Young Blood

We're creative, entrepreneurial, spirited, strategic people, us Gen Xers-not to mention capable of re-shaping the work force. That's prompted business leaders to call upon age-focused consultant companies such as Paul Litten's Generation Forward Inc. Through his management, consulting and training firm in Atlanta, Litten and his network of expert associates help Fortune 1000 companies recruit, retain, manage and motivate their exuberant cast of characters. Analyzing not just the current crowd, but also the subsequent employees who will pass through the 21-to-35-year-old window in the coming years (i.e., those Gen Y kids), Generation Forward counsels on how best to employ the younger-worker world.

Litten, who previously directed a leadership-building organization on college campuses in Miami, recognized a generation that approached work differently, yet was frequently met with much dissonance. "I thought, `Wait, these are creative, capable team players, but they approach work and life differently. So the set of buttons that you press to get motivation, vision and loyalty has to change,' " he says. "You've got a whole generation in a workplace that's pressing the wrong buttons."