You’re not going to walk into these big offices with 2,000 people in the future.

Dan Schawbel: Millennials are going to change corporate America completely.  You’re not going to walk into these big offices with 2,000 people in the future.  It’s not going to be one size fits all model either for workplace flexibility; everyone’s going to be working on their own terms.  But that means that Millennials are going to be accountable for their work and they’re going to have to deliver.  But companies are going to have to implement policies that allow Millennials to be able to work from home and to be able to work from co-working spaces as well and make sure that they’re accountable.

Also, you’re going to see these companies – they’re going to resemble startups.  So it’s like Google; you’re working for a major startup within a major brand, most companies are going to develop cultures like that because that’s what attracts Millennials.  They want to make this huge impact; they want companies to stand more than just profit.  They want to make a difference in society and they want to have impact on day one.  They don’t want to wait five years to become a manager; to latch onto a big project.  And if they don’t get that, then they’re leaving for greener pastures, right.  The average Millennial leaves in just two years.

And so it’s just so important that companies take advantage and change their culture to reflect something that Millennials would really want and better engage them because you have so many managers that don’t understand Millennials; they get frustrated and they call them narcissists, entitled, and all these names.  And that doesn’t do anyone any good.    

So, by understanding Millennials and how they operate and what they want from work and mentoring because that’s one of the things they really want, they’re going to be more engaged. They’re going to want to work with you longer and you’re going to be able to retain them and grow them into the next leaders in your corporation.  And succession planning is so important for companies that if you don’t start thinking years in advance, you’re going to really miss out and it going to end up costing you more money and more time to be able to recover and your competitors are already going to take the Millennials from you.

In Their Own Words is recorded in Big Think's studio.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Directed / Produced by Jonathan Fowler and Elizabeth Rodd.