Retiring the Generation Gap

Written in a highly accessible (and often witty) style, this groundbreaking book addresses a number of generational issues. Deal provides a description of each issue, a summary of the relevant research results, a principle that can be applied to resolve (or at least mitigate) the issue, and practical advice for applying the principle in the workplace. Applying these principles will help everyone to work with, work for, attract, manage, retain, and develop leaders of all generations.

Preface vii

Introduction Do Not Pass Go Without Reading This Chapter! 1

Principle 1 All Generations Have Similar Values; They Just Express Them Differently 14

Principle 2 Everyone Wants Respect; They Just Don’t Define It the Same Way 31

Principle 3 Trust Matters 51

Principle 4 People Want Leaders Who Are Credible and Trustworthy 72

Principle 5 Organizational Politics Is a Problem—No Matter How Old (or Young) You Are 84

Principle 6 No One Really Likes Change 100

Principle 7 Loyalty Depends on the Context, Not on the Generation 118

Principle 8 It’s as Easy to Retain a Young Person as an Older One—If You Do the Right Things 144

Principle 9 Everyone Wants to Learn—More Than Just About Anything Else 172

Principle 10 Almost Everyone Wants a Coach 194

Conclusion 210

Answers to a Few Questions 214

Appendix A 215

Appendix B 219

Appendix C 223

Appendix D 227

Appendix E 231

Appendix F 235

References and Suggested Reading 237

Acknowledgments 241

About the Author 243

Index 245

About the Center for Creative Leadership 259

Jennifer Deal is a research scientist at CCL, where she currently heads the Emerging Leaders project. In this role, she investigates the effects of generational issues on leadership. She also has research interest in global leadership, conflict management, mediation, and small-group decision-making. Jennifer has authored and co-authored reports and articles on executive selection, global management and development, women in management and generational issues. She holds a PhD in industrial/organizational psychology from The Ohio State University. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and she is a regular speaker at Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP), ASTD, and CCL's Friends of the Center Conference and has also spoken internationally at conferences of the Australian Human Resources Institute, Asian Regional Training and Development Organization, Academy of Business and Administrative Sciences, and International Conference of Applied Psychology.

Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) is the world's largest institution devoted exclusively to research and education. For more than three decades, CCL has studied and trained hundreds of thousands of executives and worked with them to create practical models, tools and publications for the development of effective leaders and leadership.