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What do Millennials and Umami have in common? November 13, 2009

Posted by Blake Sunshine in millennials.
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Had you heard of umami a month ago? Me either. But since Kikoman started their discover umami campaign, I have seen it everywhere. They had to make umami dishes in a Top Chef quickfire and they had to make a whole umami meal on The Next Iron Chef. You get my point right? Umami is suddenly being talked about everywhere.

A month ago I didn’t even know it existed! But now that I do it’s pretty obvious to me that Umami and Millennials have a lot in common.

1. They are both a little hard to define- What exactly is umami? Is it savory, meaty, brothy, tasty? It’s one of basic tastes, but the definition isn’t as clear-cut as our other tastes, like salty and sweet.  Similarly, Millennials are a lot more difficult to define than previous generations. Do we love technology, do we use social networks, do we care about the environment? There are obviously no clearcut answers to these questions, because Millennials are so much more diverse than previous generations.

2. They both have people in a love/hate relationship- Most people either love or hate Millennials. Either you get the benefits they bring to your workplace, or you think they are a pain in the butt. Umami rich foods have a ton of glutamate in them, which similarly people either love or hate. Roquefort cheese, fish sauce and shiitake mushrooms are all foods characterized as umami rich. It’s difficult to know why, but you either like these foods or you don’t.

3. They both get overshadowed by hype- When I first saw the discover umami commercials I thought they were a load of crap. Umami seemed like just a bunch of hype to me. But then I did some research and found that umami isn’t just an advertising campaign. And I think the same thing happens with Millennials. Often times our negative qualities get overhyped and it is hard to see the reality behind our behaviors. But do a little research, and it’s easy to see all of the great characteristics of Millennials.

So it’s not exactly an equal comparison, but I think Millennials and Umami have a lot in common. Do you think so too?

umami

 

Does your company have a director of Millennial relations? October 14, 2009

Posted by Blake Sunshine in millennials, Uncategorized.
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Probably not, and I haven’t heard of very many companies who do. Luckily my boss, Hilary, was on vacation with her in-laws and they happened to be watching Focus on the Family. While they were watching the show she saw Esther Fleece, who is in charge of Millennial relations for Focus on the Family. Being that I am Jewish, I had never heard of this show, but I decided to go ahead and e-mail Esther some questions on her role in Millennial relations. After all, I had never heard of any company who had a director of Millennial relations. Esther provided me with great insight into what Focus on the Family is doing with Millennials and why your company may need a director of Millennial relations.

Question 1: Why is it important that your company reaches out to Millennials?

Esther: These statistics are one reason we believe it is crucial to invest in the Millennial generation. 91% of Millennials believe getting married would make them happy. 94% believe it is possible to have just one spouse for life. 91% said that when thinking of their own future, the idea of having children was a source of happiness. We are a large demographic and by the year 2020 we will make up 90 million eligible voters. Millennials have a voice, and they want to make a difference. Now is a key time to engage with them.

Question 2: What do you do in your role as director of “Millennial Relations?”

Esther: Focus on the Family President, Jim Daly, and VP of Media and Communications, Gary Schneeberger, made a strategic decision late August to bring me on board to assist Jim, and our executive team with reaching the Millennial generation. I have two co-workers here at Focus whose job is building relationships within geographical locations (Washington DC and Colorado Springs). Gary thought it was important and necessary to create a position not with a geographical location, but with a specific generation. Focus’ interest was peaked after conversations with David Kinnamen of the Barna group, and after reading his book, UnChristian. Generational ministry was nothing new but they knew that it was time to be more strategic in reaching this rising generation. We are still very much in a knowledge accumulation stage. Since starting in September, I have done a lot of traveling and meeting with people learning what is out there now, and then raising awareness of this new direction for Focus.

Question 3: What are some strategies that you use to relate to Millennials?

Esther: Millennials are very connected, they enjoy dialogue, and they want people to get along. We are making a key shift in engaging with those who may not share our same view. Our President Jim Daly has done a wonderful job at this on several media fronts. Focus will never change the messages we have here; they are based on principles from God’s word which is unchanging, we are simply trying to translate these principles and truth claims to a rising generation.

Now I may not know anything about Focus on the Family, but is your brand/company taking as big of an approach in relating to Millennials?

Millennials are the future, and your company may be missing out. Maybe you should hire a director of Millennial relations.

Millennials at Work: Why paying your dues sucks October 11, 2009

Posted by Blake Sunshine in millennials, millennials at work.
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A common complaint about Millennials that I hear pretty often is that they don’t want to pay their dues at work. Even though I always here this complaint, this past week I found myself complaining to my mom about something work related. (Now I wasn’t sure I even wanted to write about this topic since my boss and lots of people I work with read my blog, but I think this is a common problem with Millennials at work. Since I am always honest on my blog and with the people I work with, I figured it would be a good idea to talk about it anyway.) Anyway, back to my story. I was complaining about a specific task that I find to be both mundane and painful to complete at work. As I was complaining, my mom stopped me mid-sentence and said, “suck it up you have to pay your dues at work.”

And I think she is right. Millennials at work have to do tasks that they find mundane, painful, useless and terrible. But an important part of climbing up the corporate ladder is proving yourself, and the best way to prove yourself is to do a fantastic job at a terrible task that no one else wants to do. Now doing a fantastic job at a sucky task, doesn’t mean that it will suck any less, but it does mean that people will respect you for not complaining and will appreciate that the task is getting completed.

That being said, I still don’t want to do this task. And that made me wonder, why is it so important for Millennials to pay their dues at work? If I hate doing a task and I’m not good at it, wouldn’t it make more sense for me to do something else that I am really good at instead? Wouldn’t I be benefiting the business by working on something where my skills and talents can be properly utilized?

Probably, yes. But I have been assigned to the task and I have to complete it. Which is why I am going to suck it up and do a damn good job at this task that I hate, even though I don’t want to.

So to all the Millennials out there, do you think paying your dues sucks too?

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