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Portrait of a Generation

For the past four years, I've done a lot of work with organizations in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area on generational conflict. Many aren't prepared for the reality of a multigenerational workplace ("Scenes From the Culture Clash," January/ February). Thanks for your research. By the way, I'm a "cusper," a significant generation between boomers and Xers. Cuspers are good peacemakers between the two, and many experts say it'll be the last generation to traditionally manage.

I bet many of FC readers are cuspers.

Bob Jewell
West Chester, Ohio

As a person born in 1978, and therefore the oldest cohort of generation-Y, I thought for the most part the broad characteristics that described my generation were fairly accurate. I was bothered, though, by your branding of my generation as the kind that rushes to parents whenever anything goes wrong at work. It makes us sound like a bunch of immature brats who need constant handholding. I fear that people reading this--particularly hiring managers--will shudder and perhaps think twice before hiring someone in my age range, fearing they will eventually be harassed by that person's parents. Our generation gets a bad rap based on the actions of a select few.

Mark Yorsaner
New Hyde Park, New York

Just wanted to say you wrote a great story on millennials in the latest issue. It really resonated with how I feel and the way several of my friends and I feel about our jobs, lives, and companies. I've always been interested in stories about generation-Y, but yours was well written and went in different directions that most people wouldn't think about.

Paul Armstrong
Los Angeles, California

Whenever I find myself underlining phrases and sentences in a magazine article, I invariably email a thank you. Consider this mine for "Scenes From the Culture Clash." You had great stories to back up the fact that, yes, there are generational clashes in the workforce. We'd best be prepared to face them and to find the best ways to get the job done while valuing each person's contribution.

Kyle DeLoach
Homewood, Alabama

I just wanted to compliment Danielle Sacks on an interesting, well-written piece. As a fellow gen-Xer, I could never imagine my mom requesting a meeting with HR. It sounds like a bad dream!

Ryan Richert
Chicago, Illinois

"We'd best be prepared to face generational conflict and to find the best ways to get the job done while valuing each contribution."

Every few years, we hear about the revolutions in the workplace a new generation will lead. And with each decade, the structure of the workplace appears to be much the same as it was the decade before. This current crop is no different. By the time the millennials finish their long-term therapy programs in their late thirties and early forties, they will have been passed over on the road to the corner office by their hungrier peers who worked the longer hours, gained the valuable experience, and, more important, learned how to manage people and play corporate politics. The millennials, of course, will have gone from product managers to folk singers and from copywriters to pseudo-Zen philosophers.

Jeffrey Geibel
Belmont, Massachusetts

Watching Bob Nardelli

I read Jennifer Reingold's story on Bob Nardelli with great interest ("Bob Nardelli Is Watching," December 2005). I was a Home Depot store manager until about two months ago, when I was let go due to a "reorganization" in Colorado and specifically at my store. I don't have an ax to grind. Some of Nardelli's changes have been good for the Depot. But I know many store managers who are very upset with his changes and techniques. They're unhappy with the way Nardelli has changed the culture from a "learn from your mistakes and move ahead" mentality to that of "miss one metric, and you're gone." Others just chalk it up to corporate evolution and can't wait for the first opportunity to get the hell out. Publicly, of course, they're all smiles and "thumbs-up" for Bob's new programs.

I really liked working at Home Depot. That is, until Bob arrived and, in my opinion, screwed things up.

Brent Davenport
Parker, Colorado

I enjoyed reading your recent article on Bob Nardelli. As a Home Depot customer and former vendor, I can now better appreciate the many facets of the company Nardelli has to track on a daily basis and the value of this information for any business. The success at Home Depot is truly impressive, and Mr. Nardelli's management metrics will someday make for a good business-school case study.

Mike Toups
Clearwater, Florida