Hey Podcast listeners, Mark Cole here. Welcome to the Maxwell Leadership Podcast. This is the podcast that adds value to leaders who multiply value to others.

If you've been listening to the podcast over the past few years, you know that we like to do something special for our listeners on Christmas episode each year.

So today I'm here to sing a song. No, I'm just kidding. This year we're going to do it again. This year one of our thought leaders Tim Elmore has just released a new book called A New Kind of Diversity.

We even had a conversation with him about it in August and we'll include the link to that episode in today's show notes. Recently Tim released the audiobook version of his book and we'd like to gift you with chapter one today.

We can't wait for you to hear it. We think this book will be a game changer for the different generations in your organization and will help you make a huge impact in your company, in your family, and in your community with multiple generations.

So we won't have an application on the back end of the episode like usual. Normal we provide a bonus resource. But please sit back, take notes, and enjoy learning how to make the different generations on your team a competitive advantage.

So Merry Christmas. Enjoy a gift from us and be grateful that I didn't sing to you. Now here is chapter one of a new kind of diversity.

Part One Mind the Gap

Part One Who are today's clashing generations? Three years ago I was in Chicago speaking at a conference about resolving conflict. After my session, a CEO approached me with a comment. I could tell he was frustrated at his inability to mend some fences between employees on his team.

His team was divided on a go-to-market strategy for a new offering. Some felt they should focus on their new social media platforms and utilize a more personal approach, interacting with potential customers via social media.

Others felt they should go with their proven methods that work well for years. He suspected the factions represented conflicts between labor and management.

After digging deeper, however, he recognized the issue was not that simple. He then wondered if the friction was about problems between departments. But it was more than that too.

As we bantered, he had an epiphany. The lines his employees had drawn in the sand were about demographics. With few exceptions, the two younger generations perceived the issue one way while the older two generations saw it another way.

Interestingly, five other executives entered our conversation verbalizing their agreement that there's a generational problem. They too were experiencing divisions, even casoms on their teams along generational lines.

This conversation is not an isolated event. It happens thousands of times every year between people and the workforce.

With the introduction of four to five generations in the workplace and with a rapid pace of change, we can predict we'll see friction on an increasing level.

Paul Taylor, executive vice president at the Pew Research Center says,

Demographic transformations are dramas in slow motion. They unfold incrementally, almost imperceptibly, tick by talk, without trumpets or press conferences. But every so often, as the weight of change builds, a society takes a hard look at itself and notices that things are different.

These aha moments are rare and revealing. Sadly, according to researcher Megan Gehrhardt at Miami University, only 8% of companies recognize different generations as a category of diversity.

Today, I interface with a growing number of managers who struggle to assimilate the younger age groups joining their teams. Their attempts to communicate company values or approaches to work receive varying reactions depending on the generation and the background.

While these differences have been around for decades, the times have changed. When I began my career, the mantra of most bosses was, leave your personal problems at the door. You're here to get work done.

Today, the mantra seems to be, bring your whole selves to work. And this means bringing their opinions, styles, post, anxieties, and the desire to weigh in on issues as if it were a democracy.

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