Blue Collar Culture

Business Results the Old Fashioned Way

Matt Beaudreau | You’re a Millennial and I Hate You!

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On this week’s Blue Collar Culture, we dive into a topic we usually wouldn’t address on this podcast: millennials, the generational divide, and how people think depending on the generation they’re in. This week’s guest, Matt Beaudreau, is a world-renowned keynote speaker on this topic in addition to being the founder of several Acton Academies across Northern California.

“Pay attention to the technological trends of younger generations. Those are your future employees and customers. Where are their eyeballs? Do we want to get in front of those eyeballs now, or in the future? These are generational context questions that you need to ask yourself now and try as best as you can to project in the future. The last part of this is the understanding that, because of technology, these changes are happening so rapidly at this point that adaptation as a business is non-negotiable. Things are going to change and they’re going to change rapidly. Get your head around that concept and you won’t be caught off guard,” says Matt.

We chat about classifying millennials, as well as:

  • Advice for overcoming the generational divide
  • Growing up in the information age
  • Better connecting with millennial employees by changing your perspectives
  • Why younger people are more attracted to mission-driven organizations
  • And more

Mentioned in this episode:

Transcript

Voiceover: This is Blue Collar Culture where you don't need ping pong tables, a cereal bar or nap pods to attract and retain real A players. Join us for the next hour where we speak with down to earth leaders that understand what it takes to win with a blue color culture. Now here are your hosts, Jeremy Macliver and Ryan Englin.

Ryan Englin: Welcome back to another episode of the Blue Collar Culture Podcast. I'm your co-host Ryan Englin and I am here with Jeremy Macliver.

Jeremy Macliver: Welcome back, everyone.

Ryan: So on today's episode, we're going to talk about something that we usually don't address on this podcast. We're going to talk about the generational divide. We're going to talk about millennials. We're going to talk about the different ways people think depending on the generation they're in. And today's guest is a world-renowned keynote speaker on that topic. Also the founder of multiple Acton Academies in Northern California. Matt Beaudreau, welcome to the show.

Matt Beaudreau: Thank you so much, man. It's a pleasure to be here with you guys and getting to talk about some of my favorite things to talk about. So I appreciate you having me.

Ryan: So, what's one of the biggest myths about the work that you do?

Ditch the Generalizations

Matt: Well, if we're talking about the generational divide, I can tell you right now, it doesn't matter what industry I'm speaking in, doesn't matter how big or how small the organization is. One of the biggest myths out there is that all Millennials are entitled.

Ryan: No idea what you're talking about. Never heard that before.

Matt: Never heard anyone say that,

Ryan: Man. This is gonna be good.

Matt: And one of the things I always tell organizations is, and people resonate with this man, is that the term millennial in our country has essentially come to mean, you are somebody who is younger than me and because of that, I just don't like you. And we get stuck right there. And so that's definitely one of the things that I like to bring, you know, kind of a separation between myth and reality, when it comes to the generations is that no, not all Millennials are entitled. In fact, some of them are really, really hard workers, and they're phenomenal to have and they're a must-have in your organization.

Jeremy: I definitely agree with that. I see some, I actually see some millennials, I see a lot of them that are extremely hard workers. In fact, they're not unplugging because they're connected. They've just blurred some of the boundaries and they again, we're kind of speaking generalized, they blurred some of the boundaries and they're responding to emails at 9:30 at night, at 11 o'clock at night. They're still at work. They're not clocked in, but they're passionate about it.

Matt: That's exactly right. Yeah, they're extremely hard workers. You know, we talk about the fact that it's the largest generation in this country right now. You know, it's, we got about 83 million millennials and you got kind of this weird split, where it's almost created these two generations in one and that one generation that's kind of we call the megalennials, you're right, and they are working all day. And their biggest beef is the fact that they get grouped in with the other 40,000 that are kind of in that delayed adulthood thing. You know, because they are. They're really hard workers and they're a phenomenal part of your organization.

