We have met the enemy.(Editor's note)

I'VE SAT THROUGH SEVERAL workshops on generational clashes in the workplace in the past few years. At first, I dismissed the whole concept as so much hooey--people either have a work ethic or they don't, have necessary skills or don't, are willing to take direction or aren't.

Then I, a "late Boomer" just turned 48, started to supervise a few "Millennials"--Americans born after 1982--and my head began to spin like Linda Blair's in "The Exorcist." These Millennials can seem like a whole different species.

At the recent Alliance of Area Business Publications summer conference in Minneapolis, I heard the best presentation on generational differences to date. The speaker was a local, David Stillman, whose BridgeWorks company makes a business out of the clash of what he called Traditionalists (born before 1946), Baby Boomers (1946-64), Generation X (1965-81) and Millennials (1982-2000).

The BridgeWorks theory is that very different external influences created very different mindsets. Traditionalists grew up with the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War and Jackie Robinson; Boomers were influenced by Vietnam, the Kennedy assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. and "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll."

Boomers are more idealistic than the other generations, and our sheer numbers (more than 80 million in 19 years) allowed us to impose cultural change on America. Those numbers also created a highly competitive work environment, especially for Boomer women and minorities, who pioneered new roles in the work force.

Generation X, barely half the size of the Boomer generation, grew up with 24-hour media, personal computers and, to an unprecedented degree, divorced parents. The result is a generation that is well informed, technologically savvy, self-sufficient and suspicious of institutions.

Xers in the job market are trapped behind a wall of Boomers who plan to work much longer than Traditionalists, so they are more likely to seek less direct paths to professional fulfillment than climbing straight up the career ladder.

In addition, their insistence on doing a better job with their families has meant more flexible workplaces, a gift to us all. But their go-it-alone attitude makes them hard to manage. In a survey, BridgeWorks found that only 14 percent of managers are most comfortable managing Xers, and that includes managers who are themselves members of Generation X.

Then come the Millennials. The Millennials who have already entered the work force are the children of the Boomers. And to my fellow Boomers I say, "What have we done?"

These kids (and they include my own sons, ages 18 and 15) are the product of doting, idealistic and well-educated parents on the one hand and horrific news events on the other. Columbine, 9/11 and Virginia Tech have created a generation in which, according to BridgeWorks' research, "personal safety" is the No. 1 workplace issue. The post-Columbine emphasis on making sure that no student feels like an outcast means these young workers are used to "team projects" and have little experience with direct criticism. (This helped explain several of my more baffling management experiences.)

The Boomers in Stillman's audience gasped when he told us that 40 percent of the human resources professionals that BridgeWorks surveyed said the parent of a Millennial had attempted to intervene in an employment issue. We Boomers would die of shame if Morn or Dad interfered in our work lives. But who are these parents trying to negotiate salaries, assignments and vacation schedules for the Millennials? Boomers.

As Pogo--who?--told us, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

There are things to appreciate in every generation, of course. The thing I treasure most about Millennials--both in the workplace and in my own home--is how accepting they are of personal differences. The youngest of the Millennials will scarcely remember a time before there was an African-American president, just as Gen Xers were probably surprised to learn that Michael Jackson broke the color barrier on MTV.

Gwen Moritz is editor of Arkansas Business. E-mail her at gmoritz@abpg. com.

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