Different Gen, Different Rules

Penelope Trunk thinks the Women of Generation Y (I've always wanted to create a buzzword, but "WOGY" just doesn't have the right ring to it) can take a different approach to workplace behavior than, say, Baby Boomers. They are:

• Date coworkers.
  
• Show some flesh - but just enough.
  
• Expect harassment, and stay cool.
  
• If you have to go to business school, go early.
  
• Tone down your work ethic.

In explaining her rationale Trunk argues, essentially, that these points represent a pragmatic approach to working life in the 21st Century. And, in truth, the labels above don't do justice to her reasoning - you really have to read the whole article for that. But I think it comes down to this: Over the last several decades women have fundamentally changed the nature of the office. Following the rules of engagement once followed by women now in their 40s or 50s simply won't serve a generation that's more empowered and more focused on balance. She floats a new approaches for WOG… oops … today's women that represent a U-turn on the road of conventional wisdom.

The article's kicked off quite a row among readers. Comments range from "Amen! That's what life is now and will be. Deal with it folks," to "What is wrong with this woman? And for God's sake why is she still employed here?" to my personal favorite, "The comments of this one really suck."

Interestingly, a large number of comments panning the article seem to come from men. Since so many are anonymous, I base that on my observation that few women use the kind of language I'm seeing there. (Since this is a family blog, I won't repeat it. But read some of the comments and you'll get it.)

One commentator summed the whole thing up best, I think:

Penelope's advice seems fairly cynical, but, based on my 25 years in the workplace, it's pretty accurate. The primary thrust of her advice is to put your interests ahead of your company's interests. This sounds about right to me, because, at the end of the day, your company is going to put its interests ahead of yours.

The New Girls' Guide to Workplace Success [Yahoo! Finance]