On the Generational Shift

When I was younger and just starting to enter the chains of decision-making, people often met me with a touch of skepticism. Older acquaintances I barely knew would, at times, poke fun, smile down at me, or even get irritated that someone younger had a say in their plans, their business, their life. I picked up on that attitude very finely, even under the masks of formal politeness, and, honestly, it triggered something in me — I had little desire to deal with people who couldn’t admit that competence isn’t always measured in years.

And yet, for the most part, I grew up and worked in an environment where the older crowd was the majority. I was lucky: I learned how to work with them, to watch, to listen, to come to terms.

Now I’m forty-two, and it suddenly hit me: a new cycle has begun. People younger than me have appeared — thirty, thirty-five years old — already accomplished entrepreneurs, officials, experts. Sometimes my own projects now hang on their decisions. And credit where it’s due: they often think more structurally and more quickly than many of my older colleagues. They grew up in a different environment — digital, global, free of illusions, but with a high speed of adaptation.

And now it’s my job to make sure these people feel comfortable around me. That they don’t sense condescension or some attempt to “teach them about life.” Just as I once didn’t want to be called “kid,” now I don’t want to be the one who fails to notice the paradigm has shifted.

I’m already watching how hard this comes to some: to speak with the young as equals, to respect their titles, their decisions, their ambitions. But that, precisely, is the mark of maturity. The acknowledgment that the next turn — to change the world — is theirs.

The older often don’t understand the younger, and the younger don’t understand the older. And I, right now, as someone from the generation in the middle, have a chance to become a bridge — a communicator between eras. And this, I think, is one of the most interesting skills worth building: to join experience and a fresh eye, structure and speed, prudence and abandon.

There’s a separate art to it — finding a common language with each generation, catching its codes, its values, its tempo.

Here’s to honoring the young’s right to their own path, their mistakes, their experience — and to recognizing what they achieve! 😎