Writer’s Note: These comments are just my belief, and in no way do I consider myself a generational perspective expert. It’s all pretty cra cra to me.

Leading with a generational perspective will fortify your business. It can also – at times – be entertaining and frustrating.

Our business started in 1990. Dave Bucher, who founded the business with me, is 15 years older. We are at the opposite ends of the Baby Boomer spectrum, so it took some getting used to on my end. I’ve been sole owner for the past 19 years. In the early years, our team consisted of one gentleman from the Greatest Generation and the rest Baby Boomers (feeling pretty young at the time). There still are a handful of us Boomers, but the team’s make-up now is more Gen Xers and Millennials.

If you are a Boomer leading your team and want your business to be sustainable, you MUST understand and embrace the differences – and strengths – of those generations. I’ll admit it’s not always easy, but it is essential. And us old-timers have to take the first step – and go more than halfway – to connect with the Gen Xers and Millennials.

If you are a Boomer and partially or wholly responsible for marketing and/or selling products and services to audiences that include Gen Xers and Millennials, you’d better understand their behaviors, how and where to reach them, and what will engage and motivate them to your desired action. Likewise, the valuable insight of those on your team who represent this generation cannot be underestimated.

Sorry to tell you this, but you can’t stop there. Before I retire, Scheffey will have likely already welcomed Gen Zs (aka Homeland Gens or iGens) to our team. Oh boy.