they do sleep. Email is an extremely powerful tool socially and business wise when used efficiently and effectively.

There is a lot of evidence that Gen-Ys are a lot more into collaboration than previous generations. Any thoughts on that? Without a doubt. Gen Y like to feel connected to an organization or company and we place special emphasis on establishing relationships along with personal and career development. Collaboration can satisfy those needs. Also as a generation, we tend to be more open to diversity, not just gender or race, but intellectually too, than previous generations. From group projects in school to youth sports leagues fostering teamwork and team playing….all leads to collaboration. With collaboration, you get infinite amount of intelligence and accumulated experience…which is huge.

PK mentioned that Baby Boomers dislike feedback, but Gen-Ys want it instantaneously. If you have a Baby Boomer boss, do we have a problem? (SIDE NOTE: PK’s presentation showed that Baby Boomers tend to think negatively of feedback, like bad news, and are more accustomed to annual reviews.)

A possible conflict that does not have to be a big problem at all. Smart companies and offices will start now to train managers to give constant feedback. Like I said earlier, Gen Y as a generation tend to focus a lot of energy on personal and career development. We like our work to be meaningful. We also like to be connected to each other, in forms such as collaboration. We are big on improvement, and we see constant feedback and constructive criticism to help us improve. Feedback = consistent improvement. If we feel disconnected and receive small feedback, you can expect us to seek more meaningful work elsewhere.

In your opinion, what are some of the positive qualities of the Baby Boomer generation? Baby Boomers are very dedicated to building a stellar career and to provide a comfortable life for their family. My father was very willing and driven to building his company, and ultimately became successful. Their work ethic and drive I think is their strongest quality.

And some of their negative qualities? I would say lack of balance. For me personally, my parents divorced while I was in high school. My father was very dedicated to his business, their strongest quality, but rarely had time for family and personal. It’s realistic to say that half of my friend’s parents are divorced too. I saw my parents and those of my friends too dedicated to the office, and not to family. You see this in a trend of Gen Y now, in how we rather find work more meaningful to us and a sense of balance of life and work. Lack of balance is a negative quality of Baby Boomers.

If you were to imagine yourself working in a perfect environment, how would you interact with your peers? Your boss? Gen Y is big on communication and staying connected. We also love the idea of flexibility, and taking advantage of tools now available via Web 2.0 to connect and communicate anywhere, not necessarily the office from 9-5. Since we are big on collaboration, I would like to be able to trust and communicate effectively via email, social networks, etc with peers and my boss. No need for useless meetings and the typical 9-5 office hours.

We like to balance work and life, so we would enjoy the freedom to work at home or away from the office as much as possible. I also see a shift of being paid for task, not time, or hourly wages. I can see us more as free agents. ….

The last question led into more of a discussion into the mindset that I would like to be paid per task, not time. Also the idea of instead of employees, people will work as free agents. I further discussed that I personally believe people will be hired to work, collaborate, and complete projects through communication not necessarily taking place in the office. Be paid for task, not time. Be flexible with working arrangements and communication from peer to peer and peer to boss. I will eventually discuss more of this later in future posts.

Overall, it was a blast to participate in the panel. I could have spent hours discussing possible answers to some of the questions above, so it was hard to only jump to one answer in 30 seconds or only a couple minutes. The response and feedback from the audience was extremely positive and enthusiastic, and basically really fun! Please, please, please feel free to discuss your point of views and answers with me. I’m always looking to hear others thought and inputs. Questions or answers, please let me know!

I have been pretty busy, mostly productive though, during my first weeks of summer. I have experienced some new things and met some very influential and interesting people so far. Just recently, I was invited to serve on a Generation Y expert panel by P.K. Agarwal, the Director of DTS for the State of California.

PK also gives speeches and seminars about current trends, and this years trend was understanding the next generation coming into the workforce; Generation Y. He educates people around the country about Generation Y and the tools we use (Web 2.0, social networking, etc), and how it will drastically change the workforce. It was a fun experience and pretty interesting, and plus, free food is always a bonus!

At the presentation, I served on a panel which was asked questions by the audience following PK’s speech and power point. For this specific event, the audience consisted mostly of IT Managers and employees of th State of California. The majority of the audience were Baby Boomers as well as a few Generation X. Most of the questions were directed at the differences between the mindsets and attitudes of Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y, and the possible conflicts that could arise in the workplace. Glenn at Globalized observes this in his recent post here.

