Ryan, I only have two pieces of real advice for my own kids, the first is to give birth to the human that is within them and the second, that in the toss up between being one's bigger self and revealing one's little self, wake up to the bigger self. The "crazy woman" you described in Penelope Trunk is a pseudonym, so I don't know how that jives with flash marcom talk about being who you are. The generation you have described seems to still take its cues from middle age people like Seth Godin and Tom Peters, so can I ask you something, why would you would your crowd still be attracted to middle age farts like me? I subscribe to Penelope's stuff so I ain't taking no digs at that dame and I am using a pseudonym here too, but it does seem that the perennial marketing bug has got into the tribal Y pants and IMHO you engaging the blind Y-fronts of marketing spiel to address a generation that is trying to learn to see. Yet reading your Top 10 was profound (that is why I gave it a recommendation), because it tells me that "Generation Y" still means - GENERATION YUPPIE. I am writing this simply to retract an earlier claim I made here at FC that I have an affinity with this kind of "Generation Yuppie". Except for the 8 kids in my home born between born after 1987 - I don't really want to understand THIS kind of "Gen Y" - and since the term "Generation Y" is principally a marketing term, it is clear to me that it is now sits in truly great hands - those principally of marketers (I exempt Ben Casnocha because IMHO he's not a Gen-Y marketer but a generation entrepreneur). I don't really want to tuck into books like the Millennial Project or pour over the data from 100 Young Americans because IMHO dollars still equate with maturity, and I will leave it marketers to keep on marketing that "maturity". Of course maybe Fast Company might want to review its Core Missions and add the "Why's" to replace the "YOU's" and open up a second front for youngsters and students that represent the non-Yuppie crowd - the real "WHY-CROWD". The final straw was when I went to Brazen Careerist and read Greg Rollett's posting and discovered that he considers brands created by IZEA as an "in thing" - oh, man I thought to myself, now I know why it is absolutely imperative for me to go dark, I so will spare you the sheep speech. But man, Ryan you have given me something that until now I still have not given myself, which is a firm conviction and fundamental reason to shut my cake'ole up firmly up. I was hoping that one day we will all be leaders of a generation that no longer needs to be led - but true to the "marketing roots" of this "Generation Y label", one do need to be honest in one's communications - but not so honest that it starts to motivate my gag reflexes - at that point I have not lost the meaning of my own opinion, for that happens when I have lost the plot of my own life, so market away, and in turn what should be a Why-Crowd, into another You-Crowd, I will applaud most of your Top 10 from the offline balcony, and yep, just like the Who sang, more proof than I needed that the "new boss is still the old boss", but I like Roger Daltrey, he's another middle age fart, like me......M.

@ Mark

First let me candidly say that I really appreciate the recommendation. I am delighted not only that you read the blog, but that it inspired a thought process and a conversation with respect to Generation Y.

I will freely admit that some of the language you chose in your comment did not resonate with me, and for that reason I apologize if this response does not facilitate the growth of this discussion further. However, I always feel that it is necessary to respond to those engaging in your work.

The blogs I chose to highlight are clearly members of Generation Y that are responsible professionals who are going to ask plenty of WHY's in an effort to understand how it impacts the ME's of the world.

Certainly they will draw from the Seth Godin's and the Tom Peters' of the world because those guys did it first; they were the leaders just as this Generation Y will learn from them and grow and evolve so that they are leading the next generation. They will lead themselves, when they're ready. Clearly, some of them are already on the verge (i.e. Casnocha and Schwabel).

Gen Y will continue to contradict itself though because they're out for themselves, but they understand that to succeed they have to understand each other, they have to understand their consumers. They are just not convinced they have to understand Baby Boomers, or Gen X.

Maybe better than any generation before them, Gen Y understands both the WHY's and the YOU's as long as the end result is the benefit of ME.

Great post! It's nice to see Millenials getting recognized.

This is the second article regarding Gen Y that I've read today. As a "Millenial," I am excited that people are talking about my generation.

It's great that people see we are making a difference in the business world - that our motto is business doesn't have to be boring!

First of all Ryan, that language doesn't resonate with me either, and if you ever where to read what I normally write I certainly don't like using inappropriate language but I decided that it was useful mechanism to underscore a particular issue that I personally have with the concept of "Brand You". I wrote to Lynne D. Johnson of Fast Company that I had written a near brutal post here, but the reasoning for it is personal. You wrote a classy response and I thank you for that, and a lot of what I have said goes back a long time that is rolled up in the creation and formation of "Mark Zorro" and isn't aimed at your Top 10. My only direct criticism of your top 10 is that it is focused one specific area, which I don't think is fully representative of Generation Y. My kind of Generation Y are people like Paul Stamatiou, a 21 year old blogger out of Georgia Tech. "Mark Zorro" is meant to be a brand, a brand that speaks against the image of "Brand You". I am not against branding, but I am against gross dilution of attention, so much so I have gone the other way, which is to ask people NOT to pay attention to me. I agree that Seth Godin and Tom Peters got to market first, but when was the last time I heard Albert Barabasi's name mentioned or Chris Arygris. Ryan I don't give a tootin'hoot for pop-merchants, so here we have to respectfully disagree. Yet I love people like Yvon Chouinard because people like Chouinard are not born of instant mash of BRAND YOU, his company Patagonia does not see people as products, it focuses on long-term research and quality product in their products but as people they are wild and free. I like to leave you with a quote from Chouinard's book "LET MY PEOPLE GO SURFING". He says this if I am free to quote him >>>"Patagonia's image arises directly from the values, outdoor pursuits, and passions of its founders and employees. While it has practical and nameable aspects, it can't be made into a formula. In fact, because so much of the image relies on authenticity, a formula would destroy it. Ironcially, part of Patagonia's authenticity lies in not being concerned about having an image in the first place. Without a formula, the only way to sustain an image is to live upto it. Patagonia's image is a human voice. It expresses the joy of people who love the world, who are passionate about their beliefs, and who want to influence the future. It is not processed; it won't compromise its humanity. This means that it will offend, and it will inspire". <<<. So I like Chouinard's thinking, I don't Tom Peters BRAND YOU, to me it is all formula. So lets leave it be that we respect each others universe, you are comfortable with that one you exist in, and I am conformtable with the one I exist in. I have eight kids that are not a label, they are not a brand, they surfers in a life where they can choose whatever it is they want to be, and if they want to be a brand, then its their choice. I am not a Seth Godin virus, I am a "Mark Zorro" immunity. What my immune system says to me and I've told this to Lynne as well, that I am going offline for the next 7 months. Yet I have said what I wanted to say and in that regard if my brand says that I am an "old fart" then that is my brand isn't, unless you think I am talking about brand YOU. I do like smart intelligent people like you Ryan, but my world is fundamentally different to yours and it is based solely on the cause of my own self-development. Ultimately I view Brand You as an idolatry, but then when people get angry and the center of the universe becomes inward, that is idolatry too. I love great brands but I will fight tooth and nail against proliferation and fight for my attention - so these are my thoughts, take it or leave it. In my case, I will encourage Generation Y to profilerate Fast Company with their original thinking and a wide cornucopia of thoughts, for no one needs to proliferate brands, these days, for they are already running amok and proliferating. Now I must go and hide from this brand. And FC is actually listening, my last wish "as a brand" is mentioned in my profile. That the folks at FC changes "Mark Zorro" to read "M.Something". It is Friday, and I've got new work to do. My best regards to you Ryan and I look forward to lurking from here on in and reading quality content and in your case, an show of quality character......M.