Jeremy: That's, so what is the technical definition of a millennial? Let's put it to rest, right here.

Matt: Yeah. That's a really good, yeah, so depending on where you go, you're gonna get these different definitions, right? But what we like to do, and when I say we, I'm talking about the team at Gen HQ, Generational Headquarters, we take a look at patterns of behavior, right? We're not just slapping a nice, cute little birther, saying, hey, you started in 1980, you end it at 2000, then you're a millennial, right? We're looking at how do people behave in various parts of the country. How do they behave in various industries? How do they behave in various roles?

When we start to take all of these things into consideration, we realize that the start dates can kind of fluctuate, the end dates can kind of fluctuate. So we say in some instances, the millennial generation can really have, you can say it started as early as maybe 1977. And we like to say it kind of ends right around 1995. And that's because big world events are what is going to change patterns of behavior. We are in the middle of a big world event right now that is going to separate what we're now calling Gen Z from what the next generation is because they're going to see the world differently because of their age.

And so that definitely happened to millennials. 95 is about the cut off because in 2001, right? September 11, that changed the way our world operated and we don't think you can be you know, born after that and really understand the impact, right? So, you know, we kind of say that 77 to 95 range is kind of that millennial range, which makes a lot of people mad that are in their early 40s because it's the first time they're getting called a millennial.

Jeremy: That pulls me into it. So yeah. So, and I've told a lot of people because I was born right on that line where sometimes I'm in the cut off sometimes I'm not. So I tell people, you know, and I grew up in a very conservative, great household, which was a little bit more what we would have thought of in the 50s type thing. So with that, I say, you know, I kind of came out with the generation, what's the generation before all of a sudden, I just forgot.

Matt: Yeah. So Gen X is before that, and so you're kind of a cusper, right? Which is beneficial in a blue collar workspace too, because a lot of times what that means is that you can identify with both sides and you kind of become, you know, almost this translator, so to speak, you know, between generations. And it actually ends up being a plus.

Jeremy: I've actually told people I'm bilingual.

Matt: There you go.

Jeremy: Gen X and Millennial.

Matt: Yeah, that's right. You are culturally bilingual in that regard. So yeah, very true.

Jeremy: Very, very cool. So, I know you've spoke a lot, I mean, you've been on the road speaking all over the place about this. What are some of the most amazing results that you've seen by people getting clear on this generational stuff and fixing it?

Matt: Oh, man, we, you know, I wish I could say that I will take credit for all of the amazing changes that I've seen. And, you know, as a career educator, I'm the first one to say, look, you know, we kind of take the Morpheus route of, you know, we're gonna open the door but the reality is, you got to walk through it, right? So we go in and work with these organizations, get them to see these divides that they didn't necessarily know were there.

But they're the ones that are going to have to take the steps to walk through. You know, one of my recent clients that I've kept in contact with for a number of years, I've done a number of events for them, it's, and who knew this was even an organization, but they're the National Wild Turkey Foundation.

Jeremy: Mmmm. That sounds amazing.

Matt: They're a big organization and they're an amazing organization. It's this, you know, this hard-working group, and it's not just about hunting, they're about conservation and they're about spreading the message of conservation, about spreading the message of getting back to understand where your food comes from, working hard, treating people well, right? And they completely revamped the entire way that they work with their volunteer force. I mean, they have thousands of volunteers all over the country.

They completely revamped their training for their volunteers to include generational training around all five generations operating side by side in the workforce. Like, that's never happened before. It was never supposed to happen. So they are very intentional about creating a context for all five generations. They also started to understand that they couldn't do business the way, you know, they always had and they started incorporating social media as a big part of their growth and of their future plans.

And so they've created, you know, NWTF TV and they've got all these TV shows. I was lucky enough to go on a hunt with them to be on one of these shows, and they're completely revamping their business, you know, spreading their message, because of a couple of keynotes that I, you know, had the fortune of doing. And that's really cool. It's really cool to see that take off.