Some specific questions or possible conflicts that the audience seemed to be most interested in were about Collaboration in the workplace and online, Gen Y and flexibility in the workplace, Feedback from Managers, and the how positive and negative qualities of Baby Boomers will collide with positive and negative qualities of Gen Y. Over the course of this week and next, I will present the questions asked and my answers to them.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” – Buddha

For the past 6 months I have waken up every Friday morning at 6 AM to participate in a meditation club. I was lured to “Mind Your Business Club” by my friend Grant. Basically, we have 30 minutes of meditation, followed by 30 minutes of discussion related to meditation, Buddhism, and everyday life. I never quite understood the point of meditation. The only thought that came to mind of meditation was Yoda, who I thought was a true badass, so I decided to give it a go.

Basically, I have come to love meditation, and try to practice it whenever I can. Meditation is also something I believe Generation Y should atleast learn about and try. In our generation, when we have an abundance in material goods and satisfactions, it is even more imperative to seek self-fullfillment and self-happiness. Meditation can be one avenue to achieve that.

There can be huge benefits to anyone who decides to take meditation seriously.

• Deeper Levels of Relaxation and Reduces Stress: Honestly, I have never met anyone my age, or any age for that matter, that says they have to much relaxation. American Society seems to be a hot zone for stress. This is one benefit any can enjoy.
• Observe and Control Your Own Thoughts: While meditating, you want to focus on your deep breathing. The goal is not to focus on one dominant thought. Hundreds of thoughts will pop up, and you just let them pass. “Think about nothing”. This is extremely difficult, and becomes easier with practice. Its great though, for you can sit back and see what really is on your mind in a contolled and relaxed manner. Not when your pissed off in traffic or vulnerable to make a fool of yourself in the moment. You seriously become your thoughts. Why not learn how to observe and control them?
• Improve Concentration: While you attempt to obserce and control your own thoughts you will build your skill of concentration. In a information-packed world with literally thousands of distractions every minute, concentration is important. Concentrating on your breaths, and not giving into any one particular thought during meditation, will allow you to become better self-controlled and allow you to concentrate better in other aspects of life – work, school, etc. The more concentrated you can become, the more efficient you will be.
• Better Understanding of Yourself and the World Around You: As you meditate, you really see a movie of all your thoughts before your eyes. You will notice which thoughts come up more, which seem to bother you the most, etc. Also, as you meditate, you can observe your thoughts without all the prejudices and other negative factors you might carry with yourself throughout the day. Since your more relaxed and more concentrated, you can better understand the daily issues that arise. This is huge to better understanding your school issues, work, relationships, and overall, your purpose and motivations in life.

Just start out trying to meditate 5 minutes a day in the morning, at lunch, or before you go to bed. Meditation is one way to live a more balanced life. And the more balanced you are, the more stress-free you tend to be. Meditation is one thing I believe all Generation Y should consider and practice.

According to the article, “Task, not Time: Profile of a Gen Y job”, by Tamara J. Erickson, the Gen Y workers are challenging the traditional 40-hour workweek or eight hour day and rather be compensated for what they produce, not the time they put in.

Many Generation Y workers find themselves with the ability and preference of completing tasks faster and with more flexibility. With supreme technological proficiency skills compared to older workers, we as a generation would much rather achieve the work as efficient as possible, without any unnecessary hours spent in the office. With the ideal to work “asynchronously” – anytime, anywhere, Gen Y workers, along with many other factors involved, are changing and shifting away from the traditional 9-5 Monday through Friday workweek, and companies are taking notice.

There is proof of this trend being beneficial to companies, such as IBM and Best Buy. The article states that 40% of IBM have no official office, and Best Buy has reported better relationships with family and friends, more company loyalty, and more focus and energy from choosing their own hours to work as opposed to the traditional 9-5. Summing this up, Gen Y workers are finding new ways to be efficient and are ultimately pushing the idea of “Task, not Time”.

As a generation Y kid myself, am more drawn to using efficient tools to accomplish tasks, as opposed to having to come in and not leave til a certain time, not being as productive as I could. After reading the 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss, I was officially programmed to pursue the freedom and flexibility to accomplish task as effiecient as possible. Now, besides working 2 shifts at a gym that allows me to read or do homework (free membership too), my other part time job is marketing and public relations for a restaurant, where I accomplish tasks from home and record my hours based on the honor system. I work Fridays usually 10am to 3pm, where I actually come in, but I am constant pushing for more efficient ways of working, like communication more through email as opposed to phone.

With this trend in mind, do you support this new shift of production in the workplace, or would you feel more comfortable in a traditional 9-5 work setting? If you support this trend, I highly recommend to study the 4-Hour Workweek, Parkinson’s Laws, and the 80/20 Principle, and practice utilizing these tools to be productive and efficient, not busy.