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The Millenials

- future world’s leaders –

What the Millenial leaders have

in common and where they are

heading on their career paths.

By HO TRAN THANH THANH

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The Millenials: Who are they?

There is no universally classified information as since when the Millenials were born, but

the extensively studied cases in this paper belong to 4 Millenials under 25 years

old and they come from developing countries in the Asia Pacific region. They are not just

any Millenials – they are great leaders of their batch. These students from

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (in Oita, Japan) are constantly exposed to social

media and multicultural environment during their university life.

The Millenials are widely referred to as Generation Y. They now make up more than

25% of the world population 1, and have increasingly become the main force in the

workplace 2. They like to enjoy simple things in life (like spending time with

family and friends, going on holiday, having fun) despite being highly ambitious

and entrepreneurial, and put an emphasis on being independent thinkers 7

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Millenials, no matter if they are from America, Asia, Europe, Africa or the Middle East, they are referred to as

Facebookers and Youtubers because they are highly connected through social networks and

technology savvy 3. Another name is the Collaborators, since they grow up in the time of social media and

globalization and are exposed to images of diversity and cultural differences on a regular basis, which makes them

the best team players comparing to all their preceding generations 4.

The underlying reasons that are believed to shape optimism and the “live for

the moment” attitude of the Millenials is that they were born in economic

prosperity and pervading availability of the internet 5. However, they have

also witnessed the most dramatic events in this globalized world such as “wars, mass

shootings, terrorist attacks, the financial crisis, and the lean years” 6. Despite this fact,

Millenials in Asia are reported to be happy despite being stressful or dealing with

economic crisis 7.

This study explores what features have molded these students into great leaders of their

Millenial batch.

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A close-up shot of the Millenial leaders

First, let’s get yourself familiar with a typical week of the Millenials. Look through four

diaries below and see if you can tell which one belongs to:

1 – The over-achiever

2 – The tranquil leader

3 – The sociologist

4 – The life savorer

If you can’t make the guesses just by reading the diaries, refer to the comments on page 9

and see if you can take the hints! For the final answers, refer to Appendix 1 on page 21.

But we recommend you go with your first intuition – it’s scientifically proven to be the

most effective, and you have more fun doing so!

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Yuvi is the leader of the event Nepali week in the university – a

tremendous task, requiring strategic planning, perseverance and

good networking. In contrast to other multicultural weeks’

leaders, who are usually extroverts and diplomatic, Yuvi is a quiet

guy who treasures intimate relationships. This year, he

organized the event successfully mainly because he had a strong

team of core members who sticked with him through thick and

thin. He puts enormous efforts in building up trust. Another key

to his leadership is to work very hard, but never forgets

to spend time doing meaningful things to him as

planned.

Dea has been a reality-show MC and leader of group projects

for countless times. Her slogan is “I’m busy and I love it!”

because she wants to take the most out of life. She is the

teaching assistant of several classes, she sings on the stage and

dances near the fountain on campus (for several events), she

joins various multicultural weeks simultaneously, she writes her

thesis (preparing for graduate school) while doing job hunting at

the same time. She could be messy, but she always appears

elegant. Her way of inspiring people is to cheer them up and

make them see life in an optimistic way like she does. Personally

she believes things will always settle down themselves if she

pursues what she enjoys.

Faii is the leading actress in the drama of Thai week’s grand

show in the university. Faii has also been leaders of active

groups when she pursues extracurricular activities. She inspires

other people by sharing stories with them, not leaving them eat

alone, spending time creating connections. Among the four

cases, Faii seems to be the most spontaneous. Nevertheless,

she always tries to finishes what she has set out to do,

whether it’s just going to the gym or doing homework. In

addition to reflection, Faii also spends time on relishing happy

moments in life. She is giving her best to life, and in return,

savoring every moment of it.

Nam is the leader of Common Viet – the well-established

circle of Vietnamese Community in the university. He constantly

uses the word FRUITFUL when reflecting his life and work: he

wants to do fruitful jobs, learn fruitful lessons from life, and

“make the juice out of life” by the end of everyday. He tends to

see the big pictures in everything he does: when he observes

and talks to other people, when he reads a book, when he

works, etc. He sees how things are related and function as a

whole, not separately. Although this far-sighted vision helps

him make good plans, sometimes it spares him from eyeing

details.

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Background on Career Theories

One’s career path is like a trip one makes to reach the destination that (he thinks) will

bring about satisfaction. Ever since the word CAREER was invented, this path could be

metaphorically thought of as an aloft mountain, and career success happens when one

reaches the peak. This is named The Traditional or The Organizational

Career Path. Those who embark on this path follow a linear direction: they grow and

develop only through the act of climbing higher and

higher, aiming at higher levels of management and

higher salary 8, and they go through “a

predictable set of career stages” 9. If

they ever fall, or slip, these failures have lasting

effects on their road 10: they hinder them from

reaching the peak, because climbing straight is the

only way they can reach the peak.

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To follow a Boundaryless

Career path is like to jump from

mountains to mountains, which is risky,

but fun. In addition, by doing this, people

have more opportunities to discover

which mountain they like best. Thus they

actively seek opportunities

to grow and develop on the road they

design for themselves 11. Their success

does not only come from reaching the

peak (objective success), but there are

subjective measures of success such as

“day-to-day happiness, the

feelings of control and autonomy, the need to do good, the

value of relationships, work-life balance, etc” 12.