Jeremy: That's phenomenal. You know, I love this quote. I don't know if you've heard it so I'll let you guess that live on the air so the audience, I didn't give you any prep on it, but children, they have bad manners, they contempt authority, they show disrespect for the elders and the love chatter and place of exercise. Children are now tyrants. You know who said that?

 Matt: I do not know who said that. But

Jeremy: It sounds like they're talking about the millennials, right?

Matt: I will guess that it is a quote from many, many years ago.

Jeremy: It is Socrates.

 Matt: There you go.

Jeremy: Yeah, it sounds like a millennial quote, doesn't it?

Matt: That's exactly it. And so that's part of, you know, one of the fun things to have a conversation around is to get people to understand that, that right there, what you just described is a human nature thing. It's not a generational thing. That is a human nature thing. Everybody, their generation goes, man, I have got it figured out. We have got it figured out. These guys that are older than us, man, are they living in the past.

They are, you know, just these fuddy-duddies. Now we might look at them and go, you know, love your chest hair, but geez Louise, right? Like you're just living, you know, on your past laurels. Oh, my gosh, these younger kids are ruining the world. So much potential, but they're ruining the world, right? Like, everybody does that. And so, you know, getting to that realization is an important step and going okay, well, then maybe I should start to try to understand somebody else.

Jeremy: Absolutely. And I love that because when you get that, you know, I've seen, I've actually done some of my own speaking on the millennials because of the bilingual thing. And I'll see like, wait a minute, let's just, there is some very common ground here. What do you see? And I realize you're speaking so, I mean, you said 83 million. Is that what you said?

Matt: About 83 million. Yeah. If we're using that 77 to 95 timeframe, we're looking at about 83 million. Slightly larger than the boomers.

Jeremy: Which is a large group of people to just lump all into one thing here. But so we're seeing there's a difference. And I remember I was at a talk, and this guy was getting really adamant about I mean, they're destroying his business. Like they're, and he started pounding the table. I'm like, Oh, my word guy. Calm it down a bit. But you see owners, they get really frustrated because they're coming from a different perspective. And this clash is going on. What advice do you have for them when they're having that clash? How do they see that and how do they actually overcome some of those generational things?

Take the Time to Understand Why

Matt: Yeah, it's a tough deal. First, you know, I always want people to take a step back and look at the why. So why do we have, I'm not gonna say there's no such thing as an entitled millennial. That would be ridiculous, right? Of course, there are, of course, there are entitled millennials. But I also am quick to point out, you know, it's not a millennial that's standing in line waiting to speak to the manager because the coupon expired two weeks ago, right?

I mean, the entitlement stretches across all generations. Like, that's, there are entitled people. So let's take a step back and go okay, if I do have some younger people that are entitled, why? Why is that? We can look at multiple trends that are really pushing this, but there's two trends that I really like to focus on, you know, kind of in this blue collar space that I want people to understand. This is kind of creative. One is parenting.

Parenting is the most important indicator of how somebody is going to behave in the workplace or in the marketplace, right? And the millennials were raised by who? Who predominantly raised the millennial generation? The boomers, right? And boomers had a very distinct parenting philosophy that absolutely came back to haunt them and everybody knows what it is. You know, it's, we, you guys, I can start it, you guys can finish the sentence. You know, we want it to be easier for our kids than it was for us, right? And so parenting and the parenting trends helped kind of create this.

And then you could look at education, and all of the entitlement that has been fed into the educational system and kind of this delayed adulthood, this perpetual adolescence, right? So there are some very strong whys behind this. So if you take a look at that, it might not make it so personal anymore. Or it may make it more personal, where you go, Oh, my gosh, yeah, maybe I did kind of help, you know, create this sort of deal. So start there. Just take a look at the why. And then after that, my next thing is to take a look at what is it that you think is making this person so different? We're quick to use the word entitlement.

