Many a man has found his place in the world because of having been forced to struggle for existence early in life.
— Napoleon Hill
Joining the 9-to-5 workforce as a rookie, as I did in the 1970s, can be unnerving.
You immediately learn that it's filled with people like Tom.
I remember encountering numerous Toms in my first 9-to-5 job.
Jovial, assured and smug, middle-aged Tom glides through his job, the very model of self-confidence.
Without enemies, Tom gets all the rewards, all the perks, all the bonuses and the big trip to Mexico.
Tom's in control of his destiny.
But within five minutes of getting to know Tom, you realize he's unoriginal and vapid and completely complacent.
He's pleased by his place in the organization; works minimally; and remains only truly passionate about golf and that new blonde in accounting.
We wonder today, what's wrong with our economy? Why won't Gen Y'ers and Z'ers accept all the plentiful jobs available—and stick with them for more than a year?
We look all over the place for answers, when the answer's obvious.
Gen Y and Z weren't raised, as Boomers were, to tolerate—even celebrate—the Toms of the world.
Boomers were raised to put up with chronic bullshit; to accept that the workplace by nature was discriminatory and that "both cream and scum rise to the top;" and—most importantly—that the Toms earn their comfortable stature in the workplace by dint of tenure, obedience, and affability—and nothing more.
Boomers' parents, children of the Depression who came of age during World War II, taught them those beliefs.
They taught Boomers that struggle at a young age was the law of success; that, in the words of self-help pioneer Napoleon Hill, "far from being a disadvantage, struggle is a decided advantage."
Gen X'ers and Z'ers, on the other hand, were taught Trophy Communism. Struggle is anathema to them.
As a result, they want it all, and they want it now.
Gen X'ers and Z'ers are contemptuous of the Toms of the world and content to "sit out the economy" until all the Toms retire.
