The generational gap and the hug
By Arcángel

There is a universe of difference between the so-called “Silent/mature generation” and the “Millennia generation”
While the first one demands stability and fears changes, the later needs constant changes as it easily gets bored due to an ever-increasing shorter and shorter attention span of its members.
But of course there are exceptions, and I ought to have started by saying that, and emphasizing that I am generalizing.
And it is in general that we now believe that the “silent/mature” generation produced more autocratic leaders than successive generations.
However it is the “Baby boomers” generation that makes things interesting and at the same time hard to understand as far as the leadership style that comes from it.
It would be a mistake to assume that all members of this generation are of same set mind because I believe that the earlier baby boomers have much in common with the silent/mature generation while the later ones are easier differentiated from them.
Yet I believe that in all, they produced the worst possible leaders as far as efficiency and moral justification is concerned. It is true that the silent/mature generation tended to have autocratic leaders, but there were circumstantial justifications, world wars and other serious events that demanded perhaps a more rigid and structured approach. Orders were given and there was little time to discuss alternatives or to learn the reasons of why something was done in a particular way and no other. It is as if the world was going through a constant emergency situation, and in that set of circumstances perhaps the autocratic style of leadership was understandable though not always justified.
But the baby boomers did not have such excuses. And this is very important to us all because in these times they constitute the majority of the leaders. Old geezers are retiring or already retired and young people have not arrived yet to high positions. The majority of our leaders are baby boomers.

Why then are they more evil in their ways than their previous generations? Because they have the knowledge and they do not care!
They already know about Maslov and they have gone through Management 101… yet they still are autocratic, they still refuse to listen… they still have their “enemy lists”, they still and more than ever withhold information… they still... that’s the point… that they still…whatever.
The only difference is that they now fire you with a smile.
Remember the silent/mature generation leader? He (always a “he”) would yell at you: “You are fired!”
The baby boomer will take you to his/her office and in a very friendly manner will tell you that it is better to break the association, the business relationship… that is… “You are fired!”
Sometimes, when the firing is massive they do it through a memo, preferably just around Christmas time and always containing the words “effective immediately”.
But wait, where does all this come from? Were they not supposed to be more people oriented, democratic in style?
Yes, they were. They kind of showed a little rebellion at the beginning… there were a few days of Woodstock… some liberals here and there…
Then they showed their true nature. With a smile, of course.
What happened?

Well, believe it or not, it all started when women began to enter the work force. Now, now, this is not to say that I am blaming women… It is just a historical fact accelerated by the lack of men who for the most part were at the front fighting some war. Prior to that, women stayed at home taking care of their children. Now they started to use surrogate “mamas” or “baby sitters”. The babies saw their mothers very little and they were not hugged enough. And by now you know, I am sure, that a correlation has been established between early loving contact and emotional stability.
In fact, it is well known now that those babies who were not hugged enough, often turned out to be weird human beings, with little understanding of social relations, few social graces, and not very good at dealing with other people. In their most malevolent form they became narcissists… those now being very bad managers!
In a less serious but equally annoying and stress causing form, they became “nerds”.
In fact, I believe that no other generation has more nerds than that of the baby boomers.
And of course we have the mixture of the evil and the nerdy boss. Though nerds usually are kind people and they do harm unintentionally, occasionally you have this boss who it is both evil and nerdy. Then you really are in trouble!

I believe we can all recognize the style.
They are the “leaders” who rarely smile, because smiling at subordinates could be a sign of weakness, God forbid!
Usually they are “clock” oriented… everything has to be scheduled and has to have a time to start and end.
(An emotionally intelligent leader is “event” oriented)
This is probably one of the most telling signs of an extremely bad manager: They clutch their calendars with a passion that is rarely exhibited in other facets of their lives. This monochronic behavior is essential to them; it rules their very existence. They love all those training sessions about “Managing Time”. Live by the minute, die by the minute. And every minute and every thing is of equal importance. They have no sense of priority.

At meetings, they tend to read rather than to explain… they adopt an attitude, a posture, that discourages questions... and when they get to “Your Issues” they look at you as if to say: ”Don’t even try!”
The objectives can only be accomplished by following the procedures to the point that the procedures themselves become the objectives!
Of course they are control freaks! They need to be involved in everything and control every detail because they are very insecure (remember that they grew up with little emotional stability).
But it goes beyond that.. they are dictatorial, even if they no longer yell.
One of the most telling signs is their love for keeping you out of the loop. They will never give you more information that you need to know and most of the time not even that!
Yes… you recognize the style…
Incredible what a hug or the lack of a hug can do, eh?