Practice Management

Is Gen-X Moxie starting to bloom?

By Dan Hull

Reinvent this, you Boomer running dog lackeys, you Gen-Y teacups. Eve Tahminciogluan, an MSNBC contributor, notes that Gen-X (defined liberally as those born between 1961 and 1981) is "getting hit with a double whammy". First, the dot-com bubble bursts--and now this, The Recession. But the article trumpets the degree of Gen-X Moxie, self-reliance and true grit:

This generation never had any illusions that an employer would take care of them for life, says Neil Howe, economist, demographer and co-author of ?Generations: The History of America?s Future, 1584 to 2069.?

?Generation X never expected any security,? he says, adding that the mentality of the company man or woman was dead by the time these individuals entered the workforce.

They are also a resilient lot, he adds... In contrast to the younger Generation Y group with their overprotective parents and baby boomers still pining the loss of the gold watch days, Gen Xers never ?trusted that the world or anyone was going to take care of them," he says.

That's the spirit! (We hope it's true.) Yes, do what Boomers and their Greatest Generation parents did when they got stung: (1) spit on it, (2) run a lap, (3) whiskey and soda.

Full post as published by What About Clients? on March 12, 2009 (boomark / email).