Gen X. The MTV Generation
Generation X, which followed the Baby Boomers, were born between 1965 and 1980, which translates, from an age perspective, to people currently 43-58 years old. Today, in the US, there are about 65 million Gen Xers, as compared to the ~75 million Boomers. Gen Xers quite literally grew up in the age of computers, and most don’t remember a time when they didn’t have a PC in their home. As a result, this generation is very tech savvy, much more so than their predecessors. Every kid rocked a Sony Walkman, every TV had a remote control and at least 15 channels to watch instead of 3.
Gen Xers came of age during a time of the 2 household income, and probably, not coincidentally, accelerating divorce rates, both of which likely contributed to their holistic personality traits and identity. The term “latch-key kid” was a by-product of this period, and resulted in highly independent, self-reliant individuals who were able to steer clear of the “noise”. There was simply enough drama around them that they didn’t have a need nor desire to seek it out or create any of their own. As a result of this self-sufficiency, Gen Xers have a reputation as being the ultimate DIYers, the exact demographic that Home Depot panders to. They are very comfortable researching projects on their own, YouTubing tutorials or buying self-help books to rewire the electrical on a house, repairing the transmission on a car, or how to distill their own vodka. They get a tremendous amount of joy and pleasure around doing these types of projects, and don’t hesitate to help out a friend with their EXPERT advice. Likewise, if you can be part of their “solution”, they will appreciate it, especially if they are part of the process in making a decision.
Because they are so independent and feel like they raised themselves, they may resist deferring to authority so don’t resent their lack of deference just because you have credentials or a title. More often than not, their trust has to be earned. Don’t take their blunt questions personally; they’re just trying to assess the situation. Gen Xers appreciate authenticity and transparency more than their counterparts, and will be skeptical if they sense anything that isn’t genuine.
While, even to this day, Boomers take great pride in their appearance and style, Gen Xers are defined by comfort, utility and “anti-flash”. In spite of this utilitarian attitude toward apparel, however, the spending habits of most Gen Xers trend toward things that are more timeless in nature. I guess that makes sense. They aren’t drawn into to the latest fads, after all, they’ve done their research.
Gen Xers are very comfortable being direct and asking for what they want, especially when compared to their younger counterparts. They typically appreciate an open and honest conversation and would prefer to avoid dancing around small talk niceties when it comes to bad news in the work place. Rip off the band aid. This is not to say, however, that they don’t embrace feedback, in fact, I believe they thirst for it. Maybe because they were so independent as children, or maybe because they were left to their own devices and imagination, but Gen Xers grew up BEFORE every kid on the team got a “participation trophy”. They understand that there can be a correlation between hard work and constructive criticism with positive results, and so I believe they are always looking for ways to improve.
The terms “work hard, play hard” and “work-life balance” stemmed from Gen X. After witnessing the Silent Generation “grit it out” and Boomers become workaholics and make seemingly irrational sacrifices for their jobs, Gen X decided that enjoying the fruits of their labors ALONG the way was an important element of life and made work much easier to endure. Instead of the annual Labor Day weekend camping trip that we used to take with my parents, it wasn’t unusual for Gen Xers to reward themselves with multiple vacations a year.
But in spite of having smartphones, Gen Xers aren’t nearly as “married” to these devices as Millennials or Gen Zees. Remember, mobile phones evolved throughout the career of the Gen Xer. There was a day, early in their careers, that they could function without mobile devices. Early cell phones were very utilitarian, with only talk, or simple Neolithic texting capabilities (remember having to hit the “7” button 4 times to get to “S”?). Some of you may still remember the Blackberry (man, I LOVED my Blackberry!) with its full QWERTY keyboard, but Smartphones really took off with the advent of the iPhone in 2007. And in spite of having these devices, it’s been my experience that Gen Xers would prefer to pick up the phone and have a conversation instead of texting or emailing. They’re pretty flexible, but they know that there is no substitute for an in-person conversation to get to the heart of a matter.
If we mark the late 1990’s as the timeframe when the Internet went mainstream, then Gen X was certainly the biggest beneficiary, not only from productivity, but entertainment, information access and opportunity. Unlike the Silent Generation and Boomers who accumulated wealth from more traditional sources like finance and manufacturing, the billionaires from Generation X derived nearly 25% of their wealth through technology. But this is dwarfed by Gen Z which comes in at 32%.
In summary, Gen Xers don’t require nor want a lot of supervision, but they like feedback, look for ways to improve and are eager to learn. Direct, constructive criticism is welcome. They embrace work-life balance, will take full advantage of vacation days but will feel like they earned this time off. They work to live, not live to work.
They are extremely self-sufficient, self-motivated and independent. This is a highly educated, fun-loving, diverse generation, skeptical of the Boomers and their values and how and why they achieved what they did. They are largely unimpressed with authority and “the establishment” and yet, they are loyal to those they trust. The thing they value above all else is “Time” and work is viewed as an ends to a means.
