December 3rd, 2008
Gen Y: Too Much Focus on Process vs. Outcome?
By Anna Ivey
I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine who works (as I do) with lots of twenty-somethings. When we got around to the gratuitous praise to which Gen Y/the "Praise Generation" has become accustomed (phony praise that inflates their sense of achievement and rewards them for process rather than outcomes), he had this observation to share:
On all of this, I'll point out that, having worked with a literally never-ending stream of recent college graduates--half of everyone is 22 in my world--I notice that the people who consistently are the best to work with are ex-elite athletes. If you spent a substantial chunk of your life in sports, how could you:
- Think fairness is relevant? Losers talk about fairness.
- Fail to put stock in hard work, hoping to hide in the pack instead?
- Think hard work guarantees success?
- Fail to appreciate the importance of natural talent?
- Fail to focus on outcomes?
- Over-focus on process to the detriment of outcomes?
- Get confused by multiple goals and so fail to achieve any of them?
I say this as someone who frankly is more committed to the arts than to sports, but it has become clear to me that those who live a life in the arts and/or academics are prone to *ALL* of the fatal mistakes outlined above, and these are failures of outlook that wouldn't last past your first varsity season in high school, let alone college.
The difference is simple--top athletes are trained to focus on outcomes, period. Everything else is whining. Business is about outcomes, period. Non-athletes are shocked by that.
As an addendum, I was amazed when I got to [college] how many kids arrived there believing they had genuine artistic talent. They were going to be performers, or artists, for a living. They thought themselves that good.
No similar problem with sports. But in the arts, it's subjective. If you are the best in your high school, well, as far as you can tell, you're Kristin Chenoweth. There's no mechanism -- or incentive -- to level-set. In individual sports, there's no chance of this at all. In team sports, there's a little self-delusion, but not too much. [Anna asks: But what about teams where everyone gets a trophy? Helicopter parents invented that rank stupidity. Makes sense though that *elite* athletes don't suffer from this syndrome.]
Can I speculate that this problem is more an issue in law school, where kids majored in subjective disciplines like Poli Sci, Religon, and other stuff, and that math and physics grad programs don't have these problems? Even med schools probably don't have the problem as much?
Fascinating. Thoughts? Please comment.
a small caveat
Overall I agree with this post, though I would say there are areas where the arts can actually be great training for a high-pressure results-oriented world: the conservatory. As someone with a background at an elite conservatory I can promise that nobody is looking out for students' feelings or self-esteem. The handful of elite conservatories around the country will dispel people's illusions as quickly as athletics. First of all, the vast majority of applicants from around the country have NO chance at getting in, even if they were "all state" orchestra in high school or some such thing. Secondly, once in an elite conservatory, people quickly have to come to terms with the fact that they are surrounded by others as or more talented than themselves, and this is something that is constantly displayed in public through auditions, studio classes, competitions etc. And anyone who thinks this is subjective doesn't fully understand the field. Technical perfection is not subjective, and even at elite conservatories, technical perfection is not attainable by many/most students, though near-perfection is the norm. The subjective, musical/artistic part comes into play only after people spend years of their life on the technical, objective aspect.
I do agree in general that "arts" majors at average universities/colleges are fairly worthless in terms of how much they tell you about someone's talent, because anybody that wants to can declare an art major or music major without having to go through an audition first.
It's so refreshing how un-pc (read: honest) Ms. Ivey is: Telling people that they might not be as special as they think, writing intelligently about affirmative action. She is the best resource for law school applicants. If you haven't read her book, do so!
You constantly complain
You constantly complain about the "entitlement generation," but perhaps this stems from working with upper middle class and rich young adults thanks to the cost of your services.
Agreed, one objection however.
I definitely think that this is spot-on. Many college grads I meet today have this idea that just because they have a degree that they will be making six figure salaries, and the job will come to them.
However, as a 29 year old in the performing arts (opera)I don't know that I have met many serious performing arts students/professionals that have the attitude for example that hard work guarantees success. The business is very cut-throat, and if you aren't "weeded" out in school, you will be in the "real" world. Work as hard as you want, it doesn't mean that you are getting the part. I think it is similar to elite athletes. Hard work merely increases the chances of success, but really only if you had natural talent to begin with.