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Jeremy J. Glowacki
is editorial director of New York City-based Residential Systems magazine.
At the recent CEDIA Management Conference, a record 260 attendees
converged on San Diego to discuss employee recruitment and retention
and many other business topics, sharing best practices and learning
from some of the top experts in those categories. One keynote speaker
who took a particularly intriguing approach to the “human resources”
topic was Eric Chester, a muscular, former high school teacher who has
made the subject of “Generation Why?” his primary focus.
So named for the group of young people who follow on the heels of the
much-publicized slacker-generation “X,” Generation Why?, according to
Chester, is the tattooed and multi-pierced demographic that might
answer the age-old Army command, “When I tell you to jump, you say...”
with “Why?” instead of “How high?!”
In his engaging style, Chester offered insight into this often-baffling
group of kids who can be as aggravating as they are necessary to the
future of our businesses. One observation Chester made that is
tailor-made for our industry was that, generally, this next wave of
potential employees hates stagnation and boredom more than anything
else. “They’ll choose physical injury over boredom,” Chester pointed
out. That could bode well for custom installation business owners whose
field technicians and installers typically experience a change of
environment every day. Try out this recruiting tool the next time
you’re looking to hire new installers and technicians: “We offer a
change of scenery, change of environment, and change of temperature,
nearly every day.”
Although he admitted that “generational studies” is not an exact
science, Chester seemed to get to the heart of basic human
tendencies—specifically why “Generation Why” asks “Why?” so much.
This attitude, Chester believes, comes from over-nurturing Boomers who
started their families later in life and then allowed their kids to
have more freedom and “voice” than any prior generation. As employees,
Chester said, Generation Why? expects the same treatment from their
boss. Specifically, they don’t like being “told” what to do, but prefer
having a voice in the organization.
Chester’s concepts made a lot of sense, though they may be hard to
implement. “Instead of shutting them up, which is what you’d like to
do, get to know them as a people,” he suggested. “Get to know their
books, movies, and their MySpace page. Don’t try to be like them
because you’d only be a poser. Instead, step back, know who they are,
and tune into their frequency.”
I was feeling pretty good about this advice until I ran into RS
contributor Michael Heiss at lunch later that day. Mike told me that he
thought the whole thing was nonsense—a point he also shared with Eric
Chester personally. Mike’s argument was that while it’s a great idea to
treat your subordinates fairly, that does not mean you should throw
rules for politeness and decorum out the window when it comes to
dealing with your well-heeled clientele.
“A lot of the clients in this business are rich, conservative guys who
might not appreciate a tattoo on the side of some kid’s head,” Heiss
said. “The boss might be cool with it, but he needs to tell his
employee that when he goes over to Mr. Jones’ house, he needs to put a
hat on his head and cover up the tattoo.”
Chester agreed that you can still have your rules, but just make sure
that you establish them up front and stick by them. You must, he said,
be the boss that tells your employees “the whole truth and nothing but
the truth.” Never misrepresent your culture.
“Generation Why? is a skeptical bunch that have seen a lot of things
that have put them on guard and made them distrustful,” Chester said.
“They want to believe in you, but you have to show them why they
should.”