I would challenge owners to take a look and go, is this really an entitled employee or is this an employee who maybe has ideas that are different than mine and I just don't want to be challenged on that and so I'm going to call that entitled, right? Because those are different things. If that person has different ideas, it may simply be from the fact that they grew up in a different time than you. And so maybe they do see the world just a little bit differently. They see it, of course, they send you a text message to say, Hey, I'm going to be late, or I'm sick. Of course they did.

They've never not had phones where you could see the other person you were talking to, right? Like, of course. Like that phone has been a part of their life. It's just been, it just is. It's not about right or wrong. That's just the reality of it. They've never not had the internet. They never have not had YouTube, you know, all of these things just create a different perception of the world and the way things work. So take a look with consideration that maybe these experiences have created their thought process versus an entitled mentality.

Jeremy: You know, Matt, I'm loving this. I was with another speaker and we were speaking on the topic of millennials. And it was hilarious because he turned to the crowd and he looked at them and says, you know, they say that all of us wanted a participation ribbon. That wasn't us. It was our parents that wanted us to have the participation ribbon. I was seven years old. I knew I lost, but they couldn't take it. I still had to go to the pizza party after, it still had to get celebrated because they couldn't take it. It wasn't me,

Matt: Man, it is so true, right? Like it's, you know, we think we're these unique snowflakes. We're so unique and we have our eighth place ribbon to prove it that our parents framed for us.

Jeremy: Framed for us. You know, I was so proud of my son. There was a, he's super smart, super academic and would love to be athletic. We'll just put it that way. But he's not. And he's smart enough to know he's not. And on field day, he got the infamous participation ribbon and he got so mad, he threw it away, walking out of the auditorium. He was like, this stupid thing was an insult. I didn't earn nothing.

Like he knew. Like I wasn't there. When I get a good grade on a test, celebrate that. I, you know, he scored the highest in Arizona on the AZ Merit math test two years in a row. He's a rock star there. But, you know, if you want him to be the leading first pick in football, it's probably not gonna be it.

Matt: Yeah. But you know what? Good on him too, for the understanding of that, right? He's not gonna play the victim and he's not gonna allow himself to, you know, he used that E word, right? Like, I didn't earn this. And so that's a mentality that will serve him. Well, you know, and that goes to you guys too, as parents, so

Jeremy: You know, one thing I also want to talk about and maybe dive into, you touched on, I just want to expand it a little bit is you talked about, maybe the business owner doesn't want to be challenged versus they're seeing it from a different world, that really resonated because, you know, one of the things that I think we need to look at is not only do they have a phone in their hand, they grew up with Google.

And so there was information everywhere. And so I've correlated, you know, this concept of business owners that you got to remember, this person was walking down the road, they're driving down the road, they can ask any kind of question to Siri or Google or whatever, they get those answers and they walk right into the job, they sit down and they're told, I don't need to tell you nothing, just do your job.

And they look at like, Where'd you come from? Like, we've, you know, so sometimes I'll do this in a talk and it's been an interesting, dynamic, because I'll ask, Hey, how much money did Costco CEO make last year? Pull out your phones, tell me? And it'll be like, seven seconds. Somebody hollering the number, you know? I'm like, and you're scared to tell them how they're doing on their job? They can pull the Costco's top earner income right now.

Matt: That's exactly right. And they, that's exactly right. And from, you know, any angle that you want to look at if, you want to look at it from they're your customer perspective, right? I mean, they come in and they already know the, they don't need you to sell them on something. They already really kind of know what they want in a lot of, you know, cases. They've already priced things, they've already, they want to know, do you care about them?

Do you want to sit and have a relationship with them? Do you want to listen to what they have to say? And it's no different from these employees, right? They already think they have an idea of what's going on, whether they do or not, but chances are, they've got somewhat of an idea of what the organization does, and, you know, what the organization needs.

