The Millennial Question Simon Sink Analysis

Millennials are categorized in many differ ways. Some people believe Millennials are lazy and narcissistic while other people believe they are more open-minded confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living. This starts different disputes between individuals. For example, Hasan Piker argues Simon Sinek statements made in the video, “On Millennials in the Workplace.” Sinek uses his motivational speaking skills to persuade the audience that Millennials, people reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century, are catered to and entitled. He uses four examples that back up his reasoning: parenting, technology, impatience, and environment. In contrast, Piker responds differently, believing that Millennials work for their status. Piker argues Sinek’s views about Millennials in the video “Young Turks on Millennials.” Both Sinek and Piker use different rhetorical strategies to entertain and persuade their audience about Millennials.

In Eric Hoover’s article, The Millennial Muddle, he describes how stereotyping and trying to understand students has become a major industry, especially with Millennials, since there are different adaptations and interpretations of this generation. It contains the different opinions from people who have studied this generation. Researchers try to figure out who Millennials are, how they think, why they always do what they do, and in those propositions and findings find them to contradict one another. Hoover then states that “in other words, they’re all different. But just for fun, let’s stereotype them as smart, successful, and lull of shakeable opinions.” Hoover does not deny these findings to be contradictory of what Millennials truly are.

Joel Stein, the author of “The ME ME ME Generation”, argues Millennials are a generation of narcissistic brats who are addicted to technology. However, Stein fails to account that Millennials are cautious of their actions due to the widespread use of information on the internet that could affect personal and professional relationships.

Millennials are individuals who were born during 1982 through 2004, ages 18-34 years old. These individuals are considered to be the “largest generation in the United States with 75 million individuals belonging to this generation”

In the article, “Declining Student Resilience: A Serious Problem for Colleges”, Peter Gray states, “There has been an increase in diagnosable mental health problems, but there has also been a decrease in the ability of many young people to manage the everyday bumps in the road of life”. It has come up a lot that millennials do not have Grit, unlike other generations. Millennials come off as lazy or immature in society today. Millennials always have a reminder from their parents or grandparents saying, “back in my day....” or “you’re lucky, you have it easy”. Other generations tend to give millennials a harder time on how they are performing in a school setting. Some generations believe that millennials are babied by their parents. Everyone has their own opinions about other generations. There are many similarities and differences between millennials and other generations on how they perform in schools. Some examples on how they are different and similar are work ethic, pressure, and technology. These examples come from actual opinions from millennials and other generations on their perspectives when comparing millennials and other generations in a school setting.

Millennials are the worst, or so people think. Millennials were branded with a stereotype as lazy, overlying on their parents, stupid, incompetent, and tech savvy. In reality, Millennials can be some of the hardest working people in their communities. Millennials are more optimistic, people rely on their help, and they are a huge percentage of the world’s community population.

Since the inception of the new millennium children, teens, and young adults have been adapting to an abundance of new technology, education, and forms of government. There is no more time to be a child in today’s era it’s all about molding you into an adult as fast as possible. Millennial young adults face more obstacles than any other generation since the modern era. America is changing at a fast rate and is putting pressure on the coming young adults to become adults. Young adults now are facing many challenges like poverty, homelessness, and drugs. But millennial young adults are also very unique, they find ways to make money through new technology platforms, and are the most educated generation of all time.

Throughout history, the newest generation is always claimed as the most lazy, narcissistic, and self centered generation yet, and each previous generation disregards the reasons why the new generation acts the way they do. However, Joel Stein expertly brings to light in his article,“Why the Millennials Will Save Us All”, the fact that “They [the new generation] are not a new species; they've just mutated to adapt to their environment,” (Stein 4). Stein starts his article bashing on the millennials, utilizing a conversational tone and effective use of ethos and logos to draw the reader in. But halfway through the article, his tone suddenly changes along with his purpose as he analyzes his own life to shows how his own generation has the same

In “Why They’ll Save us all” published in Time magazine on May 20, 2013, the author, 41-year-old Joel Stein informs readers on the behavior, lifestyle, and mentality of millennials. He fabricates his article around the concept of contradiction and information that is both reliable, yet meticulously placed, in order to successfully persuade and inform the audience that although the newest generation can be entitled, lazy, and self-absorbed, they are also capable of positively changing the world.

The purpose of Simon Sinek’s talk is to explain why Millennials are disillusioned, they are in a moral and societal gray area, and what society can do to help Millennials compensate.

As GenX circles middle age, there seems to be a re-evaluation of who they are and what’s important to them. While Millennials are grabbing the world by the horns and adventuring forward, GenX is trying to get unstuck and live a more fulfilling and rewarding life. The relentless pace of an always-on technology-filled-sound-bite life coupled with the stress of their life stage – peak earning years, job stress and for many raising children - results in a life that feels overly routinized and superficial. Through the collages and journaling of the EthnoBlogs and echoed in the Roundtables, we see a target group who is feeling like life today has dumbed them down and they are not as thoughtful or empathetic as they used to be (pre-kids and/or before technology took over). Yet, lapsed and lighter patrons are motivated and interested in rekindling the part of themselves that doesn’t just react, but that notices more, thinks harder and feels more deeply about the world around them.

Throughout Simon Sinek’s speech regarding the topic of millennials within the workplace, he makes his claim very clear that Millennials disadvantages can be directly correlated to the failed parenting strategies, the advancement of technology, and lastly the environment created by big corporations which hire millennials. Sinek states that these negative factors cannot be blamed on Millennials, but rather the older generations. I wholeheartedly agree with Simon Sinek on his position over this argument because I myself am a millennial who has observed and experienced the claims which he makes. I have felt the failure of parenting systems which gave me a sense of entitlement, I have observed the powerful impact technology has taken over my generation

Now a days our generation spends about almost every hour of the day on their smart phones or tablets. You can see them texting at a restaurant while their having lunch with a friend or even driving as they look through their social media like Twitter and Instagram. Many people have always wondered why we're like this, but its actually very simple. Like Josh Sanburn states in paragraph nine, “ they're deeply anxious about missing out on something better”. I can agree with this because by doing this millennials gain confidence and they're also able to compare their lives with others like for example the Kardashian family or even people like Miley Cyrus.

Millennials are growing up in the information age and have many advantages that previous generations did not possess. Unfortunately, there are skills that these kids lack that are essential for today’s world called social responsibility. This can have the traits of perseverance through tasks, dependability, and work ethic. In the article, “Experts Zero In on Nonacademic Skills Needed for Success” by Sarah Sparks she explains in great detail of the faults in our generation.

So, therefore I agree with Sinek on his opinion of millennials and the difficulties that they face during life. Too many children have been praised beyond healthy, been given the same trophy which has taken away the need or the want to be better than anyone else, and their constraint reminder of their specialty ruins their self-image once they come to terms that they are not special, and what does this all lead to? A much harder life for everyone, a life where anything besides praise hurts, no one wants to be the best because there is no reason to anymore, and people having their self-image ruined because of life crashing down onto