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When it comes to Protean Career path, passengers on this road are required to

have a clear understanding of their values and a sense of self-direction 13. Protean career’s

followers may climb or change any mountain when they feel that the act is compatible

with their personal values. Their goal is not just to reach the peak but to feel

fulfilled during the whole road; they focus on psychological career success

rather than the conventional set of extrinsic rewards 14. This is different from

Boundaryless career’s followers in that the latter always have a preference to move and

change, while the former only seeks roads that fit their values, movement or change is not

a must. These people

grow from

“exploration,

learning and

mastery” because

they develop their self-

knowledge 15.

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Assessment of the Millenials’ Career Orientation

The Career Orientation Index developed by Douglas T. Hall, Jon Briscoe, Mary Dean Lee,

and Ellen Ernst Kossek is used to assess the level of Protean and Organizational

orientation of the four Millenials. The results are as follows:

Dea < The Over-Achiever >

Career Orientation:

Moderately Organizational

Hierarchy of Values:

1. Values Expression

2. Whole-life Balance Focus

3. Self-direction

"I don't mind working overtime but I

want autonomy to do what I want with

my job" - Dea

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Nam < The Sociologist >

Career Orientation:

Highly Protean



2. Community Involvement


"When I earned money from my part-

time job I didn't feel happy. But

working on building up the vision of

Common Viet makes me feel fulfilled.

Career success means I gain

spiritual pleasure from my job” –

Nam.

15

Faii < The Life Savorer >

Career Orientation:

Moderately Protean





“I want to explore about myself. Maybe

there’s something I can do but I

don’t know I have the potential. I

don’t wanna stop at one place. I don’t

believe in life-long employment. I think

changes are better, to keep you active” –

Faii.

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Yuvi

< The Tranquil Leader >

Career Orientation:

Moderately Protean



2. Family Focus


“Suppose I teach you something and

you voluntarily teach it to someone

else, and they keep paying it

forward. THAT, is my career

success” – Yuvi.

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Emerging themes - what the Millenial leaders have in common

1. Self-direction in work and studies

All four students demonstrate self-direction in work and studies.

They take up tasks that provide skills they want to gain for

their future career goals (interpersonal skills). Yuvi works very

hard to earn money for graduate school, and Nam eats less so that

he could put more personal resources into building his project

Common Viet. Dea and Faii take part in multicultural weeks and

try to take various responsibilities so that they learn from various

experiences (dance, fashion show, drama, project-runner). They

take the initiative to create these opportunities (they did not

passively wait for anyone to ask them to take action). Especially Dea

who does not have a concrete career goals as the others, she takes

the initiative to call up companies to ask if they want her resume.

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2. Spend time on personal growth

All four students demonstrate the

significance of spending quality

time socializing. They all claim

they learn a great deal from

international friends, domestic friends,

professors, and talk-shows. Although

extremely busy, both girls show strong

efforts to spend time keeping fit like

jogging and going to the gym. The

guys spend more time on books; they

say they are inspired by reading good

books. Nam and Faii also emphasizes

on self-reflection as an activity to

push up personal growth.

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3. Define success differently

No participants respond that they think of money when they define career success. This is

significantly striking, since money and promotion were defined to be the most important

factors of career success of Baby Boomers and Generation X. Yuvi says for every one

person he helps that goes around and helps someone else, that is counted into his career

success. For Nam, the only participant that demonstrates Highly Protean Career

orientation, career success is when he gains “spiritual pleasure” from his job, and he

claims that when he puts his personal recourses into tasks that he enjoys doing, he feels

“fruitful.” Angela says she is successful when she gets to be good at doing the job she

loves; however, she does point out that she wants more money when she defines career

advancement. Considering that Angela demonstrates Moderately Organizational Career

orientation and her score is the lowest among four participants, it makes sense that other

participants do not regard money as a criterion for success.

No participants respond that they think of money when they define career success.

This is significantly striking, since money and promotion were defined to be the

most important factors of career success of Baby Boomers and Generation X.

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What is this all about: The Big Picture

The Millenial leaders today do not define career success in the same way as their

antecedents have perceived: money and promotion are not their ultimate goals. They are

clear of their own values and what they want to achieve in life, and are self-directed to

follow their dreams. They take the initiatives to create their own opportunities for

personal growth and pursue their own interests. Networking and building up

relationships is the key, and the Millenials today interact extensively with their

communities.

The Millenial leaders focus on meaningful things in life like spending time with friends,

exploring the world and exploring themselves, helping the world “pay it forward” and

heading to gain the “juice out of life.” Overall, they are highly conscious that they do not

just want a job for financial stability, they want a job that helps them live fulfilled lives.

This confirms the theories of Boundaryless Career and Protean Career where career

followers are free to design their own career paths in order to have them match their

intrinsic values.

Which is a good sign. The world will be full of busy but happy people, who believe

in what they are heading for.

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APPENDIX 1

Dairy 1: Yuvi – The Tranquil Leader

Dairy 2: Nam – The Sociologist

Dairy 3: Faii – The Life Savorer

Dairy 4: Dea – The Over-Achiever

REFERENCE

1 VISA, 2012

2 Ng & Lyons & Schweitzer, 2012, Brack, 2012, Rikleen, (n.d.)

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4 Brack, 2012

5 Ng et al, 2012, 2010, Gobe, 2009

6 Doherty, 2013

7 VISA, 2012, Viacom, 2012

8 Moen & Roehling, 2005, Williams, 2000

9 Valcour & Ladge, 2008

10 Rosenbaum, 1984

11 Eby,2001

12 David, 2010

13 Hall, 1976, 2004

14 Heslin, 2005

15 Hall, 2002

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