Read a terrific article, The M Factor, recently (of all places, Delta Sky Miles magazine) about Millennials. These are people born between the early 80’s and 2000 and many of them are you, working with you, working for you and/or your customer. There are 76,000,000 of them and they make up the fastest growing segment of workers today. I find this group fascinating and am thrilled to know they will someday run the world. Here are some things you may want to know about Millennials:

•  Millennials look for a stimulating environment and to find meaning in what they do. Remember, these are children of Boomers who raised them not just to find good jobs but to find something of meaning and joy and passion.
• Millennials want to make a difference and feel they are contributing.
• Millennials have a knack for finding creative solutions to challenges and will turn to their social networks for assistance.
• Millennials are innovators. They have mastered every electronic gadget, the social networks, online researching and many of them can program these devices while reading War and Peace! All of these have become tools for innovation.
• Millennials check in often not because they are insecure but because they want to make sure they are on the right track. They have been raised with structure regarding what to do but not so much about how to do.
• Millennials want to be heard. They don’t expect every one of their ideas will be implemented. They just want to be heard.
• Millennials love to be part of a team and to work towards a group goal. They love to succeed. Keep in mind, this generation has not been allowed to fail (i.e., receive trophies for coming in 10^th!) so they take failures very hard. Therefore, failure is not an option to them.
• Millenials express themselves through their work.

Some of us who have been around a little longer want everyone to “pay their dues” while Millennials want to contribute immediately. They want to be heard, respected, and allowed to innovate and they enjoy collaboration. Television stations should hire more Millennials if the broadcast industry is to stay viable. I say “hallelujah” and bring ‘em on!