Simon Sinek explains how technology like smartphones and the internet shapes each generation's worldview. He links social media exposure to rising anxiety and loneliness in young people, and suggests practical fixes: ban phones in meetings, build presence, and use empathy to bridge the gap between generations.
Chapters
If you look at the sort of major shifts in world events or technology over the decades, September 11, smartphones, Internet, computers, of course, it has a profound impact on our worldview and how we operate in the world. So there are absolutely generational differences. Now, are there things that are the same? Of course. We're still human beings. And I think one of the things that we get wrong and it's normal, is the older generations criticize the younger generations, and the younger generations criticize the older generations, right? They're stuck in the mud. They want to change and break everything. And the truth is probably somewhere in between. And the thing that makes intergenerational work work is empathy, which is just trying to understand the things that were going on in their lives that give them the worldview that they have, right? So this youngest generation is the first generation to grow up with social media normal in their lives.
Just as an aside, the best definition of Instagram I ever heard is happy pictures of unhappy people.
The point is, they've grown up being shown a vision of the world that they're trying very hard to conform to. Massive amounts of insecurity, massive amounts of uncertainty, massive amounts of loneliness. This generation is suffering anxiety and loneliness on unprecedented levels, and they're turning to the very devices that are making them sick for salvation. We have to consider that. And so the question is, well, how do we help them? Screaming and yelling at them is not going to work. But putting them in environments that show them what other. What different looks like is remarkable. So, for example, I mean, if you had my ideal world, which I'm never going to get this, but I would ban phones in offices, right? Because I want people to talk. I want to foster relationship. You can tell the generation of people if you walk through your offices. You can tell what generation somebody is. If somebody's a little older, their phone is over here by their computer. If somebody's a little younger, it's right here. And if somebody's entry level, their phone is face up in between their hands while they're typing.
Walk around.
Right? You go to somebody, oh, like, where's your phone? They're like, I don't. I think it's a mic. I don't know. Think it's in my bag, right?
But at the very minimum, try this, okay? Ban cell phones in meetings. Fan them. Ban. Just. Just in meetings, just in conference room, right? Just. Just ban them. Put little cubbies outside the offices. If you want the conference rooms had, you really want to go crazy. No computers inside meetings either. And there's data on this, which is people who take notes on computers actually don't develop problem solving, where people who write notes with hand actually have better problem solving ability because you have to discern what's important, what's not important, as opposed to typing everything. But at the very minimum, ban phones. And a couple of companies that have taken me up on the challenge, I've followed up, I said, and they said they noticed two things happen. Trust increased amongst their employees, trust increased with their clients because when they were in the meetings, they were fully present with each other, they were listening to each other. And by the way, the worst offenders are usually the senior people because they're so busy, right?
If something's really important, someone will walk into the meeting and take you out or give you a note. Old school, right? If it's that. But, but, but help them see what life is like without the phone and they'll learn to like it.
So empathy goes a long way. Empathy goes a long way. And remember, they sound tough because they come from an Instagram world where they're good at curating and presenting, right? And they sound like, I have all the answers. And in reality, there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of insecurity. And we say things like, my door is always open. You're assuming they have the courage to walk in. So we have to go to them.
More than we had to when we were younger. Different generation.