And they also know that there's other options, too. They know that there are other competitors, they know that there's other places they can go. So in a lot of ways, you know, it turns kind of the tables on the owners of why should they be here? Like, what makes you different? You know, and the reality is, they probably know a lot about you too. I tell owners all the time. Think about this, they get this young person who, like you said, they've got everything is at their fingertips, right?

The chances are, not only have they looked up your organization, by the way, they're going to try to look up your organization on YouTube. Maybe the first place they go, to be honest, millennials and Gen Z, and they're going to see do people look like me? Are they working like me? They have the same kind of mindset? But not only they're looking at the organization, but they're going to look up everything they can about you, the person they're interviewing with, to see is this somebody that I fit with, right? So they know some things coming in and a lot of times, it turns into now we need to sell them on why they need to be there.

Jeremy: You're exactly right. They're walking in way more informed, way more knowledgeable about that. And yeah, so it's a different conversation that they're having. Now, I know that you've, you're super fluent and been experiencing this, you spoke all over the world. What is the best mistake that you've ever made?

The Best Mistake Matt has Ever Made

 Matt: Oh, yeah, I like that question. The immediate thing that comes, and this is from, you know, I will tell you this is from a speaking context but it is definitely transcended not just speaking, but in building, you know, the businesses that I build hosting podcasts, whatever that looks like. You know, I got asked, really just kind of through this organic process, I got to asked two years ago to give a TEDx presentation.

And, you know, I knew my topic, inside and out and I'd already been in education for quite a while and, you know, I knew kind of where I was going to be going with things but I was also trying to move the needle forward on so many things in my life and I just had some young kids at home and wasn't sleeping at all.

So I'm like, you know what, I'll be fine. I'll be fine. I kind of I have an outline of what I'm going to say. I went into our first prep day, which is the only, the day before the actual event and I stood up on stage and had the other speakers there, the speaking committee, you know, everything I had done for them at that point. I had written a script, but I was just kind of basically performing the script over the phone. So I was just reading it, essentially, was what I was doing. I was like, I'm gonna have this nailed.

I get up on the stage and I blanked. I completely forgot. I did not have that many, I had small talks, you know, under my belt at that point, you know, small breakouts, and that was really it. But I got up there and I froze and I stammered. And I'm not somebody that has a hard time speaking, you know, in general. So that was a huge wake-up call for me. I went back to my hotel room immediately and I stayed up almost the entire night, you know, prior to this TED Talk, just making sure that I had it dialed in, memorized, ready to go. You know, now I look back that was at this point, almost 500 talks ago, which is weird to even say that.

But I look back on it, I can't even watch that talk because even then, now I know, I had memorized it and I came through and I, you know, you wouldn't have known that I was not prepared. I look back on that talk now and I just, I see an amateur that is saying some things versus a professional speaker. And that's fine. That's part of the growing process. But the lesson that I learned there was obviously ultimately just in preparation. And I don't go into anything unprepared. I'm now over-prepared for any endeavor that I take on now. And I'm very thankful for that lesson.

Jeremy: I love that. So how do businesses prepare, handle, getting themselves ready for this dealing with all this generational stuff?

Matt: Yeah. One of the things that I always tell businesses to do is to, first of all, see where your blind spots are right now. Sit down and have a conversation with your staff around what generation each one of them is, what generation they are. What are the differences in how we see the world? What are my preferred methods of communication? What are your preferred methods of communication? What are the methods that are acceptable here? What are the methods that are not? Have those conversations, right? And it's simple.

The best answers usually are. So have that first. Have that same mindset going into your, you know, talking about your customers and your customer profile. How do they prefer, you know, the communication pieces? How do they prefer to buy? How do they prefer to interact? Have those conversations, look at the research around that, and then try as much as you can to pay attention to how could that change, If I've got another younger generation, what is the world they are living in no?

