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According to this article in The New York Times, “this is the first time in history that four generations — those who lived through World War II, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y — are together in the workplace.”When Whippersnappers and Geezers Collide
By Lisa Belkin, The New York Times, Published: July 26, 2007

Shortly after they reported for work this summer, groups of interns at Ernst & Young were invited to an orientation program that included a PowerPoint presentation titled “Hello. W U?!”

For those out there who need translation, that’s how Generation Y, to which these 20-somethings all belong, might ask “What’s up?” in a text message.

And this meeting was all about translation. “Strategies to Connect With Baby Boomers” was the title of one of the slides. Its advice? When the boss comes in to complain that the young team is “spending too much time text-messaging each other and listening to iPods,” it is just not the best time to explain that you have to “leave early to meet your volunteer commitments.”

Summer is the season of culture shock in the working world, when the old guard comes face to face with a next wave of newcomers, and the result is something like lost tribes encountering explorers for the first time.

Add to this the favorite fact of human resource managers everywhere: this is the first time in history that four generations — those who lived through World War II, Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y — are together in the workplace….

What I notice are the young women with tattoos on their shoulders and upper arms. Elegant tats. And I wonder what they’ll think of’m in twenty years.

These young employees, she said, had to overachieve to get through the most competitive college admissions process in history, so they don’t feel particularly inclined to pay their dues. “They have climbed Everest and excavated Machu Picchu,” she said, “but they have never had the experience of showing up for work at 9 a.m.”…

And they have their own expectations about the interview conversation, as well as the ongoing work conversation.

“I walked away from one internship because it was a waste of my time,” says Ryan Healy, who last spring founded Employee Evolution, a Web site that gives advice to Gen Yers entering the work force. “We have limits.” He is 23….

One trick will be for the Baby Boomers to see the value these digitally savvy “kids” bring to the work force.

The tradition is for knowledge to pass for older to younger, but that’s always been some friction in that. Innovation tends to come from the questions about and experimentation around something the younger think could be done faster or with less effort. Sometimes they learn why slower and with more effort is better. Sometimes they teach why faster and with less effort is better.

I think the passing of knowledge has always been done in both directions. What has varied from different times and different societies is how much has been able to pass from younger to older.

The question is what knowledge pact can be negotiated for the greater good. We often think of knowledge transfer as being between groups or organizations. “Objectives: Capacity Building in environmental governance and Knowledge Management at various levels.” And that is where power is visible. But knowledge transfers between two people at a time. Slowly. Partially. With varied result.

Patience whippersnappers, find the right geezer to form a knowledge pact with. Then it is less slow.