September 20, 2019
Exploring the generational divide in modern workplaces at OBM
Some call them the most compassionate and tolerant generation in history.
Others dismiss them as narcissists with an irritating sense of entitlement.
Meet the millennials, that amorphous group of people born sometime between the early 1980s and the late 1990s.
Two of Australia’s best-known public speakers - social researcher and demographer Claire Madden and Shark Tank investor, mentor and self-made man Steve Baxter - will slug it out in the Great Debate, one of the highlights of October Business Month.
The motion will be: millennials are the best generation in the workplace.
Claire will speak in favour and Steve against.
“The thing about millennials is that they are perfectly positioned between Gen X, the people brought up in a paper‑based world, and Gen Z, those in a digital world,” Claire says.
“They’re critical in the workplace because they can bridge that gap from digital migrants to digital natives.
“Yes, they have challenged the way work should be done and traditional working hours, by asking for flexi‑time, but we will miss business opportunities if we don’t move with the millennials.”
Steve says he is not totally against the millennials but finds their political correctness and lack of teamwork annoying.
“I’ve got no time for tardiness,” says the former soldier. “I learnt the importance of teamwork in the defence force.”
As a social researcher, Claire is widely regarded as a leading voice on multi-generational engagement and emerging social trends by corporations, the media and the wider community.
As a demographer, she is commissioned by some of Australia’s largest companies and leading brands to interpret the changing landscape and communicate the implications for business and society.
Steve is one of Australia's most successful tech entrepreneurs, an active investor and a mentor to startups.
How does he pick a winner?
“I don’t do it on my own,” he says. “I have a team. We go for products and services that have proved their worth, that have been tested to a certain extent in the market.”
He understands the tyranny of distance that makes it hard to make a quid in the Territory - he was born in the remote Queensland town of Cloncurry and was raised in the even more remote township of Emerald.
He left school at 15 and joined the Army, enlisting in its apprenticeship program. There, he became a technician working in the field of electronics, telecoms and guided weapon systems.
In 2001, he teamed with an old schoolmate to launch a second start-up, PIPE Networks and eight years later sold it to the TPG Group for $373 million.
The Great Debate, which will be moderated by business author and TEDx presenter Bernadette Schwerdt, will take place at the Darwin Entertainment Centre at 5.30pm to 8pm on Thursday 3 October. Cost: $20.
To book go to the October event booking portal