We've got this weird virtual world that everybody is moving into. Whether you believe in it or not, the reality is everybody has been thrust into this virtual world. Great. How is that going to impact my future employees? How is that going to impact the mindset of my future customers? Try to pay attention to that. Pay attention to the technological trends of your younger generations. Again, those are your future employees. Those are your future customers.

Pay attention to the technological trends. Where are their eyeballs going? And if their tech trends are moving towards social media, I don't care if you love social media, hate social media, I don't care what it is. The reality is, it's powerful and it's here to stay. So where are the eyeballs? Do we want to get in front of those eyeballs now? Do we want to watch where they go in the future? All of these are generational context questions that you need to ask yourself now and try as best as you can to project in the future.

And the last part of all of that is the understanding that these changes, especially because of technology, these changes are happening so rapidly, at this point, that adaptation as a business is non-negotiable. And that's adaptation to the way you operate on a day to day basis, to the way maybe your product offering and to the way you're communicating with your staff, with your potential clients, it's non-negotiable, things are going to change and they're going to change rapidly. Get your head around that concept and you won't be caught off guard.

Jeremy: Talking earlier, you said that one of the biggest things to hold business back is the way that, it's believed, that belief that that's the way we've always done it. It's been a killer business for years. But previously, it was a slow death. But I love, you know, you point out here in the 21st century, it's going faster and faster. And it's just exponentially getting quicker. Like the flip on how fast we're growing in technology, the advancements we're making is causing a bigger impact on these kinds of nativities or however you want to say that.

These moments where we're not staying current. So help us to understand, maybe spend a few minutes here teaching us how do we go about executing some of this inside of our workforce? So you've given us some of the thoughts to deal with our leaders, now we want to go out there, we want to talk to these millennials, but, you know, they're a little bit weird. We're a little uncomfortable, a little awkward. What do we do?

The Mindset of a Flattened Organization

Matt: Yeah, there's a number of ways that we can look at this. If you want to connect with these, you know, these are employees, and we're wanting to get them there and want to retain them. We've got to take the mindset of, you know, maybe a flattened organization. And what I mean by that, people hear that, and they're like, nope, absolutely not. And what I mean by that is, it's not that, hey, we got to eliminate all managers, although we can, you know, I can give you case studies of organizations that have done exactly that and just started to operate on covenants and contracts and have actually been successful doing so.

It's not necessarily that, but it's getting out of the mindset of we've got this pyramid-shaped hierarchy, you know, where the winner's at the top, you throw that new young kid at the bottom and they get to see visually, hey, I'm at the bottom, and you just expect them to put their head down and work for 30 years and then all of a sudden, they'll be at the top too. They don't believe that. And if we're honest, you probably don't believe that anymore as the leader either because we're just not in that world.

So we need to change that pyramid structure in our mind to more of just kind of a, you know, maybe like a race track, so to speak, and everybody's at a different point on the track but all of those points need to connect in order for our business to move, you know, the way it needs to move. So in that regard, I can expect more out of my young person. I can start to give them some things to take on to let them own and let them report back and maybe even take the lead on and try to help us. And it just gives a sense that things are more flattened and that you are invested in them, right? The young people, we said they know they have options.

So one of the things you have to realize, though, is they're in it to some extent, just like you are, for themselves, and they're in it for their growth. One of the misconceptions is that we're going to grow by staying with you for six months and then they're gonna bail and they're gonna go somewhere else for six months, then they're gonna bail and go somewhere else for six months. Maybe, but what if you provide an opportunity for them to jump and kind of do this leapfrogging every three or four months within your own company?

Every three, four months, you're going to get to take on a new project, you're going to get to gain a new skill, you're going to jump on a podcast with me, you're gonna go out to this conference with me. You're going to give them the opportunity to kind of feel like they've got this perpetual growth and show them that you're not afraid to help them grow in something that doesn't even seem related to your business. I run schools and I'm helping one of my employees with her acting, her professional development is that she wants to go into acting.

