Not Everyone Gets A Trophy: How to Manage Generation Y

This book will frame Generation Y (children born between 1978-1991) for corporate leaders and managers at time when the corporate world is desperate to recruit and retain worked in this age group. It will debunk dozens of myths, including that young employees have no sense of loyalty, won''t do grunt work, won''t take direction, want to interact only with computers, and are only about money.

This book will make a unique contribution in four key ways:

It will disprove the idea that the key to recruiting, retaining, and managing this generation is to somehow make the workplace more "fun." To the contrary, Tulgan argues that the key to winning the respect of this generation, and getting the best effort out of them, is to carefully manage their expectations by never downplaying any negative aspect of a job.

He will show managers how this Generation thinks transactionally in all negotiations. For them it''s about what they will do for you today and what you will do for them today, not tomorrow, not five years from today, but today.

He will explain why they have no interest in tying their futures to your corporation. But he will also make clear that they do have a well thought-out plan for themselves, one that requires that every job they take build up their skill sets, so they become more valuable employees for someone else--if and when you do not fulfill your end of the bargain, or drag your feet in doing so.

But most of all, it will explain to corporate leaders that for this generation their personal life comes first, so that each job they take must accommodate itself to some need defined by their personal life. Tulgan argues that until you know the personal need the job can satisfy for a potential employee, you and the applicant may be talking past each other. Those needs are so beyond the imagination of most bosses that Tulgan devotes a third of the book to explaining how they affect the job decisions of this generation.

Praise for Not Everyone Gets a Trophy

"Thanks to Bruce, a management revolution has taken place at Joe''s Crab Shack. His step-by-step approach and expert insight into generation X and Y have empowered our leaders to become great managers."—Ray Blanchette, president and CEO, Joe''s Crab Shack

"If anyone deserves a trophy it''s Bruce Tulgan for helping us crack the code on understanding this new generation in the workforce. ?I hope he''s made some room on his mantel!"—Marianne Brush, executive vice president, Massachusetts Society of CPAs"Bruce Tulgan is a leader on this subject, and he has written a superb book that is colorful, warm, research-based, and above all, useful. His clear tips provide anyone in a supervisory position with the data they need to engage, develop, and retain Generation Y employees."—Beverly Kaye, coauthor of the best-selling Love ''Em or Lose ''Em: Getting Good People to Stay"Bruce''s research on Generation Y has had a powerful impact on our leadership team. If you want a real strategic advantage in recruiting, managing, and retaining Generation Y, read this book."Greg Lucier, chairman and CEO, Invitrogen Corporation"Professionals across all industries will find Bruce''s analysis of Generation Y in the workplace spot-on. He dispels the myths and provides a fresh interpretation that makes sense to those of us who have already tried the more traditional approaches to engage, train, and retain these folks. This book is a must-have tool!"—Samantha Snyder, director, Kaufman Rossin University, Kaufman, Rossin & Co."Bruce has taught many of us the importance of communicating with our workforce in a manner where workers know what is expected of them and managers provide regular feedback on how well those expectations are being met. This book helps us accomplish this more effectively with Generation Y."—Thomas A. Cappello, medical center director, North Florida/South Georgia VA Health System

Bruce Tulgan is internationally recognized as the leading expert on young people in the workplace. He is an advisor to business leaders and the author or coauthor of sixteen books, including the classic Managing Generation X and the best-seller It''s Okay to Be the Boss. Since founding the management training firm RainmakerThinking, he has been a sought-after keynote speaker and seminar leader. Tulgan''s work has been the subject of thousands of news stories, and he has written for dozens of publications, including the New York Times, USA Today, Human Resources Magazine, and the Harvard Business Review. He also holds a fourth-degree black belt in karate and is married to Debby Applegate, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.