With the Coronavirus and a global crisis as a result, the law of insanity seems more relevant than ever: from today we can no longer continue to do the same things and still expect a new outcome. No matter how we want to turn it around, we are entering a time of recovery and reconstruction of our economy. The generation that has to pull this cart is the working population that is in the the majority are in the labour market. A population consisting mainly of the Millennial generation, but by previous generations precisely as lazy and spoiled they were labeled and also had their own word ready (OK boomer!).
With the Corona crisis, it is expected it takes a while before we can do things the way we did before. There will be a period of austerity, including for Millennials. Yes for sure, what did we all think of it die Millennials. Pamper, looking for themselves, fickle and overstretched as a result of a time of malleability and prosperity. In Japan called "Nagara-zoku"; the generation that is constantly looking for new experiences. And the Swedes called this generation” the curling generation", where all problems were swept away for them. The generation that saw the work as a source of meaning and in their spare time would only be satisfied with a trip to Bali to post a picture of your plate of food on Instagram. With the new post-Coronavirus reality, this lavish world of online self-aggrandizement has become redundant, obscene, and maligned in one fell swoop.
One more crisis and it is the turn of the Millennials themselves to sweep away all the problems of previous generations and pave the way for a healthy and sustainable future for future generations.
Because who would have thought? These latte machiato slurping Dreamers with their intricate stories about “inner-peace” will be seen by future generations as builders. A generation, which is now well in the majority on the labor market, must reinvent itself in this crisis in order to quickly put its shoulders under it in a period of Reconstruction. With this, The Millennial generation directly identifies itself with the post-war ‘baby boomer’ generation of the last century. A generation that they had previously been directly opposed to in their worldviews (ok boomer!). But now speak the same language in the motto: roll up your sleeves and be happy that you have security.
Let this crisis be a moment of reconciliation and understanding for the Boomers and Millennials; they can now learn a lot from each other.
Niek van Droffelaar, The Transformation Group