Great. I help her with that. We put money towards professional development for all our staff, she's a young person that's moving, great. I'm going to help pay for your acting classes. The irony of theoretically doing something that will help her gain skills that would make her leave is that my retention rate, my reason for, you know, everybody staying, it's off the charts. Nobody wants to leave because they know I'm invested in them. So taking those kind of perspectives will help shift a lot of things for a lot of organizations.

Jeremy: You know, when we talk about they have options and they're bouncing around, one of the things that I've tried to explain, and I really believe that this is, you know, we're talking about millennials, but I've seen even some Gen Xers and stuff that have gotten comfortable in the space that they realize there's more opportunity out there.

And I believe that it was, as this COVID thing hit, it actually thrust this even deeper and faster. As we all started looking, okay, if I have options and I got to go to work, I got to make a living, I want to do it somewhere that has meaning and purpose and something that's going to at the end of the day, benefit me and my goals.

And so I find teams that, you know, even if they're growing it, and we're talking plumbing companies, HVAC, we're talking, you know, roofing companies, like these are hard jobs, but when they see their options and they see that, Hey, I got a growth path, I got people that care, I got a direction I like and believe in what this company is doing, they're gonna stick a lot longer than if it's just a go get it done, I don't care about you, just do the work, like, that kind of thing.

So, you know, I think of a plumbing company that developed an entire apprenticeship program. And we developed one for our steel program, our steel company. And, you know, one of the, actually, the ironies of that, you know, as we started attracting young people into it and they began seeing the opportunities, I mean, they're literally telling their friends in high school, hey, I can go be an ironworker, you know, I'm gonna weld in 110-degree weather.

But I'm going to build stuff, and I love it, I'm free to do what I really enjoy. When we brought that in and we actually started working with the Gen Xers to help the millennials, what we found is that everybody gained a sense of pride because people want to teach, people want to be a part of something, people want to be a part of something bigger than just their grind of the day. There's too much of that eight to five, let's really think a little bit bigger, our cause. And so when we get that, then the millennials are, or not really millennials, it's people.

Matt: There, it's people. It is people, but you're right, that there is, you know, the younger generation is more tied, millennials and Gen Z both are definitely more tied to that sense of wanting to, you know, have the proverbial impact, right? And to do something that is meaningful. And you're right, having everybody show that is a culture, that we're dedicated to our employees, we're dedicated to this greater mission at large.

You know, when I work with organizations, in the blue collar arena, whether it's, you know, it's gosh, oh, Caterpillar, Coleman, you know, some of the, so many HVAC organizations, you know, that I've gotten to work with, when we start, you know, looking at the recruiting and the retention piece, we start putting out pieces, you know, content, media content, recruiting content on YouTube, social media, whatever that looks like.

Where it's really it's focusing on the people that are there in the organization and their sense of pride around the mission and their sense of pride around, you know, understanding that they're providing the services, they're providing for so many, it also takes care of their family and then there's so much opportunity for growth. There's so many of these organizations that have these amazing jobs available, but we've, you know, screwed things up from a culture perspective of all this, you know, theoretical, everybody needs to go to college sort of deal, which is provably false. You know, we've kind of 

Jeremy: Couldn't agree more.

Matt: Right? And even calling it, I hate to even call it higher education, because what does that imply? That there's a lower education, and that's garbage. You know, it's just a different route. When we start to bring back the honor, there really is in all of these hardworking, mission-driven organizations, you know, you're right, it's a human thing. And it becomes attractive to that younger generation and they really get on board with that. I think we can do a better job of highlighting that.

Jeremy: Absolutely. And, you know, I like to highlight the fact that not every mission is, you know, stop polar ice melts and, you know, and save the koala bear. Like, some of these are bills America. You know, like, I think this Superintendent we had and you would ride with him, this guy's old-growth guy like, so we're going all the way back to the baby boomers there. I'm riding with a baby boomer.

