“The Fully Integrated” The Millennials:  Are global, networked and collaborative. Their view on money: Earn to spend.

Also known as “Gen Y”, they were born between 1977-2000 and are now ages 8 to 27 years old. They include Ashton Kutcher, Serena Williams, and maybe your neighbor’s daughter. There are currently, about 75 million Chief Friendship Officers. They typically grew up as children of divorce. The Millennials hope to be the next generation to turn around all the “wrong” they see in the world. They came of age in a period of economic expansion. The “fully integrated” are Patriotic, (shaped by 911) and consider technology as ethereal and intangible, and limitless. The Millennials are “fully integrated” with technology and are digitally focused. They grew up more sheltered than any other generation as parents strived to protect them from the evils of the world. School shootings, terrorist attacks, AIDS, and 9/11 are some of the events that shaped them. They were kept busy as kids, are the first generation of children with schedules, and are the most doted upon of any generation.

Millennials are surprisingly spiritual. They believe in civic duty, are street smart, and want it now- as in NOW. They have high morals, are avid consumers, and are part of a truly global community. The “fully integrated” hot-wired are hotly competitive and love the personal attention. Fun, Fun, friendly scheduled lives, diversity-focused, attached to their phones, and can’t imagine living without computers and technology. They consider their parents and grandparents as heroes, are hi-speed junkies and are naturals at thinking out of the box. They enjoy working with teams and loyal to their peers.

Millennials are the first generation of children with schedules.

At work, the millennials can have a “me first” attitude and be somewhat self-absorbed. They can and display a strong sense of entitlement. They are generally polite, they rely on email and voice mail as #1 tools. They prefer texting and using action verbs. Millennials appreciate humor and do not like to be talked down to. They are not good at communicating with older generations because of their technical ways of communicating. They appreciate feedback and will ask for it often. They need structure and supervision and want to work with bright, creative people. Because of being a product of the “drop down and click menu” they may need a list of options also.