Hey Gen Z employees! Take this old Boomer’s advice

Take it from me. After four decades in the workforce I have gathered sufficient experience to have an opinion. My advice might surprise you.

Demographer Bernard Salt. The most successful workers (in my view) are those with energy and social skills, who are articulate, who lean into projects, who take responsibility.

There’s a time in the life-cycle when ambition gives way to reflection. That time starts, I think, in the late sixties when many Australians leave the workforce. It’s a time when retirees as well as those slowing down think about their experience with the workplace.

I am not retired, but after four decades in the workforce I have gathered sufficient experience to see all this more clearly. The most successful workers (in my view) are those with energy and social skills, who are articulate, who lean into projects, who take responsibility.

These skills aren’t necessarily learnt at university or at a TAFE college; rather, they are instilled at home and from an early age. Let personal qualities like honesty, fairness and transparency define your workplace persona. I’d toss in a dose of pleasantness too. People like dealing with skilled, pleasant people.

As for bosses, there’s been a seismic shift; back in the 1980s bosses were shaped by a command-and-control model of administration that no doubt stemmed from WWII. Today they tend to be more empathetic, more diverse, more caring. Not all bosses, but enough for someone like me to notice there’s been a shift in the tenor of leadership over time.

In the late 1990s it was fashionable to talk about working smarter, not harder. I always thought, “Yeah, but what if you work smarter and harder!” I have never met any successful person who hasn’t worked hard. But equally, I have found that such people also tend to turn work into their hobby, their interest, their life. They can become a consumed by work to the extent that they have no other identity.

The lesson, I think, is to find an interest then build skills around it and make it your job. But also realise, there’s more to life than work.

When I was a kid, I didn’t know there was a place in the workforce for someone with my interests. I’d never heard of jobs like business consultant and corporate speaker. But there were columnists like Keith Dunstan, whose gentle wit and writing style I liked. And I enjoyed hoovering up data, maps, history, language and popular culture, and connecting the dots to create storylines in my head.

Teach your kids manners and sociability; give them permission to pursue a passion and to talk openly about their love of life and country. These traits are unusual in today’s world; they pay dividends (in contentment at least) across a lifetime. These qualities set a mood and tone; they create an openness to engagement that is unique in a world where workers can be reluctant to stand out.

Indeed, to the young workers of today I say package your creative ideas, develop the skill of being able to recall metrics, examples and benchmarks, and serve up the lot at meetings, seminars and one-on-ones. These skills, these traits, this persona: they all set you apart.

Don’t say “I reckon”, say “My thinking is”. Politely ask questions of your boss. You’ll be surprised how much a bit of old-fashioned gumption gets you ahead. And be prepared to take risks. Make a joke at a business lunch. It will change the mood.

There’s a place for everyone in the workforce. Sometimes it just takes the world of work a bit of time to appreciate precisely the skills and the attributes that you have to offer.