And so we say this is a millennial thing, we're picking on them. They just feel like they have more options than some of the baby boomers felt like and I think that's the, I think almost sometimes is a little resentment, like, well, I wish I could have made those options But I was riding with this baby boomer, for lack of better words, steel superintendent, worked in the Phoenix market forever. And as you're driving down the road, it's like, Hey, I worked on that project. I built that. I built that. Hey, I built that. Hey, I built that. I think I've built something almost every road in Phoenix. Like he's proud about that.

Matt: Yeah. So cool, man. So cool.

Jeremy: So it wasn't saving koala bears are doing some, you know, it was about hey, I'm building, I'm doing something I'm providing for, you know, whatever that is. And so connecting them to that mission. Matt, we've challenged you a lot. We had some good questions. I appreciate what we're getting here. I'd like to just turn the table let you challenge the audience with something. What is it that they should go do?

Have a Worldview Conversation

Matt: Yeah, I mean, one of the hardest things to do as a leader, but it's something that I think is more relevant now than ever is, you know, I would recommend they first kind of take a look at well, what are your biases, right? What are your biases in terms of like, Look, this is the way the world should work? Ask yourself that question. You know, this is the way things should work and so what do I think are the way things should work?

And what do I think is really messed up today? Ask yourself. Start right there. And then connect with who you need to connect with, whether it's your boss, whether it's your employees, and specifically seek out somebody from a different generation and go Hey, look, let's have this conversation. I definitely see the world this way, and maybe it's because I was born into this, how do you see that?

And is there a place that I can get better? Be willing to have the conversation of why do you see the world differently than I do. So be intentional, find somebody from a different generation that you know sees the world different and have a 20, 30-minute conversation around why. Here's why I see the world this way. Why do you see the world, and do it without getting upset. Just try to understand. Challenge yourself to do that. Pick somebody out in your organization, have that conversation and just see where that goes.

Jeremy: Cool. So I know you have some places you can direct us if we're wanting to dive a little bit deeper, understand a little bit more about this millennial complex, whatever you want to call this thing, right? Where should they go to either get a hold of you, do some more research? Where would that be?

Matt: I mean, you got a few different resources that I would highly recommend. You know, Why Size My Business, if you're a reader is a fantastic book. Go to genhq.com. That's actually GENHQ.com, stands for Generational Headquarters dot com. It's the site for the Center for Generational Kinetics. If you go to that site, there are a ton of free resources from real quick and easy, you know, easy to digest blog posts, to full-on white papers. You know, we just released The 2020 State of Gen Z, a phenomenal white paper. It's absolutely free. Just let you get dive into the mindset of Gen Z and why they are, you know, different than the millennials.

They're not just millennials 2.0, you know, it's a different generation as well that's also going to continue to shift business. But, you know, it gives you hardcore resources, actual tangible evidence. It's not, you know, platitudes. It's, this is what we are seeing. Ao head to those places to get some more generational research. You know, you can always find me. I'm on every relevant platform at just my name. Just Matt Boudreau. And, of course, I want to plug Acton Academies as well. So we are Acton Academy Placer, PLACER.com. You can find out about what we're doing with school.

Jeremy: Absolutely. Matt, it has been so much fun having you on, understanding and breaking this down. For all of you out there, he definitely gave you those. Mostly gonna encourage a couple other things because I know he has a podcast called the Essential 11. And because he's doing so much work around young entrepreneurs, which entire school focus, it's around helping kids recognize that skill and become an entrepreneur. They've actually created 11 questions that they're asking others and so it's a great podcast. Encourage you to go listen to it, enjoy it. It's been great having you on. Thanks so much, Matt.

Matt: Pleasure's been mine, guys. Thank you.

Voiceover: The Blue Collar Culture Podcast is sponsored by bluecollarculture.com. We help entrepreneurs create a healthy culture and build a self-managing business. To learn more, go to bluecollarculture.com.

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